Lacrosse is a tough game and enduring a season without injury can be a challenge. As a contact sport the likelihood picking up an injury is quite high. It isn’t surprising to see some of the games greatest players set back by injury. Greg Gurenlian face off specialist for the Long Island Lizards had under gone knee surgery as a result of an injury before last summers’ season.
Others such as Chris Eck (Boston Cannons) and Rob Pannell (currently at Cornell) picked up injuries from the game and have to battle through the recovery to get to where they are today.
I myself had picked up a hamstring injury before my university season; there is nothing more frustrating than being injured and wanting to get back to training or playing. It seems to be the case at some point in your lacrosse filled life you will get injured. As a minority sport in the UK, opportunities to play matches are not in abundance you have your University and Semla/Nemla seasons running from late September to May (roughly). There is a narrow window to get matches under your belt as a new or inexperienced player. Any time out from the game is a major set back that no keen player would welcome.
I was eager to see how other people coped with their injuries before coming back to the game. I asked UK based players on Laxforums.co.uk what kinds of injuries they had sustained as a result of lacrosse and some guys have really taken a battering. Other than the odd dead limb some serious injuries have kept players out for months at a time.
LacrosseRob: “Just recovered from fracturing a bone in the back of my hand, spilled a save back in front of the goal and had to dive out to check the guy on crease before he could pick it up, landed awkwardly with all of my weight on one hand. I didn’t even realise how bad it was for a couple of days until I got it x-rayed (I did a bar shift that night as well which probably didn’t help). The result being after the fourth game of the season: No lax for 3 months. Was in a splint for about 8 weeks, the usual therapy exercises and strengthening. Just building my fitness and strength back up again now gradually.”
Another player, a certain davidmcculloch81, seems to have been through it all suffering from:
“Dead leg – practice (2009; 2 weeks) – massage and rest
Fractured metacarpal – check at practice (2009; 6 weeks) – rest and progress x-rays
Fractured thumb – Bath Eights (2009; 6 weeks) – rest and progress x-rays
Broken collar bone & shoulder blade with dislocated shoulder – league game (2011; 8 months) – surgery to plate collar bone, rest and physio
Torn adductor (2012 to present; assume 6 weeks) – rest and physio
Since 2007 I have also suffered two collapsed lungs (same lung – 2 separate occasions). These weren’t sustained during lacrosse but kept me out for around three months at a time and have since had corrective surgery.
I have been playing competitive sport for 24 years (now very nearly 32). Up to the age of 26 I did not suffer any injuries that prevented me from playing.”
It seems the only way to combat broken bones and torn muscles is to take it easy. I am now sitting here with a broken leg from a skiing accident feeling a little more optimistic about going back to lacrosse. It’s going to be a while but I will make the best of my time out from the game. I will probably follow in the wise footsteps of the laxforums member mmm…beer that used physio, beer, swearing and playstation to help him pull through the hard times.
Remember if you get injured it isn’t game over. You just have time to plot your return!
**Update** Nicky Galasso (player formly of UNC) Syracuse suffered last year from injury. In his first year he racked up an impressive 56 points but his injury meant he had to sit majority of last year out. He moved to Syracuse to make some headlines and be closer to home and eagerly anticipated a strong 2013 season with them. However, he has recently broken his foot requiring surgery putting him out of the game for yet another year. Catch the full story here.
The blog started in October 2012 writing about topics of interest for lacrosse players and fans. Thanks to the WordPress.com stats helper’s for preparing a 2012 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
The new Boeing 787 Dreamliner can carry about 250 passengers. This blog was viewed about 1,200 times in 2012. If it were a Dreamliner, it would take about 5 trips to carry that many people.
Christmas is a vital time for any player to restock or renovate their lacrosse wardrobe. With most gear being quite pricey, especially with import taxes on the latest stuff from the States to the U.K, it is the only time of year when splashing the cash out on a new head or pair of gloves becomes viable. Not to mention family members enthused with Christmas spirit just eager to get you just something you will appreciate. With all this in mind I bring you Gammalax’s Christmas Wish List, a list of gear and product ranges to keep your eyes on and save that Christmas money for.
First up are the offerings from Warrior for the 2013 season. The Evo 3 has been around for a little while now, but never has there been such a range of colour ways to personalize your stick. If you head over to the U.S sites there are a range of 2 Face colour ways as well as unique custom colours saving you from the hassle and peril of dying your gear yourself. Much fresher to the Warrior line up is the Paul Rabil line. This stretches from the Rabil head (in both NFHS and X spec) to shoulder pads and arm guards/pads. These promise to be excellent products, clearly good enoughfor a Paul Rabil endorsement. If you are the kind of player that doesn’t mind flashing Paul Rabil’s personal logo across your gear then these are the pads for you. As for the head, so far it has been acclaimed and credited as being a great head by many users. Suffice to say it most definitely doesn’t disappoint.
