Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 2/3/12
From Press Release
NDP Lacrosse announced today that the Patriot Games (Philadelphia, Pa.) and Long Island Lax Fest (Farmingdale, N.Y.) have been named official qualifying tournaments of the Dick’s Sporting Goods Tournament of Champions for the 2012 season.
Top-finishing teams in select divisions at the two tournaments will join other top club teams from around the nation that have earned bids to compete for the national championship. At the most recent edition of the national championship, 79 teams from 20 American states and 2 Canadian provinces converged on Wesley Chapel, Fl. to compete for the title in five different age divisions.
“We are extremely pleased to add these two great tournaments to the list of qualifiers,” said Brian Tatum, operations director for NDP Lacrosse. “Philadelphia and Long Island are two of the most respected lacrosse hotbeds in the nation and these two tournaments are second to none in their reputations for hosting quality events and for providing an excellent lacrosse experience for players, coaches and spectators.”
The 5th annual Patriot Games will take place on July 21 & 22 at its three venues in the Philadelphia area and is expected to include more than 180 teams.
“We are excited to align the Patriot Games with NDP and the Dick’s Sporting Goods Tournament of Champions,” said Chris Bates, head men’s lacrosse coach at Princeton University and one of the tournament’s directors.
“Both of my co-directors (Scott Growney and Pat Carney) have coached club teams that have participated in the Dick’s Sporting Goods Tournament of Champions, so we are well aware of the quality of the event and the level of talent and regional diversity in the teams its attracts. The field set-up, the staging and the reputation of the event is second to none. We believe NDP runs its tournaments with the same level of professionalism and with an eye toward customer service and overall participant experience that we do with the Patriot Games. We are honored to serve as the approved qualifier in the Greater Philadelphia region and look forward to seeing our tournament’s qualifiers do well in the national championships…”
The LI Lax Fest, in its fourth year, is expected to host nearly 250 teams over the weekend of June 23 & 24 at Farmingdale State College.
“I am thrilled to have the Long Island Lax Fest named an official qualifier for the Dick’s Sporting Goods Tournament of Champions,” said tournament director Sean Chamberlain. “We are always looking for ways to enhance the experience of the teams that play in our tournament and this fits the bill. I really am looking forward to seeing how the teams that qualify here in Long Island fare against other tournament winners.”
For team registration and more information about the newly-added qualifiers, visit their respective websites: www.patriotgameslax.com and www.lilaxfest.com.
For more information about the Dick’s Sporting Goods Tournament of Champions and to view the complete list of official qualifying tournaments, visit www.laxtoc.com.
