By Chris Goldberg
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 7/19/10
Registration will open on Aug. 1 for the second Philly Lacrosse Showcase, a scholastic recruiting event at Episcopal Academy that is expanding to include a girls’ showcase.
Well over 100 college coaches are expected to attend the event, scheduled for Nov. 20-21 at the Newtown Square campus. The showcase will feature more than 600 of the top scholastic boys’ and girls’ players from the Mid-Atlantic region and beyond.
The event – co-sponsored by Phillylacrosse.com – is open to all rising seniors, juniors and sophomores. The boys’ showcase is Saturday while the girls’ event is Sunday. The showcase website can be accessed at http://www.phillyshowcase.com/
The event director, Andy Hayes, is the head coach for Episcopal Academy’s boys’ team and the president of the Eastern Pennsylvania Scholastic Lacrosse Association (EPSLA). He has directed the EPSLA Showcase in each of its two years and helped build it into one of the most respected showcases in the scholastic season.
The girls’ event director is Jen Duckenfield, the head coach at Strath Haven and a noted Philly club and personal coach.
The setting of Episcopal Academy is a natural one. The campus has six fields, two of them turf.
“Episcopal Academy is one of the nicest venues in the country and it seemed logical to add a girls’ event,” said Hayes. “We had so much great feedback on the boys’ event, we thought immediately about holding girls’ event as well.
“I reached out to Jenny, who explained to me what the girls’ landscape looked like and it seemed that they were in desperate need of an individual recruiting event as well. We are very lucky to have Jenny on board with us. She is a very well respected coach in this area and knows the recruiting scene better than anyone.”
Hayes said the events will feature 16 teams with 21 players on a squad. Each team will be guaranteed three games and the event coaches will again select a “Fab 40” team for each class so that the selected players can participate in All-Star Games in front of the college coaches in attendance.
Last year 119 coaches attended. In all, this year the number could swell to over 200, Hayes said.
Hayes said that last year’s event was a major boost to the players who attended, many of whom were from the Philadelphia region but also included players from all over the nation as well as Canada.
“Looking over 2009 All-Stars I see that close to every player who made those teams is headed to college to play lacrosse with few exceptions,” Hayes said. “College coaches know that great players make these teams.”
Last year’s coverage
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