Next to the party is Reebok. This company is a big deal in lacrosse yet there influence as of late has been limited to Box lacrosse with few products for the field game. It is not unusual, in this instance, for Reebok to have a large stake in one part of the game and not the other and this can be explained by their highly integral role in ice hockey. However, times are changing, Reebok are branching out and lacrosse is going to benefit from it. They are bringing the forefront of design and intuition to Field lacrosse with their all-new Black range. Although not on general sale yet, it will set the field alight. In addition, Reebok have updated their current lacrosse line. The 10K protection range is designed for the elite. The gloves especially have a premium feel about them. For this season they have taken it to the next level for players looking for a little bit of ‘SHAZAM!’ and something eye catching. I present the 10K neon range. This takes the advantage of the great protection of the 10K and injects some life and colour into their line up and they look sweet.
STX is a big player in the game and they have two new lines for the 2013 season. The Shadow range is aimed to provide ultimate protection with a sleek low profile design. Currently only produced in grey/black scale these gloves, shoulder pads and arm guards look menacing. Many members of Team STX on the LXM Pro tour are using custom versions of these gloves and based on their performance they rock offering all the protection with maximum mobility. Those who aren’t using the Shadow range are probably using the new Cell II line up. This takes the prosperity and success of the original Cellrange and improves upon them by making the gloves more flexible and infuses new technology. STX also have two new heads out. The Shield is a new goalie head; there doesn’t seem to be a plethora of choice in this field so a new offering is a breath of fresh air for all keepers. The second new release is the Hammer. This is a stiff solid head designed for defensemen raining down the hard hitting checks and hammering at the attacks stick.
Following the theme of flexibility and low profile Brine has created its Lo Pro range of shoulder pads and elbow/arm guards. These are designed for the mid level to elite player, to give lightweight protection. They look promising and have a very reasonable and accessible price tag.
Another piece of gear from Brine are the new King IV’s. The King III’s were highly successful and Brine has merely added to their flagship glove. The new glove has a more flexible and breathable protective back panel that flexes away from the mesh. There is no doubt these will be a brilliant purchase for those who are fans of the King III’s.
Easton is a brand to look out for. Their helmet, The Raptor, looked awesome and was adored by many but minor technical faults and Easton’s strict regulations and strive towards perfection meant a mass recall. The near future looks bright with a new style of helmets making their debut appearance at the Lake Placid Summit for the Burnt Orange Team. Also on the horizon is the Easton Core line. With the Easton Stealth Core head featured on Inside Lacrosse and the new Easton Core gloves a whole range looks likely. The new gloves appear to be a further developed version of the Easton Stealth gloves, which were good but seemed to lack something. Hopefully, this new set of gloves will fly off the shelves and on to player’s hands. Easton Lacrosse is a great company producing great products and their new stuff looks set to follow the trend.
My most anticipated set of gear comes from Nike. Nike Lacrosse works closelywith STX to produce few but high quality products. For the 2013 season, there is a whole host of gear new and available for the lax enthusiast. Firstly, is the Nike Vapor head and shaft, the head looks very closely related to the STX Stallion and an inverted Nike Lakota with a similar sidewall and face shape. If this is anything to go by then this head will string up nicely and perform well for a midfielder or attacker. The shaft is a light 9000 alloy. Which should maintain a good strength to weight ratio, it also features a sandblasted grip similar to that of the non-rubber coated Easton shafts. This provides addition grip without the chipping of paint and rubber coating found on the likes of Brine Scandium Swizzles. I, for one, am a fan of the rubber coating but I greatly dislike its lack of permanence, making me eager to get my hands on a Vapor shaft to see if it is a viable alternative.
Following the Nike Vapor line through to gloves now and Nike have provided an extremely sleek looking mid-ranged glove. Reviews are yet to come in, but priced up against the Brine King Superlights these look to be the affordable yet high quality glove for all.
Finally, down to the cleats. I crave for a pair of lacrosse specific cleats to give me more support around my ankle. The new Nike Huarache 3 LX, improved from the last Huaraches these are supposed to be more comfortable, better fitting and featuring the same sole plate as that found on the base of the Vapour Talon Elites. Whilst the Talon Elites are low cut boots, much like football (or soccer) boots, designed for minimal weight and speed the Huaraches provide more support for the foot. Sported by some professionals like Kyle Harrison during the LXM Pro tour, they seem to do the job. There is a multitude of colourways out there but my heart is set on the Black/Anthracite and Volt. These cleats easily make it to my top spot on my Christmas wish list.
