I've amazed myself this time, I can't believe we were able to get Alabama's own, Brye French, on the roster for the NATIONAL Senior showcase game in Chicago this Summer ! The process wasn't easy and if the player wasn't as special as Brye I wouldn't have put as much time in pursuing the opportunity for him. Basically, since Alabama is a new US lacrosse chapter we have no representation or committee for National events. After phone calls and e-mails to the Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina committee chairs I decided to take my case right to US lacrosse. US lacrosse advised a letter of recommendation be sent directly to the National committee head and apparently it worked because Brye was selected along with only 24 other seniors from the entire South region which includes Virginia and Maryland ! One player from Tennessee made it, a two-time All-American from Christian Brothers but a total of only 88 players National earn the honor and Hoover's Brye French will be there ! The opportunity is great for Brye but it is huge for the state of Alabama ! Once Brye is seen on a National level it will open the eyes of college scouts who will wonder why more players aren't coming out of Alabama. I'm very excited and hope Brye earns All-American honors and is selected for the Under Armour All-American game - we'll see, he certainly deserves those honors as well !

High School, Club links

February 14th, 2008 by Geoff Shannon
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Already, high school lacrosse is starting in the south, and TCPalm.com, which covers Florida’s lower East Coast including the Vero Beach area, has a preview of the top girls and boys’ teams heading into the 2008 season. With most teams playing in just their first or second season, this is definitely a young area of growth, but it does continue to add to Florida’s position as a growing piece of the Southern lacrosse milieu. And over in Daytona Beach, teams are already playing games.
Up north in the Pittsburgh area, the Chartiers Valley team is also gearing up for the season.

Hoover High in Alabama, famed for its “Two A Days” show on MTV, has recently sent a few kids to DI programs, including Brye French, who will play football and lacrosse for the Midshipmen. Check out the team’s lacrosse site, which has video clips, photos and a schedule for their upcoming season. Also, here’s the area club team’s site, BAMALAX.com.

A quick look at Kent State lacrosse’s move up to the National College Lacrosse League, which supports club teams with an emphasis on schools that already have NCAA varsity lacrosse programs.
Found a strong link? E-mail it to gshannon@insidelacrosse.com.

Birmingham girls are starting to really come along. Last night I attended the Mountain Brook /Vestavia game and it was one of the most exciting games I have seen this year, boys or girls. Vestavia has figured out how to push the rules and are realizing how the girl's game has really evolved to become "almost" as physical as the boys game. Hoover plays Vestavia for the second time this Monday, it will certainly be interesting. The last game was 2-1 Vestavia but they are a much improved team since that game, we'll see if Hoover has improved as well.

The Alabama lacrosse season is coming to an end with only a few regular

Season game left. The surprise of the season has been the Huntsville Havoc. Huntsville currently has a 6-2 record only losing to Hoover and Mountain Brook but after beating Mountain Brook this past weekend they are sitting pretty good for a #2 seed going into the state championship tournament. As of 4/22, Hoover is the #1 seed, Mountain Brook #2, Huntsville #3 and Spain Park is holding on to #4. I'm impressed with the progress of Huntsville in a short period of time, it just goes to show that if you have knowledgable coaches and recruit athletic players you can create a legitimate team in a short period of time. It's nice to have more local competition, everyone keeps improving and hopefully in another year when the U15 teams start feeding the high schools we'll have even better teams - can't wait !

For the first time in my life I felt the pain of a goalie with a bad defense ! My daughter is playing goalie for the Lady Lizards and in the 3rd quarter the coaches substituted the defense with what I like to refer to as "Daisy pickers". My poor daughter was facing 2 on 0's, 3 on 0's, it was terrible, I was freaking out, I felt sorry for my baby ! Even without help at times she came up big making close to 20 saves, I couldn't have been prouder ! The most exciting part of the game was when the defense was working hard and KJ was coming up big in goal, Coach Link's daughter was an animal defender, if she was in the whole game the outcome could have been different ! Well, the Lady Lizards are 0-2 but improving every game !

Big victories this week for the Cos family. Growing up in the Hudson valley region of New York my high school, North Rockland HS dominated in football and had great lacrosse seasons every couple of years. In 1984 our team went 1-15 and then in 1985 came back and went 15-5. Win or lose we always played hard and were physical and rarely were blown out even in the bad years. Anyway, our local rival, Suffern HS was always a thorn in our side during lacrosse season, to give an idea of how big of a thorn, this week was only the second time since 1983 that my beloved Red Raiders beat Suffern. Until I read it, I couldn't believe it because although I never beat Suffern we never lost by more than two goals and it was always a battle. This week was Hoover high school's shot at their nemisis, Mountain Brook who since 2006 have only beat Mountain Brook 1 time in 7 chances. The record books can now show two victories against Mountain Brook as the Hoover Bucs won 15-7 during a great day of lacrosse at the Hoover Buccaneer football stadium. It's been a great week for me, Red Raiders over Mounties, Bucs over Spartans, let's hope the winning continues for Red and white and Black and orange !