Civil War match up highlights exciting day of lacrosse action
On Saturday, April 17th, thousands of fans from across Oregon will gather to celebrate one of the biggest lacrosse rivalries of the year between the University of Oregon Ducks and the Oregon State University Beavers. The game will be hosted by Sunset Lacrosse, and is part of an all day event powered by Warrior Sports at Sunset High School in Portland beginning at 8:30am.
The event is the Second Annual Civil War Lacrosse Game Day which was created as a way to bring together fans throughout the state in celebrating Oregon lacrosse. Throughout the day there will be four exciting lacrosse games, clinics, contests, raffles, vendor shopping, and meet and greets with professional players. The event is friendly to all ages and is sure to provide entertainment for everyone.
The event’s highlight game between the Ducks and Beavers is sure to be full of passion and intensity. The Ducks had a successful 2009 campaign, with a record of 11-7. They finished second in the Pacific Northwest Collegiate Lacrosse League conference, which led to a trip to the national championship tournament. UO is currently ranked 9th in the standings for college club lacrosse teams in the US on both the Lax Mag TOP23 and the LAX Power polls. The Beavers are an up-and-coming program that is currently ranked second in the PNCLL division. With a 6-6 record this past season and a 14-6 loss to UO in last year’s Civil War game, OSU will be looking to avenge the 2009 defeat.
Also competing at the event is the 2009 OHSLA champion, Oregon Episcopal School (OES), and the 2009 semi-finalist, Sunset High School. Both teams are currently in the Top 5 preseason rankings for 2010. After last year’s narrow defeat by OES at the inaugural Civil War Lacrosse Game Day, Sunset will be seeking payback against one of its biggest rivals and competitors.
During the course of the event, there will be two clinics hosted by some of lacrosse’s top talent. Lorne Smith, President and Director of Lorne Smith Lacrosse Camps and sales representative for Warrior Sports, will be coaching a clinic called “6v6 Motion Offense – Playing in Rhythm” which focuses on learning how to anticipate and move together as a team to attack a defense. Team USA and Warrior Player’s Club member Mike Leveille will be giving tips and tricks on how to beat a man from X to score and draw double teams in his clinic “Dodging from Behind for Attackmen and Inverting Middies.”
Those in attendance will also be able to show off their skills in the Warrior “Fastest Shot in Oregon” contest. The competition spans across four age divisions (U11, U13, U15, and HS) with the top two finalists from each contending against one another during the Civil War halftime event. Four winners will receive an unstrung Warrior Noz head, “The lightest head in lacrosse.”
Also making an appearance at the event will be vendors Lorne Smith, Warrior, Brine, Rhino Lacrosse, Bigfoot Lacrosse, Lacrosse Northwest, Chopstix Lacrosse, Sunset Lacrosse, University of Oregon Boosters, and Oregon State University Boosters.
Raffle tickets will be available for purchase through the Sunset Lacrosse tent. Prizes include donations from various companies throughout the community. All proceeds from the raffle will benefit the University of Oregon and Oregon State, and Sunset lacrosse programs.
Admission prices will be $4 for adults and $2 for kids and students ages 5-18, but only $1 for kids and students who wear a lacrosse jersey to the event. Kids ages 5 and under get in free.
Game Schedule
8:30am: Sunset JV2 vs. OES
10:30am: Sunset JV vs. OES
12:30pm: Sunset V vs. OES
3:00pm: CIVIL WAR - UO Ducks vs. OSU Beavers
Clinic Schedule
11:00am: 6v6 Motion Offense - Playing in Rhythm
Led by Lorne Smith from Lorne Smith Lacrosse camps. Learn how to anticipate and move together as a team to attack a defense.
12:30pm: Dodging from behind for attackmen and inverting middies.
Team USA player Mike Leveille will give tips and tricks on how to beat a man from X to score and draw double teams. Learn from one of the best in the world!
Contest Schedule
2:00pm - 3:00pm: Warrior ‘Fastest Shot in Oregon’ Competition. Compete for a prize in four divisions (U11, U13, U15, HS). Top winner from each division will receive a free unstrung Warrior Noz head “The lightest head in lacrosse”. Finals to be held during half time of the Civil War game.
Admission
Adults.................................................$4
Kids / Students ......................................$2
Kids / Students w/ Lacrosse Jersey...............$1
Kids 5 and Under.................................Free!
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Team Sports Participants Continues to Erode
From The SportsOneSource Group 3/29/2010
Team Sports Participants Continues to Erode
According to the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association's Sports, Fitness, and Recreation Participation Overview (2010 edition), baseball, football and basketball all continued to show notable declines in participants in 2009. Outdoor soccer and outdoor softball saw smaller declines. But notable gains were seen in lacrosse, rugby and ice hockey.
Baseball participation was down 7.9% in 2009 to 13.9 million, and is now down 12.7% over the nine-year period since 1988. Basketball was off 8.6% to 24 million participants in 2009 and is now off 8.4% since 1998.
