Fred Opie talks with Ohio State Men’s Head Lacrosse Coach Nick Myers

Ohio State Men’s Head Lacrosse Coach Nick Myers, Photo courtesy of laxbuzz.wordpress.com

The Big Ten’s Nick Myers is starting his ninth season as head coach for the Ohio State men's lacrosse team in 2017. In the Summer of 2016, Myers guided Team USA to the gold medal at the FIL Under-19 World Championship. His brother Pat, an Ohio State alum, served as an assistant coach on the US team. Myers began his coaching career as the volunteer coach for the Buckeyes for two seasons under then head coach Joe Breschi. He had worked as an assistant coach at Butler before rejoining the Buckeye staff in 2006. Myers played lacrosse at Springfield College in Massachusetts.

Listen Now [26min 16sec] https://soundcloud.com/thestudytable/ohio-state-lacrosse-coach-nick-myers

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Listen to Our Podcasts and More: http://www.fredopie.co

Nick Myers: http://www.nmnathletics.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=17300&ATCLID=1059039

Big 10 vs ACC Lacrosse Championship Game

Head Joe Breschi left celebrating a win 

Today the Big 10's University of Maryland faces off against the ACC's  Univeristy of North Carolina to decide the 2016 NCAA College Lacrosse national champions. Fred Opie interviews UNC Lacrosse Coach Joe Breschi about how he entered the coaching profession and his journey to becoming UNC head coach. The Tar Heels have not won a championship since 1991. [Listen Now 26min 50sec] https://soundcloud.com/thestudytable/the-study-table-joe-breschi

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University Maryland Lacrosse Stories: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=University+of+Maryland

UNC Lacrosse Stories: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=UNC

Listen to Our Podcasts and More: http://www.fredopie.com/

Remebering The 1983 NCAA Lacrosse Tournament

Hall Famer Brad Katz

In 1983 I played lacrosse at Herkimer County Community College for Hall of Famer Paul Wehrum. I had earned first team Junior College All American the year before and thought that might help me gain the attention of the coaching staff at the University of Maryland where I wanted to continue my lacrosse career. I don’t believe one of my many phone calls to the Maryland lacrosse office ever made it pass the secretaries who screened calls; nor did any of the coaches return my calls. In contrast Coach Roy Simmons Jr. reached out to me. Coach's demonstration of genuine interest in me as person and not just an athlete made positive impression on me. I'll never forget seeing Syracuse beat Maryland in the NCAA quarter finals that year in the Career Dome. I went on to watch every one of the Syracuse playoff games in 1983 including SU's come from behind to win and first National championship. Shortly before the final game Coach Simmons sent me a scholarship offer which I gladly accepted. How the Lord orchestrated my scholarship to Syracuse, the defending national champions in 1983, is still a faith building memory to me.

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The 1983 NCAA Tournament: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/2012/05/why-i-will-never-forget-syracuse-win.html

Listen to Our Podcasts and More: http://www.fredopie.co

UNC Hall of Famer Tom Haus

UNC’s All-American Defensemen and Hall of Famer Tom Haus 

UNC's 1986 NCAA National Championship team

I don’t remember much from my first game in a Syracuse University jersey in March of 1984. I know we won and I held my own against UNC players. But I clearly remember the dominating play of Hall of Famer and UNC defensemen Tom Haus that day. Tom was a big thick guy, about 6’2’’ 195 and he ran like a deer. One of his college teammates tells me he was a “terrific athlete and ripped but I never saw him lift weights at UNC.”  Haus wore heavy sweat pants and a pair of blue canvass Converse high tops. Haus covered Hall of Fame attackman Tim Nelson (Nellie) and stripped him of the ball and started fast breaks—I believed he scored one or two goals that day. Hause was striaght up nasty as a player! He ended his career at Carolina as a three-time first-team All-American and three-time Defenseman of the Year—still the only person to do that; Nellie did the same at the attack position. “The guy didn’t care about lacrosse and never really worked hard at it” says a former UNC teammate. “He was great at lacrosse all his life but it didn’t mean the world to him. He did not go hard in practice but he was a gamer." When UNC won the championship in 86 it was Haus that shut down Hopkins Hall of Famer Brian Wood in the semi-finals and UVA Hall of Famer Roddy Marino in the finals. He was inducted in the National Hall Fame in 2005 and UNC retired his #13 jersey. 

