"The Line-Up"
A Message from Editor-in-Chief, Joey Picard
I hope it is evident that we love lacrosse. The game itself is a cultivated assemblage of mesmerizing skills: speed, eye-hand coordination, focus, finesse, physicality, power, precision, communication, mathematics, artistry, and philosophy. What a spectacle! We love to play lacrosse. We love to coach lacrosse. We love to watch lacrosse. We love to discuss lacrosse.
But more than anything, the folks at Mass Bay Youth Lacrosse League love telling stories about lacrosse. And that’s what The Scoop: Digital Magazine of Mass Bay Youth
Lacrosse League is all about. This is our story. This is your story.
There are youth lacrosse leagues all over the United States. Actually, the youth game is growing all over the world. And I’m not sure any other league on the planet has its own magazine dedicated to telling their stories. We’re pretty proud to be able to do that and sincerely hope you’re proud to be a part of this amazing league, which is more of a confederation of unified town-based youth lacrosse programs.
While most of our athletes will go on to play lacrosse in high school (many having the opportunity to play competitive lacrosse beyond their high school careers) virtually all of them will begin “their story” with recollections of youth lacrosse: their first goal, their first face-off, the camaraderie, the inside jokes at practice, wearing their jersey to school on game day, the first time they step foot on the vast landscape at Ft Devens for the MBYLL Jamboree…
So what is it about youth lacrosse that sticks with us?
The most successful players of this game almost always reference their days playing youth ball – how they first fell in love with this sport. Collegiate players Jacob Cotton and Paul Walter connect their passion for lacrosse to their days in MBYLL with Framingham Youth Lacrosse (pages 28 and 32).
Many successful high school programs, such as Medway, attribute their ascendency to excellence to the growth and prosperity of their youth program (page 10).
Some towns are bringing lacrosse to the kids in the community for the first-time, such as the emergence of Dighton-Rehoboth Youth Lacrosse (page 24).
And some towns, like Shrewsbury and Natick, are thinking “bigger” than a 110’ x 60’ field and are strengthening their community at-large through service, charity, responsibility, and sustainability (page 22).
What these stories have in common is what unites 97 community-based youth lacrosse programs into Mass Bay Youth Lacrosse League. It’s the story of all of us. From our starting point, to our growth, to our evolution into experienced lax enthusiasts. And to complete the cycle, we see many of our players return as coaches, mentors, advocates, and town leaders. And that magnanimous orbit caps off a journey that is universal (and fascinating) to us all.
Please enjoy our stories.
Joey Picard, Editor-in-Chief
4 The Scoop / Spring '18