Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 2/18/15
From Press Release and Staff Report
This past Sunday marked the final week of the Philly Faceoff League (PFL) at the brand new Main Line Sports Center in Berwyn. Players from more than 50 high schools and 22 club programs as well as some select middle schools competed during the winter league to practice and train against elite competition on a weekly basis.
At the PFL each Sunday, players received 90 minutes of intense training and live repetition. The last half hour of every session would consist of a friendly but competitive face-off challenge where players would compete in a win-or-go-home-style tournament.
“The reason we always have a competition at the end of our sessions is not just for the physical aspect of facing off, but that they can also mentally prepare themselves to take big face-offs this upcoming Spring,” said PFL co-founder John Bodnar. “People who aren’t familiar with face-offs in lacrosse don’t really think about the mental aspect of the position.
“We try to make each session here as competitive and fun as possible so our guys can carry this momentum onto the field for their teams in the Spring.”
For the last session of the Winter, two veteran seniors battled their way to meet in the final. Colin Bosak of the Haverford School and Dan Lanham of Garnet Valley.
Lanham, who is signed to play at St. Joseph’s University, was only able to attend the final session this Winter due to a conflicting hockey schedule. He had not been able to attend a PFL session since the end of the Fall in October.
“I couldn’t believe how much better some of these guys looked today compared to when I faced off against them back in October,” he said. “A lot of these younger guys gained some serious quickness and seem a lot more confident. I definitely plan on coming back in the Summer to train before I go to college in September.”
Bosak, who is committed to play at Navy next year, attended the majority of the sessions and cannot wait to get started with Haverford School this week. “The PFL has made me a lot more confident going into my season at Haverford,” he said. “Getting to practice and train each week with the level of talent that’s here is unbelievable. When practice starts up this week I feel like I won’t be rusty at all.”
“This winter has been great and I believe the level of facing off that we’ll see in the Philly area this Spring will be off the charts,” Bodnar said. “I want to thank everybody who came out and participated to make this an unforgettable winter.”
The PFL will start up again on Tuesdays this summer starting June 2nd. Registration for summer can be found here: https://campscui.active.com/orgs/PhillyFaceOffLeague
Bodnar, of NXT L.C., and PFL co-founder Mike Dolente (Duke’s L.C.) will also be giving clinics for younger face-off players this Spring. Please contact John at jbod15@hotmail.com for more information if interested.
To see more pictures from the winter and to get constant updates on big high school face-off matchups this Spring, please follow Philly_Faceoff on twitter and Instagram.
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