UNC Lacrosse Stories: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=UNC+

Hall of Fame Series: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=Hall+of+Fame

Tom Haus' Hall of Fame Profile: http://apps.uslacrosse.org/museum/halloffame/view_profile.php?prof_id=288

UNC’s Tom Haus Hall Fame Induction: http://www.goheels.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_LANG=C&SITE=UNC&DB_OEM_ID=3350&ATCLID=205487165

One Big Reason Why Syracuse Recruited Me

Tim Nelson against Army at West Point, 1985 

Perhaps the person that the Lord used the most to turn the attention of the Syracuse Lacrosse coaching staff was the big 6' 2" 200 pound attackman Tim Nelson (Yorktown High School). Our high schools played against each other back in Westchester in Section 1. We also played together on a Manhasset summer league team in the old Freeport Summer League after my first year in college. As a result of our shared history, Tim (Nellie) knew my game and knew it well. When I went to Herkimer as a virtual unknown player, he went as a highly recruited two-time high school All American who had played in two New York State title games to NC State. In the late 1970s and early 1980s the Wolfpack had a great lacrosse program that included Tim’s older brother Scott. At the end of his first year, State dropped their program and Syracuse offered him a scholarship. In his first season at Syracuse, SU won its first national championship in 1983, Nellie earned first team All American honors and he won the Turnbull Award as the best attackman in the country that year. During that championship season, I visited SU and ran into Nellie. He told me about the teams need for defensemen and then lobbied the coaching staff to recruit me based on what he knew of me as a high school player and my summer league performance. That’s the story of how I became a Syracuse Lacrosse recruit when most other programs and coaches showed no interest. 

The Nelsons of Yorktown Lacrosse: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/2010/09/college-lacrosse-recruiting-series-part_18.html

Recruiting and Lacrosse Networking

Hopkins Hall of famer John Detomasso covering SU Hall famer Tim Nelson in the 1983 Championship game  

You never know who is watching you so give your best effort during practice, at camps, summer league games, and tournaments. Coaches use their networks of friends, players, and alum to evaluate a player. As in my own case, many players that have come through Syracuse over the years were spotted obscure venues and recruited in non-traditional way by members of the Syracuse network that like most universities is extensive. Coaches generally trust the recommendation of alum because they have come through the system and know what it will take to play at a Syracuse. There is a place in college for most people play including some great Club teams.

Are You a Tweener?: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/2012/06/are-you-tweener.html

Dedication or Stupidity?

I remember the time I returned from a Spanish language immersion program in Mexico for an amatuer lacrosse game.  Now that was dedication or stupidity! I returned back to states to play in the 1992 club championship for Maryland Lacrosse Club (MLC) against the New York Athletic Club (New York AC). MLC player manager assured me that the club would cover my travel cost. I later learned that he made this promise in post semi-final celebration as our team upset a very good Mount Washington Lacrosse Club to make it into the finals. Mount Washington’s club that year included Butch Marino, Toddy Curry, now John Hopkins Head Coach Dave Pietralmala, Ronny Claussen, Mac Ford, and other all club players at the top of their game back then. Our team included Larry Quinn in goal, The Kelley Brothers—Frank, David, and Brian Kelley, Glen Norris, Joe Gold, Jeff Greenburg (who came out of a long retirement to play that year) Aaron Jones, Ricky Sowell, and again allot of other very talented players that I don’t remember. 