In the football category, tackle was down 11.7% to 6.8 million participants last year. No figure was available for the nine-year trend. Touch football was down 14.6% to 9 million in 2009; flag football slid 10.4% to 6.6 million.
On the brighter side, ice hockey participants increased 12.2% to 2.1 million in 2009 although it remains down 12.3% since 1998. Lacrosse participants added another 6.2% to 1.2 million and has increased a whopping 131.1% since 1998. Also seeing growth was rugby, which gained 8.7% to 750,000 participants in 2009.
Outdoor softball lost 3.7% of its participants to 13.7 million although indoor softball grew 3.7% to 4.9 million participants. Similarly, indoor soccer participants gained 3.7% to 4.9 million but outdoor soccer participants slid 3.7% to 13.7 million.
Field hockey was down 4.7% to 1.07 million in 2009.
Cheerleading was down 2.2% to 3.1 million in 2009 but has grown 15.2% since 1988.
Court volleyball decreased 11.3% to 7.3 million and grass volleyball was down 4.6% to 4.9 million but beach volleyball increased 7.3% 4.5 million. Beach volleyball, however, is down 14.7% since 1998.
Wrestling participation declined 11.2% last year and is now down 20.3% since 2008.
Team Sports Participants Continues to Erode
According to the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association's Sports, Fitness, and Recreation Participation Overview (2010 edition), baseball, football and basketball all continued to show notable declines in participants in 2009. Outdoor soccer and outdoor softball saw smaller declines. But notable gains were seen in lacrosse, rugby and ice hockey.
Baseball participation was down 7.9% in 2009 to 13.9 million, and is now down 12.7% over the nine-year period since 1988. Basketball was off 8.6% to 24 million participants in 2009 and is now off 8.4% since 1998.
In the football category, tackle was down 11.7% to 6.8 million participants last year. No figure was available for the nine-year trend. Touch football was down 14.6% to 9 million in 2009; flag football slid 10.4% to 6.6 million.
On the brighter side, ice hockey participants increased 12.2% to 2.1 million in 2009 although it remains down 12.3% since 1998. Lacrosse participants added another 6.2% to 1.2 million and has increased a whopping 131.1% since 1998. Also seeing growth was rugby, which gained 8.7% to 750,000 participants in 2009.
Outdoor softball lost 3.7% of its participants to 13.7 million although indoor softball grew 3.7% to 4.9 million participants. Similarly, indoor soccer participants gained 3.7% to 4.9 million but outdoor soccer participants slid 3.7% to 13.7 million.
Field hockey was down 4.7% to 1.07 million in 2009.
Cheerleading was down 2.2% to 3.1 million in 2009 but has grown 15.2% since 1988.
Court volleyball decreased 11.3% to 7.3 million and grass volleyball was down 4.6% to 4.9 million but beach volleyball increased 7.3% 4.5 million. Beach volleyball, however, is down 14.7% since 1998.
Wrestling participation declined 11.2% last year and is now down 20.3% since 2008.
Westview Youth Lacrosse, Beaverton Youth Lacrosse part ways over unresolved differences
REPRINTED FROM THE OREGON
Editors Note: Can't we all just play lax? And can't Westview get the same things Sunset already has?
By Joe Fitzgibbon, Special to The Oregonian
March 20, 2010, 4:00AM
Girls' teams from Wilson Youth Lacrosse and Beaverton Youth Lacrosse compete in a match last summer at Jackson Middle School.
BEAVERTON -- Citing ongoing philosophical and management differences, Westview Youth Lacrosse has decided to severe ties with Beaverton Youth Lacrosse this spring and set up a rival program made up of players recruited from within the Westview High School boundaries.
After six weeks of intense meetings with a mediator from Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District, representatives from both organizations said they were unable to resolve their differences and would part ways.
Westview joins Sunset Youth Lacrosse as the second program to break away from the parent organization in the past two years, resulting in the siphoning off of more than 300 players from the Beaverton organization. Beaverton membership stands at about 700.
Bill Kirby, Westview vice president, said he was disappointed with the outcome but that his association would operate independently this season with 10 teams on alternative fields, most of them privately owned.
"We've had a record turnout of players and need to focus on moving forward with our season," he said.
Earlier this year, Westview board members called for replacing Beaverton Youth Lacrosse's single league, which encompasses the Beaverton School District, with a confederation of satellite teams. Each would be aligned with one of the five Beaverton high schools to include names and uniforms that reflected strong neighborhood affiliations.
Beaverton Youth Lacrosse rejected the proposal, instead offering Westview more money to assist with recruiting players, full participation in its Saturday league and representation on the organization's steering committee. Beaverton also insisted -- and Tualatin Hills agreed -- that it be the sole negotiator for use of the park district's fields. That was a particular sticking point for the Westview league.
Westview turned down the offer.
