Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 5/8/13
Staff Report
Twenty-eight of the top boys’ lacrosse club programs in the nation will be sending their top teams to compete July 5-7 in the inaugural National Invitational Best of the Best Club Team Showcase at Mitchell Fields near Hofstra University.
The event (www.natinvitebob.com) will feature four equal brackets for each of the Classes of 2014, 2015 and 2016. Winners of each bracket will compete in a playoff to decide age group champions.
“The club programs have grown in size and numbers throughout the country and this showcase was designed solely for the top teams in each club to compete head-to-head from traditional hotbeds of lacrosse as well as other fast growing regions in the sport,” said event founder Marty Sands. “It is going to be very, very competitive at every grade level. There will be no easy games.
“I think that college coaches realize that many players can appear strong against average competition. However, when great players are pitted against other great players and great teams are pitted against other great teams, college coaches can really get their work done.”
Sands expects approximately 50-to-75 college coaches to attend.
“College coaches today have a lot of choices,” he said. “We believe by assembling the best club teams to play against each other, we’ll allow the college coaches to observe just how good a player is against really great competition in every single game.”
The teams attending include:
Dukes LC (PA), Twist (PA), CT Chargers (CT), LI Express (LI, NY), Resolute (OH), LI Outlaws (LI, NY), Building Blocks (NJ), LI Sting (LI, NY), 3D Lacrosse (New England), No Excuse (TN), IronHorse (TX), Crush Nation (Atl & Buff), Leading Edge Lacrosse (NJ), Baltimore Crabs (MD), LI Jesters (LI, NY), Team Turnpike (NJ), New Jersey Riot (NJ), Team NC (NC) Thunder Lacrosse Club (GA), Team Minnesota (MN), Long Island Jesters (NY), Trilogy Lacrosse (NJ), MadLax (VA), Be the Best (NY), SweetLax (Upstate NY), Westchester Predators (NY), True Player Lacrosse (NY), Team Long Island (NY)
“Clearly from the list you can see that we have a very good portion of the top club teams sending their A teams,” Sands said. “While there are other tournaments that weekend, we are hopeful that college coaches see the value of the showcase we have created.”
“Lacrosse is a very competitive sport and many of the best club teams in the country really want to test just how good they really are,” he added. “I am hopeful this showcase allows them to do that.”
Separately, Sands also is running two individual showcase events that were immediate successes in the recruiting scene in 2012.
The National Invitational 175 will be held July 29-31 2013 at RPI, which has recently built a state-of-the-art facility. This invite-only showcase held at Union College last summer drew over 50 coaches.
Last November Sands launched the National Invitational 175 Fall Select Showcase. That event drew 70 coaches.
“We are really working on improving upon the success,” Sands said.
This year’s National Invitational 175 Fall Select Showcase will be held on November 26. The application process will be opened on July 1. The National Invitational 175 Summer showcase has a large wait list, but players can apply at the site (http://www.natinvite175.com/) for future consideration.