Related Link:

Team of Rivals Series: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=Team+of+Rivals+

Five Principles I've Learned From Athletic Competition

Chris Burt 33, Fred Opie 34, Mike O'Donnell 31, Syracuse Hopkins 1985 Title Game at Brown University

Visualize the desired outcome you want and situations you need to avoid like the plaque. This is something professional pilots do on a regular basis in flight simulators. I do this as a writer and teacher but I started back when I played.  Visualize executing the prepared game plan, and adapting it to the circumstances. Second, give your best efforts so that win, lose, or draw you would have nothing to regret. I played in two national championships and lost both but because I gave my best effort I've never looked back. The same was true when I won and loss club championships and when I won a world championship as a member of the 1990 U. S. National Team. My college coach Syracuse University, Hall of Famer Roy Simmons Jr. had a mantra that is so important: head, heart, and hustle.  Coach would say the difference between winning and losing often is who would hustle the most and get the most ground balls. My own mantras is ground balls wins games and do all the little things right because they bring about big results! Finally, never forget that someone's always watching. What kind of influence are you having on those around you? 

The Freeport Summer League

The U.S. National Team Helmet, The Ultimate Status Symbol In Men's Lacrosse  (Courtesy of Lacrosse Magazine) 

In todays segment in our series on summer leagues we go to Freeport, Long Island. I remember the first time I played in the old Freeport Summer League back in 1982. The site of an ACC team or National team helmet put the fear of God in the mind of an opposing teams without such lofty head gear. Coming from Westchester and Herkimer seeing National Team player Vinnie Sombrotto in his helmet on the team we had to play in my first Freeport game both thrilled and terrified me. Manhasset’s Ray Crawford grew up with alum from his high school who played at elite college programs, “it didn’t intimidate me at all. For me it was like another game against kids from rival lacrosse schools like Port Washington or Garden City [high schools].” Vinnie Sombrotto and I later became teammates on championship teams on Long Island Hofstra Lacrosse Club 1987-89, the New York Saints of the Major Indoor Lacrosse League, and the 1990 U. S. National Team. After games I often went with the Manhasset boys to their town for some outrageously good sandwiches and muffins at the famed Manhasset Deli. I can still taste and smell one of their hot corn muffins wrapped in that white deli paper. 

Summer League Lacrosse Stories http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=summer+league

That Lacrosse Field Was Illegal

Ric Beardsley #47 recalls "That field"  where here played summer league in the Hudson Valley. As you will see below, 

Here another story in our summer league series written by Syracuse All American Defensemen Ric Beardsley.

That field was narrow and I think illegal to be honest because it was so narrow. The field served as a drainage field for the school grounds behind it and as a result it had manhole covers on it. I used to try and run opposing attackmen on to those man hole covers in order to try and make then fall. I am sure that field could tell so many stories if it could talk because of all the great players that played on it. It was a horrible field but it was like home for me for all those years. I remember playing an alumni game on that field and guarding Jim Egan the year he started @ SU and I de-sticked him like 5 times and I was only a high school sophomore. . . he was so pissed! But at the end of the game he was determined to have me play for SU and look what happened. Fans would back their cars up to the field in the parking lot that overlooked the field and sit on their tailgates to watch games. In high school I can remember my father sitting and yelling encouraging things to me during my games . . . That field is also the field where I learned to play the game @ all the levels that got me to SU and made me the player I became. Summer league then was full of sick players. College guys would bring their teammates from all of the top programs as ringers so they had a shot @ winning the summer league championship. That field will never ever be forgotten by me. The worst field I ever played on but the best field to have played on.

Summer League Lacrosse Stories http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=summer+league

Story Submissions: We welcome story ideas and contributions. 

For more on Rick Beardsley: http://rhinolacrosse.com/main-menu/staff/ric-beardsley/

Goalie Win Championships

Travis Solomon in action in the 1983 championship SU vs Hopkins

Larry Quinn in action in the 1985 championship game SU vs Hopkins

 A hot goalie is key to winning a big game. One of the greatest goalie stories is Syracuse's (SU) Solomon who replaced starter Tom Nims who suffered a season ending separated shoulder early in the season in a game against Maryland in 1983. Travis played hot the rest of that season in root to SU's first national championship. He;s best describe as stopper with a great outlet space that helped cuse fast break its way into the finals. Hopkins won national championships in 1984 and 1985 with All American and later Hall Fame Larry Quinn in goal. I later played with Larry in championships with Long Island Lacrosse Club, Maryland Lacrosse Club, and the 1990 U. S. National Team. Larry made playing defense easy and also had a great outlet pass. His nickname was the Door and he shut the door on alot of great shooters. As a youth coach I recommend putting your best athlete, stick handler, and leader in the goalie position. He or she is your teams quarterback and they thus need to be both a great player and a great communicator.

