Welcome to “A Lacrosse Weekend,” my weekly compilation of thoughts, ideas, history, stories, myths/truths about the great game of lacrosse! I hope you find it enjoyable.

This morning I am in Calgary at the last lacrosse event of the summer. Honestly, it’s been a great summer, but I’m ready for the academic year to be in full swing! I can’t wait for a consistent schedule, NFL Football, field hockey games (yes I really just wrote that!), and an “early to bed, early to rise” lifestyle.

August Achievement Month

In the summer of ’92 I was not impressed with myself. I was 25 years old, the Head Assistant at Yale making like $10K per year, having a good time, but not doing enough. So I started the first annual August Achievement Month. I made a list of different categories: financial, health, training, car, coaching etc. Then I made a list of all the goals I was going to to try and achieve within those categories.…basically a to do...

Welcome to “A Lacrosse Weekend,” my weekly compilation of thoughts, ideas, history, stories, myths/truths about the great game of lacrosse! I hope you find it enjoyable.

This was the first full week of school in Highlands Ranch, CO and fall sports have kicked in. Today my wife and I will be watching our youngest in a field hockey “play day” and then our oldest in a massive final game of the round robin portion of the Minto Cup. Also on the slate will be tuning into the MLL Championship Game which is on at exactly the same time as Coquitlam vs Brampton.

Minto Cup

Tonight at 4:30pm on albertalacrossetv.com is the match up we’ve all been waiting for - The Coquitlam Adanacs vs the Brampton Excelsiors in the third and final game of the round robin portion of the Minto Cup. Both teams are 2-0 with wins over the Alberta teams and the winner tonight will have a bye into the best of five championship series. The loser tonight will play the winner of the Calgary...

Welcome to “A Lacrosse Weekend,” my weekly compilation of thoughts, ideas, history, stories, myths/truths about the great game of lacrosse! I hope you find it enjoyable.

It’s hard to believe, and it’s sad to say, but school started yesterday here in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. Our schools get out around Memorial Day Friday, which is a solid 4 weeks earlier than schools in Connecticut or Massachusetts where they start back up after Labor day. It’s a tough call to figure out which summer schedule is better. On the one hand, not having August as a part of summer, as maybe the best part of summer where there is nothing to do except get ready for preseason sports, is criminal! On the other hand, getting out of school within a week of July 4th because of snow days would be excruciating! If you have a spare 30K-50K you could send your kids to private school and have June, July and August!

Minto Cup 2018

The teams are set: the Brampton Excelsiors will represent...

Welcome to “A Lacrosse Weekend,” my weekly compilation of thoughts, ideas, history, stories, myths/truths about the great game of lacrosse! I hope you find it enjoyable.

I hope everyone has had a great July! There’s a ton of stuff to talk about so let’s get after it!

Playoff Lacrosse in Canada

Last night was game five of the BC Junior A best of 7 series with the winner headed to the Minto Cup. The matchup features two of the best all-time nicknames: The New Westminster Salmonbellies and the Coquitlam Adanacs. What is an Adanac you ask? It’s Canada spelled backwards. Tell me that name wasn’t invented in a bar! “Hey buddy, I know what we should call the team!”

The Adanacs have one of the better goalies in the history of Jr A lacrosse in Christian DelBianco. Jr A is a 21 and under league and Christian was up for Goalie of the Year in the National Lacrosse League last year with the Calgary Roughnecks. The nets are smaller 4 x...

Welcome to “A Lacrosse Weekend,” my weekly compilation of thoughts, ideas, history, stories, myths/truths about the great game of lacrosse! I hope you find it enjoyable.

I’m on vacation for one more week and then I will get back to writing by blog.I hope everyone is enjoying summer.

How about that gold medal game USA vs Canada? I got up at 3:00am to watch! Rough way for a great game to end, but I’d rather listen to my Canadian friends complain for the next four years than gloat for the next four years!

Game Breakdowns coming soon!