Hopefully, this has provided those of you unsure about what they want for Christmas with some clarity of vision. I hope you receive all you wish for these holidays and be ready to suit up in your new gear for the New Year!
I bought this Warrior Evo Pro off laxforums.co.uk for £25. I then applied royal blue rit dye followed by krylon webbing spray, then black rit dye. It gives it a cool marble effect. It looks a bit more classier than the hot glue gun method.
Here are the video tutorials I used to dye this lacrosse head.
Like any player, I love my sticks. And like any gamma I love customising them. I started off small with just trying my hand at stringing and then branched out into dying. My latest project, which I hope to video, will be a two tone marble dye on a Warrior Evo Pro so keep your eyes fixed here.
The Problem
For a sports fan such as myself, watching the game is almost as good as playing it. Ever since I started watching lacrosse, every other team sport seems really slow and nothing quite compares to it (with possibly the exception of ice hockey). And there’s a significant problem with this; watching good quality full length matches this side of the pond is really hard and expensive.
It isn’t impossible to watch lacrosse matches here but you will end up paying for it and, depending on the video quality, it’s a lucky dip as to if it is worth the money. Sky is one option in conjunction with ESPN which offer some coverage. From what I gather they show the odd MLL game and follow the NCAA season quite closely. As a student, this option is rather unobtainable much like the matches one desires. I know I would never be able to afford Sky on my maintenance loan.
Last year I decided to pay out for ESPN’s online and on demand option. For £99 a year (or £17.99 a month) you are granted access to the entire NCAA seasons games whenever you are free to watch them. Or so I thought.
Having paid out for the last month of the season, I assumed I would have access to all previous matches that I may or may not have watched, but come the end of the season ‘content is currently unavailable’. Also, as far as usability is concerned, the website was awful to navigate to a game. There were no quick search features or a decent scroll option. Since the package contains NCAA games from Basketball to American Football, from Softball to Baseball, trawling through the copious amounts of material was really tedious. More to the point, I don’t watch those sports so I end up paying for coverage of sports I don’t watch!
It seems over in the USA there are far more opportunities to obtain and watch lacrosse games. When clicking on links on the MLL website taking me to other sites where games were being shown, I would repeatedly get redirected to a UK version of the site offering me generic sports like football rather than the lacrosse I wanted to watch. Why isn’t this option available to all?
TLN do a brilliant job of bringing LXM Pro to the masses and now they are offering the up and coming NLL season too. It would be fantastic to see them growing and branching out to other tournaments like the Lake Placid Summit, which from what I read have some pretty explosive games.
The Future?
In reality, without a large injection of cash into the sport, it is unlikely that lacrosse will make it onto mainstream UK channels. I don’t know the exact dynamics of the system but the next step for game coverage, in my opinion, would be via the Internet. ESPN has proved it can work, albeit in rather primitive and rudimental form.
What I would love to see is a system more akin to the USA College game implemented here in the UK. I think with a little bit of effort and hard work it has great potential to be successful.
For example BUCS matches offer brilliantly tense games and with players coming and going through the universities, no two seasons will ever be the same. As part of a university community, there are likely to be a number of societies that are enthusiastic about TV and film, filming, recording and general media. Aberystwyth University has Aber Media Productions, which would be ideal to utilise. That particular society would gain experience in recording and broadcasting matches and the lacrosse community in the UK (or the World) would get a regular series of games to watch. It would seem a sensible match between the sports club and society. In practice, there are likely to be a lot more complications, but innovative ideas have never been easy to get off the ground.
For the meantime, I guess I will have to stick to Youtube and reading up on other websites. Hopefully, lacrosse continues to grow and its media reach will encapsulate more of the globe. On the lighter side, the future can only get better!
I started this sport just over 1 year ago and I was instantly hooked, even though for the first month I couldn’t cradle and run with the ball. There is something about the game that is addictive, I couldn’t get enough of it. At a glance if you aren’t training or playing wall ball it might seem that your addiction hits a dead end. Wrong!
I am here to fuel your addiction. There are plenty of ways to further your understanding of the game and get an insight to what is happening in the Lacrosse World, you just have to know where to look.
Since the sport is predominantly played in the States and Canada it can be hard to know where to start looking. The key is to find the right websites with good quality advice and tips.