"We feel strongly that what we proposed represented the future of youth lacrosse," Kirby said. "We know that we can recruit more kids to the sport if they play for their neighborhood team."
Since its inception eight years ago, Beaverton Youth Lacrosse has attracted hundreds of boys and girls, from first grade through middle school, who live within the Beaverton School District boundaries.
The organization trained its coaches, provided uniforms, hired officials and rented fields from Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District, under the auspices of a single, districtwide league. This often meant that teams had a mix of players from throughout the area.
But parents in the Sunset and Westview neighborhoods complained that the structure limited the sport's growth and left them out of the decision-making. Several pointed to soccer, baseball and football as youth sports that are organized along high school boundaries.
"We decided to do our own thing two years ago and now have become one of the largest programs in the state," said Mike Parker, a founding member of Beaverton Youth Lacrosse who left that group and is now a coach and board member with Sunset Youth Lacrosse. "Recruiting locally is a natural way to do things."
Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation found itself caught up in the fray over the winter, when it announced that the district would negotiate field rentals only with the Beaverton league, virtually shutting out Westview teams.
"Using one volunteer-based affiliate for each sport is an operating model that has worked successfully for THPRD and the community for decades," district officials announced. The decision angered parents from the Westview league and left them scrambling to find alternative sites for practices and games.
Kirby said his association has negotiated with the Oak Hills Homeowners Association to play home contests on fields at Northwest 153rd Avenue and Oak Hills Drive. Discussions are under way, he added, for use of other privately owned fields in the Beaverton area.
Most area youth lacrosse programs kick off their seasons at the end of this month and early April.
-- Joe Fitzgibbon
Editors Note: Can't we all just play lax? And can't Westview get the same things Sunset already has?
By Joe Fitzgibbon, Special to The Oregonian
March 20, 2010, 4:00AM
Girls' teams from Wilson Youth Lacrosse and Beaverton Youth Lacrosse compete in a match last summer at Jackson Middle School.
BEAVERTON -- Citing ongoing philosophical and management differences, Westview Youth Lacrosse has decided to severe ties with Beaverton Youth Lacrosse this spring and set up a rival program made up of players recruited from within the Westview High School boundaries.
After six weeks of intense meetings with a mediator from Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District, representatives from both organizations said they were unable to resolve their differences and would part ways.
Westview joins Sunset Youth Lacrosse as the second program to break away from the parent organization in the past two years, resulting in the siphoning off of more than 300 players from the Beaverton organization. Beaverton membership stands at about 700.
Bill Kirby, Westview vice president, said he was disappointed with the outcome but that his association would operate independently this season with 10 teams on alternative fields, most of them privately owned.
"We've had a record turnout of players and need to focus on moving forward with our season," he said.
Earlier this year, Westview board members called for replacing Beaverton Youth Lacrosse's single league, which encompasses the Beaverton School District, with a confederation of satellite teams. Each would be aligned with one of the five Beaverton high schools to include names and uniforms that reflected strong neighborhood affiliations.
Beaverton Youth Lacrosse rejected the proposal, instead offering Westview more money to assist with recruiting players, full participation in its Saturday league and representation on the organization's steering committee. Beaverton also insisted -- and Tualatin Hills agreed -- that it be the sole negotiator for use of the park district's fields. That was a particular sticking point for the Westview league.
Westview turned down the offer.
"We feel strongly that what we proposed represented the future of youth lacrosse," Kirby said. "We know that we can recruit more kids to the sport if they play for their neighborhood team."
Since its inception eight years ago, Beaverton Youth Lacrosse has attracted hundreds of boys and girls, from first grade through middle school, who live within the Beaverton School District boundaries.
The organization trained its coaches, provided uniforms, hired officials and rented fields from Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District, under the auspices of a single, districtwide league. This often meant that teams had a mix of players from throughout the area.
But parents in the Sunset and Westview neighborhoods complained that the structure limited the sport's growth and left them out of the decision-making. Several pointed to soccer, baseball and football as youth sports that are organized along high school boundaries.
"We decided to do our own thing two years ago and now have become one of the largest programs in the state," said Mike Parker, a founding member of Beaverton Youth Lacrosse who left that group and is now a coach and board member with Sunset Youth Lacrosse. "Recruiting locally is a natural way to do things."
Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation found itself caught up in the fray over the winter, when it announced that the district would negotiate field rentals only with the Beaverton league, virtually shutting out Westview teams.
"Using one volunteer-based affiliate for each sport is an operating model that has worked successfully for THPRD and the community for decades," district officials announced. The decision angered parents from the Westview league and left them scrambling to find alternative sites for practices and games.
Kirby said his association has negotiated with the Oak Hills Homeowners Association to play home contests on fields at Northwest 153rd Avenue and Oak Hills Drive. Discussions are under way, he added, for use of other privately owned fields in the Beaverton area.
Most area youth lacrosse programs kick off their seasons at the end of this month and early April.
-- Joe Fitzgibbon
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