Good evening!

We got really lucky with the weather clearing up just as the game started, and we were able to come away with a great win to open the season. We definitely identified some areas for improvement, but I think it was an excellent effort over all! We tried to keep stats and will continue to going forward. As a team we scored 4 goals on 14 shots, with Jed and Brendan finding the back of the net! Our goalies both had a 66% save percentage, giving up only 3 points. Mikey had 4 saves in the first half and William had 2 in the second half. The defensive unit also had some great slides and checks to shut down the other team's offense! Or guys won 24 ground balls, with Jed (4), Ayden (4), Brendan (3), Ollie (3), and Logan (3) leading the way. We had 4 succesful clears following shots by the other team. I'll try to keep pushing these types of updates after games and highlight the great work our guys are doing.

With all the positives, we almost weren't able to field a team today. Five of our players showed up without a mouthpiece. The officials at this level are serious about safety, and actually flagged us once for a player not having their mouthpiece in during play. I also had to call a time-out to prevent a penalty call when we noticed a player with the ball and his mouthpiece out. Fortunately, we had a couple of new mouthpieces just in case and were able to get these players out there, but our supply is now depleted! PLEASE check your player's gear before leaving the house on game day to ensure they have everything they need, including mouthpiece, protective cup, eye glasses, etc. 

Great game, we'll see you out there on Monday!

- Mike

 

Appologies for all the messages this week, but I wanted to pass along some information about parent support we will need for home games. I'll have more information on specific duties for each role next week, but we are going to need volunteers as the field commissioner, time keeper, and score keeper. If you area available to help out during our four home games, please let the coaches know. The score table is one of the best places to watch the game from!

Also, we were fortunate to have one of the other parents set up a sign-up genius page to make it easier for those that want to volunteer to bring a post game drink or snack to do so. You can sign up for each game at the following link (https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C044FA4AE23AB9-game). If you have a player with allergies, please let me know and we will try to note that on the sign-up genius page. Please don't feel obligated to find snacks that are free of common allergens (peanuts, tree nuts, sesame, egg, etc.), but please bring the box/packaging for those with allergies to review!

Thanks, 

Mike

 

Good evening! Someone left their Nike shoulder pads at practice tonight. While you are checking your kid's gear bag to see if it is theirs, please also check to make sure that their shoulder pads have the NOCSAE /EKG certification tag. As a reminder, we CAN NOT allow a player onto the field for a game if they don't have a certified chest protector. If you arent sure, feel free to email, text, or call me (540) 222-712 and I can help you figure out if what you have is certified.

Our game this Saturday is at Meridian High School (121 Mustang Alley, Falls Church, VA 22043) and starts at 10:15 a.m. Please have your player at the school and geared up no later than 9:55 a.m. If you aren't going to make it to the game or run into issues on the way up, please feel free to email me or text/call. Please make sure your player has their SLA game jersey and red shorts.

We have a larger team (21 players) than most of the kids have probably played on in the past, but if any parents would like to volunteer to bring a drink/snack for everyon after the game, I think the boys are still young enough to enjoy/appreciate something like that after playing a hard game! If you want to volunteer, please let me know.

Thanks, 

Mike

 

All, 

The 10u NVYLL Game Schedule has been posted to the SLA website. For ease of use, I have also attached a copy here. Game start times are all over the place with earliest being 10:15 a.m. and the latest 4:30 p.m. We didn't have any input on this and it was mostly driven by field availability. While the majority of our games are on Saturdays, please note that we do have one game scheduled for Sunday, May 14, and could also have a play-off/final on Sunday, May 21, depending on how we do.

On game days, we'd like to see everyone at the field and geared up at least 20 minutes before the scheduled game start time. This will give us a chance to warm up, as well as confirm our line-up/positioning for the game and talk to the players to ensure everyone has all their equipment.

Thanks, 

Mike

 

I hope you are all having a great week!

The schedule for our team has been posted to the NVYLL website (http://www.nvyll.org/Schedule.asp?org=NVYLL.org) and should be on the SLA site soon. Our first game is Saturday, March 25, at 10:15 a.m. against Falls Church and will be played at Meridian High School. Each week ahead of a game I will confirm the location and address and send it out to the group so that we are all on the same page. It looks like all of four of our games in April will be at home (Embrey Mill)!

As noted in my previous message, uniforms will be ready for pick up at practice on March 20 for those that pre-ordered them. If you didn't pre-order, SLA ordered some extras and we have some available for sale. Jerseys are $30 and shorts are $25 and the can be purchased with cash, check, or credit card on March 20. If you are planning to purchase something, let me know the sizes you need so I can have the SLA President and the Commissioner bring it. If you can't remember if you ordered uniforms when you signed up, let me know and I can check.

See you all on Monday.

- Mike

 

Good evening! It doesn't look like we will have enough kids on Thursday to run an effective practice, so we are going to go ahead and cancel it. If you were planning to attend, have your player get outside and practice stick work on their own (cradling, dodging, ground balls, etc.), so they are ready when we meet back up on Monday the 20th! For those that ordered jerseys, we should have them to hand out on the 20th as well!

Recently we have started working long poles in for players on defene. If your player has a long pole, they are welcome to bring it to practice and games. Between the coaches and SLA, we should have enough to pass around so everyone gets some work with them. You DO NOT need to go out and buy a new long pole for your player!

Lastly, we noticed today at practice as kids were suiting up that a number of them did not have NOCSAE certified shoulder pads. Beginning last year, USA Lacrosse required that all players have shoulder pads designed to cover the top of the shoulder, collarbone, and sternum, and contain the NOCSAE logo. Most of the newer, certified, pads have either a hard plate or exra cushioning over the sternum and are designed to reduce the risk of commotio cordis (an impact to the chest that essentially seizes the heart). NVYLL referees are trained to check that all players have the proper equiment and we will not be allowed to send a player out if they don't have NOCSAE-certified chest/shoulder pads. You should only be able to purchase certified pads at this point, but I put together a list of options for those needing to purchase a new set. The important thing is that they say NOCSAE certified or "meets NOCSAE standard for chest protection" logo/statement.

• https://www.sportstop.com/products/stx-stallion-75-lacrosse-shoulder-pads
• https://www.sportstop.com/products/warrior-burn-next-lacrosse-shoulder-pads_2
• https://www.sportstop.com/products/maverik-charger-ekg-lacrosse-shoulder-pads_2
• https://www.sportstop.com/products/stx-stallion-200-plus-lacrosse-shoulder-pads
• https://www.sportstop.com/products/maverik-mx-ekg-lacrosse-shoulder-pads
• https://www.sportstop.com/products/nike-vapor-lacrosse-shoulder-pads_3
• https://www.sportstop.com/products/maverik-mx-ekg-lacrosse-shoulder-pads-1
• https://www.sportstop.com/products/stx-stallion-400-lacrosse-shoulder-pads

Have a great week!