Championship Game Stories: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=championship

Larry Quinn: http://apps.uslacrosse.org/museum/halloffame/view_profile.php?prof_id=316

“Stay On His Gloves!"

Fred Opie # 34 in a 1985 game in the Carrier Dome in Syracuse against North Carolina. 

I gave up lacrosse following my senior year at Syracuse and second consecutive year of losing to John Hopkins in the National Championship game.  My return to lacrosse started at the once premier summer tournament in Glastonbury Connecticut. Jamesville Dewitt alum (a school in the Suburbs of Syracuse ) who played at Cornell invited me to play with a Cornell team that had a spattering of SU players. I went back to the basics remember Coach John Desko's advice to me. I had asked him my first year at SU what I could do to improve my game, and he responded, “Stay on his gloves! [translation, stop throwing so many take away checks and square up!]." That’s a problem I see among too many even top division 1 players—they play to much defense with their stick and not enough with their feet—shuffle, drop step, catch up, and then we can talk about checks! 

Coaching Series: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=coaching

My College, Club, and U. S. Team Players and Coaches: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=%22Tom%22

My Hard Work and Lacrosse Stories: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=%22hard+work%22

You Will Be Better Off If You Finish

Buzz (Christ Burt, Lawrenceville Prep), Me, and OD (Mike O’Donnell, Yorktown) “trying” to cover Hopkins middies and attackman during our loss to John Hopkins in the 1985 NCAA Championship game at Brown University

After a crushing lost to Hopkins for the second year in a row in the 1985 NCAA Men’s Lacrosse finals, I stopped playing feeling burnt out and feeling like the sport had taken on too much importance in my life. Perhaps thats why some players never complete their degrees requirements; lacrosse was more important than their course work. They played four years of ball and now they are ready to move on. That happens all over the country in many sports. In my case, in May of 1985 I was nine credits short of graduating. We returned Syracuse from the championship game in Rhode Island on a long bus ride. I backed my car up on campus and returned to Westchester to take an anatomy and physiology course at Westchester Community College in summer.  Next I then registrared for a student teaching course at Pace University in White Plains; that’s all I needed to do to graduate. I was the first one in my family to earn a college degree. What a difference nine credits has made on my career opportunities. Complete your degree requirements you will be better off in the long term.

Building Male Relationship Through Lacrosse: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/2012/08/nurturing-healthy-male-relationships.html

Syracuse Lacrosse Stories: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=%22Tom%22

My Take On Youth Lacrosse Clubs: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/2012/05/club-team-lacrosse-and-tournament-scene.html

Midfielder Vinnie Sombrotto

Vinnie Sombrotto right with little brother Steven and Hofstra University teammate Joe Ferraro. Like Vinnie I played club ball with brother Steven who also had a long lacrosse career. Photo from  jamesmetzger.net

Former Syracuse lacrosse player Fred Opie reflects on the 4 x US National Team Player Vinnie Sombrotto as the U19 Men's National Team begans its quest for a world championship over in Europe this week

Vinnie Sombrotto: http://apps.uslacrosse.org/museum/halloffame/view_profile.php?prof_id=197

U. S. National Team News: http://www.laxmagazine.com/teamusa/men/index

Integrating the U. S. National Team Tryouts in 89: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/2010/04/integrated-us-national-team-tryout-in.html

“It’s about changing your lifestyle” : Staying Fit Then And Now

Chicago Bear and National Football Hall Fame Running Back Walter Payton and His Notorious Hill that ran during the off season 

