Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 1/21/11
Today’s Phillylacrosse.com/Philadelphia Wings “Tip of the Week” is presented by veteran John Christmas, a former Lower Merion standout who has enjoyed much success playing at the college and professional levels while also being a coach and lacrosse leader in the region.
The Wings “Tip of the Week” page can be accessed by clicking here or going to the menu bar at the top of the home page of Phillylacrosse.com.
Christmas first built his legacy at Lower Merion High (322 career points) where he was a three-time All-American, the first in state history. He led the Aces to their last state title, in 1999. He then starred at the University of Virginia where he was a two-time USILA All-American (95 career goals) and helped lead the Cavaliers to the 2003 NCAA Division I Championship.
Christmas was selected by the Philadelphia Wings in the fifth round (49th overall) of the 2005 National Lacrosse League Entry Draft. He has become one of the most popular players on the team – perhaps mostly because of his work in the inner-city.
In 2009, Christmas and Eric Gregg founded the LEAPS lacrosse program, a non-profit created to build lacrosse programs in the inner-city of Philadelphia and beyond. He decided to take off a year of playing NLL lacrosse to get the project started off right.
In the two years of operation, LEAPS has teamed with several other organizations to build a strong infrastructure of lacrosse in the city through youth clinics and camps, professional development and training in the Philadelphia public schools, and help in development of the first high school league for boys and girls.
Christmas also has played six years in Major League Lacrosse with the Boston Cannons and Chesapeake Bayhawks. Last year he was a volunteer assistant coach at Penn and he also has served as a volunteer coach at Lower Merion and continues to coach with the nationally-ranked Duke’s Lacrosse Club.
The videos produced by the Wings are intended to provide valuable tips for scholastic aged boys’ lacrosse players. While many of these videos focus on skill development, others will provide helpful tips on mental preparation, proper diet and over-all conditioning.