Now, for UK or European players one of the best sites available that has helped me out a lot is laxforums.co.uk. It is a UK based community and is the best place to find out about the rules of the game, player experiences, UK tournaments and buying and selling gear (my favourite section). Basically in short, if something slightly lacrosse related is happening in the UK it will find its way on to this site.
There are a few more websites that hold a copious amount of information. They do apply slightly more to the United States, however, it’s all the same game at the heart of it. Below is a brief overview of the sites.
Major League Lacrosse – The highest form of field lacrosse is played in this league, whilst the site is very US specific it gives a great idea of what is going on.
Inside Lacrosse – This is THE lacrosse magazine, tips on how to play the game, gear and updates on the Pro leagues, College and High school can all be found here. It is a brilliant resource with articles from All-American’s and previous NCAA and MLL players. It also has a great gear section to keep you up to date on the latest and greatest.
LaxAllStars – I love this site. Everything they do is to further the game. They aim to get it growing all over the world. The articles they post have the fun of lacrosse at the centre of them making it really enjoyable to learn about the sport. There are some awesome gear reviews as well from custom head dyes to string tips (keep your eyes posted here for more on stringing soon).
So far I have covered the online literature for lacrosse, but a great way to gain some sort of match experience without having to have years worth of matches under your belt is to watch the game. If you watch footage from high school all the way up to the pro leagues you’ll begin to understand how the best in the game got to where they are.
Of course I can’t forget to mention the importance of tutorial videos. I have practiced various techniques from these to help my game and some of the colleges post videos of drills they do which could help any coaches out there.
Youtube is your friend. In fact, it’s everybody’s friend and subscribing to the right pages and checking out their videos is a great way to improve your game if you can’t get outside and play. Here are what I think are the best channels to subscribe to.
1. LaxAllStars – From stick tricks to game highlights they have it all.
2. TheLacrosseNetwork – Quite possibly my favourite channel not only because they have such good content but they also cover the LXM Pro games. A brilliant way to watch entire matches this channel deserves your attention.
3. uslacrosse8 – With player interviews from before and after various matches you can really get into the game from their perspective.
4. InsideLacrosseTV – The guys at Inside Lacrosse bring you videos to support their website.
5. LAXnews – is a great channel for keeping up to date with the MLL.
These are superb places to start and once you know what kind of players you like to watch don’t forget to give them a search too. I found I really enjoyed learning about face offs from Chris Eck and Greg Gurenlian which lead me to EcksFactorLacrosse and GregGurenlian.
This should help those of you new to the sport find your feet online. Try to watch as many matches as possible and, don’t forget to practice.
So remember, no matter where you are in the world you can always stay clued up and connected.
Many know of the big names on the southern UK lacrosse scene, Walcountian Blues, Welwyn Warriors and East Grinstead to name but a handful. Far fewer know that Aberystwyth Lacrosse even exists. Forget Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, it has nothing on this welsh seaside uni team.
All university teams, that play a minority sport, suffer the same trial and tribulations. New students come in the summer having never played the sport and old students leave after the best part of 3 years service. In this short career players have to learn and master skills, which have taken the greatest of players a life time to hone. Having said that, it can be done.
Some may of written Aberystwyth off this season and, considering an unrivalled record of 0 Semla West Two league games won and a goal difference of -201, it would have been a sensibly safe bet. But these stats are hardly unsurprising when you account for the fact that 59% of that squad had never picked up a stick before!
But Aberystwyth are biting back and they’re biting back hard. A year down the road and the team has learnt every single lesson the hard way and is now employing them on the field. With playing in both BUCS league and Semla West Two the team have really found there game to cope with the increase in match schedule.
Currently on a consecutive 3 game winning streak Aber are looking scary, really scarily strong. Non-existent attack of last year is long gone. In it’s place, a dominating force that knows exactly when to slow up the play, but equally, knows how switch on the burners when necessary.
Each game has been enthralling to watch. It’s amazing to see how the team has grown and they continue to grow with each game. Last years previous newcomers are hitting the scoreboard and racking up the goals. And with a strong captain steering the ship straight and a coach with a wealth of experience, even this years newbies are cashing in on the action.
Last Wednesday (24/10/12), Aberystwyth put in their finest effort to come away with a 22-0 win over Bristol 2nds. A score line like that settles Aberystwyth firmly at the top of the BUCS league. A pretty impressive feat on their debut entry to the league.
Predictions for Aberystwyth’s matches had gone against them. But after 3 consecutive wins each more impressive than the last, the doubt has been dispelled. The future looks promising and the team have my best wishes for the coming matches.
Aberystwyth Lacrosse is now a force to be reckoned with. Aberystwyth Lacrosse is back!
Gammalax 