Almost 20 years ago, I developed the habit of working out as a Syracuse University (SU) lacrosse player  and under the guidance of then SU strength coach Mike Woicik. Mike is now with the Dallas Cowboys. I've seen my share of former college and pro athletes that have lost the battle of the bulge and let themselves go. Similarly Mike has told me how he has run into former college and pro athletes that he had worked with who had become so out of shape that he did not recognize them! Lots of us have been on both sides of that embarrassing experience.  Mike explained, “It’s about changing your lifestyle.” I gained weight after knee surgery and hours sitting at a desk as a writer. Last year around this time, I read a book that has made a big difference--Move a Little, Lose A Lot. The book has made me become intentional about reading and writing in a standing position whenever possible. For example, I am writing this in a standing position and at a fit desk (see the link below). Working while moving is also great for people like me who have severe ADHD. During the summer months I also returned to what I did when I was a college player about to return to school for the start of my senior year with the goal of earning a starting position during fall ball and winning a national championship in the spring.

Mike Woicik: http://www.foodasalens.com/search?q=Move+a+Little

Mike Woicik’s Training Tips: http://www.foodasalens.com/2009/10/food-aerobic-exercise-and-strength.html

  

Fit Desk: http://fitdesktest.corecommerce.com/

Move a Little, Lose A Lot:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/weightloss/2009-01-21-fidget-activity_N.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cH3QR9O-mCU

Seeing Something That Others Can't See

Celebrating with Dan Pratt after a goal I scored in the 1985 NCAA Finals which we lost to Hopkins 

I've been talking about fall ball reflecting on my first days on campus at Syracuse University (SU) in 1983. My orientation to SU lacrosse happened organically with a very talented 1983 recruiting class. The class included Neil Alt (Towson, MD) Dan Pratt (Homer, NY) Gordie Mapes (Rush-Henrietta, Rochester), Todd Curry (West Gennee) Pat Donahue (West Gennee), Mike O’Donnell “OD” (Yorktown), Tom Nelson (Yorktown) Matt Holman (Summit, NJ), Mark Brannigan (West Genee, Cobleskill), Chris Bruno (Cobleskill), Matt Cacacciato (Fox Lane, NY, Cobleskill) Rhett Cavanaugh (Fox Lane, NY, Army) and Chris Baduini (Montclair, NJ) Some of us first met at the 83 championship team banquet in the summer following SU's victory over Hopkins. Simmie had us sit together introducing each one to the audience with some brief remarks. Coach made a lofty comment about my ability and that I would be a very special player. The comment put me in an awkward position with the other recruits and championship team members at the event. But early on Simmie saw something in me back then that other coaches didn’t. However what he saw remained hidden until I adapted to a new system and level of play and that’s exactly the role of fall ball for a new recruit. It gives you time to adjust to bigger and faster players who are better than what most players see in high school or in my case junior college.

Fall Ball Series: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=Fall+Ball

My Syracuse Teammates: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=%22Tom%22

How To Pick a Good Club Team For My Child?

Summer 2012 FCA boys and girl club teams. The majority of coaching staff are volunteers like me who know the game . 

A parent in a local youth program asked a question via email that I thought made for an informative post. Earlier this summer his child who is going into 4^th grade went to a lacrosse camp that a local club team program ran and he enjoyed the experience. The club team is part of full time lacrosse business by the same name that includes for profit teams, tournaments, camps, and a retail store. The child his excited to play this fall and as a result the parents are considering signing the child up for the club team that ran the camp. But before doing so the parent wanted advice on how to select a club program. As the parent states, the “main priority is finding a program that is fun and will allow” his child to play with friends in their community as much as possible. He ends his email with “any insights and advice would be much appreciated.” I responded, I encourage my son to enjoy many different sports. He can specialize in college should he have that option. He has the stick in his hand most of the year because he's a fanatic. But he's now the same way about hockey. It's much the pattern that I had and I didn't start playing lacrosse until 8^th grade. I didn't experience burnout until the end of my college career—and perhaps it was frustration after losing in the championship game for the second season in a row to Hopkins and because I felt lacrosse had become too high a priority in my life and I needed to gain some balance.  Below are links to what I've said about this and related topics. More to come.