USA - Canada Gold Medal Game

Little League World Series Championship Game

Men’s 2016 Championship Game UNC - MD

Women’s 2018 Quarter Final Game Stony Brook - BC

Phi-Lacrosse-ophy Podcast

Definitely check out my latest podcast with Wall Street strategies and analyst Mike Mauboussin, who moonlights as a lacrosse analytics guru. Fascinating for fans, coaches, players and even parents. We should all consider analytics with...

I hope everyone is having a great summer! I will be taking the next two weeks off from writing my blog while I’m on vacation. However, I have included a few links of content that I think you might enjoy.

The Phi-Lacrosse-ophy Podcast #7 with Mark “Red” Burnham, Head Coach Iroquois Nationals and IMG Academy. One of the most interesting interviews I’ve done! Red’s story about how he fought a bear at the NY State Fair is worth the listen! https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/phi-lacrosse-o...

This is a link to a must-read article on player development, “Here’s the real reason why the US men’s soccer team didn’t qualify for the 2018 World Cup https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2018/07/11/world-cup-2018-us-men-soccer-team-youth-kids-sports-column/768826002/

How to Get Recruited

If you are a parent of an aspiring college lacrosse player, listen to this free webinar on college lacrosse recruiting. There are Interviews with

• Kevin...

Welcome to “A Lacrosse Weekend,” my weekly compilation of thoughts, ideas, history, stories, myths/truths about the great game of lacrosse! I hope you find it enjoyable.

Girls Box Lacrosse

I write to you today from the shotgun seat of a rental car on the QEW headed up to Six Nations for a girl’s box tourney. It’s going to be a great experience playing in the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena (ILA) home of the Sr A Chiefs and the Jr A Arrows. This is our last week in Canada of box games, shoot arounds on box goalies, and playing pick up games until we come back for Provincials in August.

MLL Lacrosse at Mile High

July 4th at Mile High Stadium to watch the Outlaws game and see some fireworks is my kind of holiday! Just under 30,000 fans came out for the game on a beautiful Colorado summer evening.The game was a blow out with the final score Outlaws 25 Cannons 12.

Denver is a FUN team to watch.They play a brilliant team offense with a combination of traditional midfield...

Welcome to “A Lacrosse Weekend,” my weekly compilation of thoughts, ideas, history, stories, myths/truths about the great game of lacrosse! I hope you find it enjoyable.

I happily write you this morning from my favorite chair in my home in Highlands Ranch, Colorado! My daughter Emily and I drove home from Niagara on the Lake, Ontario on Monday. It’s good to be back! Today’s plan: we have a little shooting session on a DI goalie and some 3x in the morning, then the Kenny Chesney concert at Mile High Stadium tonight!

There is a lot of lacrosse going on in Denver this week.The Vail Tourney continues as the old guys finish up today and the young guys get it going tomorrow. The World Series of Lacrosse kicks off its opening ceremonies tomorrow night, and of course the Denver Outlaws play their annual July 4th game which attracts 30K fans.

A Goalie Goal

For last year’s July 4th game, I was Dave Huntley’s defensive coordinator. We were coming off a big...

Welcome to “A Lacrosse Weekend,” my weekly compilation of thoughts, ideas, history, stories, myths/truths about the great game of lacrosse! I hope you find it enjoyable.

I write to you today from Whitby, Ontario where both of my daughters are competing in a box lacrosse tournament, one in the Midget age group (15 & 16 year olds) and one in the Intermediate, 21 and under. Eight American girls from Colorado, Massachusetts, Tennessee, and North Carolina have made real box lacrosse a part of their summer. And it’s awesome! The girls love playing box lacrosse and the parents love watching it!I’ve written extensively on the benefits of box lacrosse in this blog, if you want to read more, click here.

Phil-Lacrosse-ophy Podcast

I’ve started a podcast called the Phil-Lacrosse-ophy podcast and I think you will like it! I had Nick Myers, Head Coach at The Ohio State University on this week and it was awesome to hear his insights on leadership, player...