Last Sunday, Benilde St. Margaret’s Bailey Dodds was named Minnesota’s 2010 Mr. Lacrosse. In light of my last piece, it is important to know that Blake’s Lowell Fluke was named Minnesota’s best goaltender for the 2010 season. That afternoon, the Minnesota lacrosse community took a great step forward—our sport was celebrated, friends new and old reminisced, and questions were asked. Rich Limpert, one of the banquet organizers, asked each Mr. Lacrosse finalist a couple of questions. He inquired, “What was your biggest motivator that got you here today?”

Now the obvious responses such as, “My family,” “my friends,” even, “my willingness to succeed” were all stated multiple times. While they were all great responses, I tried to answer that for myself as well as the lacrosse community as a whole. This question truly made me think. Not because I don’t know why lacrosse is such a big part of my life or because it is hard for me to express what it means to me. But because I didn’t want to get it wrong—because the answer does mean so much to me and so many other people.

I was there because lacrosse introduced me to friends I’ll have the rest of my life. It has given me the opportunity to travel and experience new things. I feel it has shaped who I am, not so much in those opportunities, but the game itself. Actually playing lacrosse has so many teachable lessons apparent during every moment, until you put on your helmet until you take off your cleats. Even just tossing with a buddy can teach someone so many valuable lessons. Paying attention to your fundamentals (arms away from your body, butt end pointed at your target, snap your wrists, throwing overhand, etc.) is a valuable and transferable lesson. Attention to detail and focus can be applied to accounting to cleaning to leading the United States of America. Lacrosse also teaches you discipline. It is in few sports that an athlete must accept that another player can literally hit them with a stick and get away with it.

For everybody else, the things that motivated us to get us into that ballroom is a lone feeling: happiness. Put simply, lacrosse makes us happy—that includes parents, siblings, friends, teachers, and community members. For those sixty minutes when a parent who is also head of their son or daughter’s team’s booster club, all of their hard work is no longer stress, it is happiness. The feeling that lacrosse brings people is the reason we work hard to make it a reality. We work to have fun, to enjoy the things that bring us happiness. This all sounds cliché, but think about it the next time you should be asleep but are working on something. Whatever it is, ask yourself, “What is motivating me to be doing this?”



While Monday’s National Championship game is still fresh in my mind and not too far gone, I want to dissect a few issues that have evolved in my head over the past few days. First things first, C.J. Costabile’s goal was absolutely outstanding. It was amazingly clear to see how bad he wanted to be a National Champion that day. After that goal, the way he played the rest of the tournament made that much more sense. However, someone else’s demeanor on that field was a lot more fascinating to me: Scott Rodgers.

Watching Notre Dame’s goalie slowly walk out of the crease, past the fleeing Duke squad, unbuckle his helmet and look into the sky tells a story worth telling. Looking back on that moment in time, it’s hard for me to not think that there were invisible ropes holding up his shoulders and chin. He carried himself off that field in a remarkable fashion. In my mind, Scott Rodgers played the most brilliant game of his career. He was a general out there. He made saves he shouldn’t have. I want to compare it to a skydiver heaving himself out of a plane with no parachute and absolutely no reservations about doing so. He went head first into that game and never looked back. If I was in his position, I would have found myself in a melted mess underneath a pile of Blue Devils entering nirvana.

These past few days, I recognized the appreciation I have for lacrosse goaltenders. Call it a “bromance” if you want. Last Friday, I saw the same mannerisms in the goalie of the high school team that I coach as he walked off the field of our section quarterfinal game, where we lost in overtime. Here is a sixteen, maybe seventeen-year-old kid, who probably has no clue as to the difference between Freud and Piaget, leading his team through an “epic battle,” i.e. the best game they have played all year. This high school goaltender has some of the most quiet gestures off the field. If I wrote an encyclopedia, under “polar opposites,” I would write, “PLHS goalie and Jared Allen.” This kid stood in front of shots you couldn’t pay me $500 to get hit in the shin with.

Come to think of it, all great goalies amaze me. Syracuse’s John Galloway’s clearing expertise absolutely baffles me. His enthusiasm, his willingness to put his team first, makes me so proud to be a part of the great sport that is lacrosse. Playing with Josh Hofstad this past season as a fellow Gopher was incredible. When some “dumb” freshman pegged him in the shin from six yards in practice, he didn’t lash out and quit, he slowly walked out of the crease, gathered himself for literally one second and got back in front of the 36 square foot cage. The guy is my hero. I couldn’t have done anything that I did on the field without him on it with me.

I don’t know if I can specifically describe what Scott Rodgers did that inspired me to spill my heart. But I’ll do my best: he carried himself with more bravery, courage, pride, and valor than I can comprehend. And what was amazing about that was that his team had just lost the National Championship. Of course he was upset and disappointed, but the strength that it must have taken to carry himself off the field with his chest out, chin up, and eyes bright, had to be an insurmountable amount.



This weekend, Homegrown Lacrosse will be playing a large role in the operation of the Upper Midwest Lacrosse League's Conference Tournament. It is the event that leads to the decision of who will receive the conference's sole automatic bid to make their way to the MCLA National Tournament. As a member of the Homegrown Lacrosse staff and as a player from a participating team, I'm taking a lot of pride in this year's tournament; both in my personal presence and my involvement in the organization of the event.

The truth is that this year's tournament is the most anticipated since I can remember, not necessarily in the eventual outcome but the actual operation of the event. The truth is that lacrosse is growing at an alarming rate. Stakeholders at the high school level know this and are taking appropriate action. This is clear in the development of www.mnlaxhub.com and the introduction of the Mr. Lacrosse award.  Furthermore, the league (UMLL) administration is taking notice of this due to their motivation to collaborate with Homegrown in running the event. The tournament needs to be taken to the next level in order for our state's continued growth in lacrosse. This is all great and I couldn't be more excited about everything that is Minnesota lacrosse.

However, another truth is rumbling around. The outcome of the Upper Midwest Lacrosse League's Conference Tournament has been pretty consistent. It is a difficult truth to recognize for all the teams in the conference. The truth is that we lost to Duluth 2-16. The truth is that we had a couple close games with other teams in the conference. As I'm sure there are individuals and teams in the same place I am in, we are all just trying to overcome the truth and make it happen on the field in order to get to our preferred outcome: a conference tournament win and a national tournament birth. A team needs to be better than another for 60 minutes. The truth is that I want to go to Denver more than anything. All of my finals got moved to outside of finals week, the same week as the national tournament, so I'm in the clear there. My collegiate lacrosse career is culminating soon and I'm going to do everything in my power to delay it. As of right now, I can't imagine a better feeling than gasping for my breath through the thin Denver air, yeilding a lacrosse stick.

Good luck to everyone this weekend, from here in Minnesota to across the country.