My Earliest Exposure to Lacrosse: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=elliot

Lacrosse in My Home Town of Croton on Hudson and Boarding and Yorktown: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/2010/01/be-steve-mabus-in-your-lacrosse-world.html

My Take On Youth Lacrosse Clubs: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/2012/05/club-team-lacrosse-and-tournament-scene.html

Lacrosse Cool Then and Now, the 1970s

Photo: 1976, Cornell Hall of Famer Eamon McEneaney against an unknown Hopkins defender

The other day I started sharing about the purchase of my first lacrosse stick in 1976 and the conundrum of traditional pockets when you know nothing about stringing and adjusting them. In 1976 mesh pockets did exist, but they were nothing like the one I used my senior year at Syracuse or what players today are using. In 76 a mesh pocket was hard to break in and soft mesh, as far I remember, did not exist. Only goalies used them. In addition mesh did not give you the “cool styling and profiling points” that a traditional pocket gave you back then. Almost all the studs I followed growing up on Army lacrosse played with traditional. That was also the case for one of my favorite players back then, Hall of Famer Eamon McEneaney (Sewanhaka, Cornell). I first saw this All-American attackman score a punch of goals in route to a championship victory over John Hopkins on ABC’s wide world of sports. The game came on TV a week after the actual had been played. Today the definition of cool as changed and mesh is in and traditional is out—accept for in the women’s game. Can someone school me on why mesh is not used in the women’s game?

Lacrosse Pockets Then and Now: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=Pocket

What My Students Don't Know About Me

1983 Championship celebrations, I transferred to SU several months thereafter 

Today is student orientation here at Babson College where I am a member of the faculty. A reporter once asked me: what would your students be most surprised to learn about you? I paused and then said, they would be surprised to learn that school was never easy for me and that I never made the honor role in high school or dean’s list in college. Second, they would be surprised learn that I am more than “a nerdy academic” and in fact I was a “jock” who played in two national championships (losing both by the way) as a Syracuse University lacrosse player. 

Fall Ball Stories: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=fall+ball

Staying Fit After Your Playing Days:http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/2012/07/its-about-changing-your-lifestyle_06.html.

Reflections on US National Team Tryouts

1990 exhibition game victory against the Syracuse All Stars in Liverpool, New York, a suburb of the City of Syracuse.

Following making the US National Team in the summer of 1989, I decided to take the GA position at Gettysburg instead of Dartmouth. SU teammate Tim Nelson took the job at Dartmouth and within weeks coach Dave Urick left Hobart to become the Head Coach at George Town; he hired Cobleskill and Washington College lacrosse alum Ricky Sowell as his first assistant. Rick and I tried out that same year for the US National team which made the experience in more special for me. There were something like 6 African Americans at that tryout which had to be a record at that time. Sidney Abernethy received an invitation to tryout back in 1981 but he turned it down feeling just too burnout and in need of a break from the game. Thus perhaps we were the first African Americans to do so in 1989 but I am not sure. The group include Ricky, Dan Williams (Hempstead, Army) Aaron Jones (Hempstead, Cornell), and a midfielder from Penn State Chris (can't remember the last name)who was a very good. I was the only one among us who made the team. I've heard tale that one disgruntled white player, a defensemen from my home region, claimed I made it because I was black. I found that pretty comical. I do believe I surprised a lot of folks because I was not a D-1 All American and other than the "shot" people had never heard of me or thought much about my game. However I started for two years on one of the top club teams, and earned all club honors. In addition, I definitely played my best lacrosse during the tryouts and enjoyed every minute of the experience. Ricky, Aaron, and I would go on to play for MLC in 1992 I believe, wining a club championship that year. I asked Rick to serve as a guest blogger and he was gracious enough to reflect on his lacrosse experience. The next couple of days you will see post he has written. Rick is the only African American Division I coach in the nation and he’s the Assistant Coach on this year’s 2010 U. S. National Team.