The Roots of the Game: A Syracuse Lacrosse Memoir

Thursday, June 5, 2014

Iroquois National Team and Self Determination

Iroquois National team players including Syracuse alum on the first row left to right, Chief Oren Lyons (Lacrosse Hall of Fame) who was a goalie on the same undefeated SU team with Jim Brown (Lacrosse Hall of Fame) next to him Mark "Red Man" Burham 27 and Emmett Printup 4.

The Iroquois National team declined to travel to England on any other passport but Iroquois Federation passports to compete in the 2010 Lacrosse World Cup. I say kudos to them for taking a stand as a sovereign nation. I played on the 1990 US National team that faced off against the Iroquois in their first ever Lacrosse World Cup in Australia. I recall meeting with Oren Lyons, Traditional Chief of the Iroquois Confederacy, who like me is a Syracuse University Lacrosse alum, in his hotel room in Australia. He pulled out his Iroquois Federation pass port and proudly asked me with a smile on this face, if I understood what it was. He then went on to explain that competing in the Lacrosse World Cup meant more than fun and games for the Iroquois players (some of whom were my college teammates at SU), it represented the Federation’s declaration of the right to self determination and sovereignty within the borders of the United States and Canada (and my guess, possibly a bid for a sit in the United Nations). That was an eye opener for me as graduate student in history then and now as a professor of history and blogger.

Related Links:

1990 World Games: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/2010/07/iroquois-pay-back-at-1990-lacrosse.html

Traveling with Eli: http://frederickdouglassopie.blogspot.com/2009/10/traveling-with-eli-part-ii-and-native.html)

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Sankofa Lacrosse Interviews Part 6

Fred Opie interviewing members of the SanKofa Lacrosse Team on October 25, 2013 on the campus of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.

Sankofa Lacrosse Interviews: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=Sankofa+Lacrosse+Interviews

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Coach How Is Your Home Team Doing?

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Playoff Time Injuries Part 2

Me my Sophomore year of high school . It seems like I always had a stick in my hand

During my freshmen year in high school I came home from football practice with a severe foot injury; Nick Padula served as the freshmen football Coach in the fall and the varsity lacrosse coach in the spring. Unknown to me, my father became enraged and went to the school where he accused the coach of negligence in caring for my injury. Shouting erupted between the two men and almost a physical altercation. I believe the incident marked me as toxic in the coaches view thereafter. Here's the back story learned after my playing career at Syracuse University had ended: In the 1950s, my father's youngest sibling Earl died from a head injury while playing high school football. I suspect my dad never got over the guilt and hurt that he felt because he had not been able help little brother. His pain came to the surface with my football injury. It's amazing how some injuries stay with us; the disappointment of not being brought up to varsity during playoffs as a sophomore remained with me a long time. My father died with out us talking about those injuries.

Parents and Athletic Series: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=Sports%2C+Psychology%2C+and+Parents

Coach You Have A lot Of Influence: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/2012/06/be-careful-what-you-say-to-people-you.html

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

Monday, May 5, 2014

Playoff Time Injuries Part 1

Adam West (left) and me on the right, The old Croton Point Dump field, 1980. Today it's a RV Park

I can remember a lacrosse related emotional hurt I experienced my sophomore year in high school in 1979. It was the end of my Junior Varsity (JV) season and tradition had it that the varsity coach would promote the best JV players if the varsity made into the post season sectional playoffs. You would practice with the varsity and dress for the playoff games. For me—and suppose any athlete passionate about his or her sport, this was a big deal! While coach Nick Padula, that’s right I am calling you out coach (smile)! I remember going to see Croton play at Yorktown in the playoffs and seeing my JV teammates John Purdy, Andy Morehouse, and Joe Vasta dressed in their varsity jerseys on the sideline. I was crushed. It seemed clear to me that I was one of the better JV players on that team or perhaps I was a really late bloomer.Years later I learned that my dad had a run in with the varsity coach and I became the victim of collateral damage.

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

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

Monday, April 21, 2014

Dealing With Rejection

Fred Opie (far left) in a Herk vs. Nassau game at Hofstra University 1983

It’s that time of the year when college coaches are out traveling around the country watching tournaments and checking out prospective players and deciding who they can and should recruit. Soon some players will start receiving email, mail, and phone calls and invitations to visit campuses. Some highly coveted players entering their sophomore and junior years in high school are starting to feel the pressure. Those not receiving any "love from coaches" are starting to feel low self-esteem. My story as former scholarship lacrosse player at Syracuse University and U. S. National Team player may surprise you. I did not receive allot of love my junior or senior year. As senior I might have received two letters from Division III coaches My prospects improved after attending junior college (JUCO) at Herkimer County Community college and playing for now Hall of Fame Coach Paul Wehrum. I first tearn All American honors my first year at Herkimer but the honor did not help my case much because are team did not advance to the final four teams in the JUCO championships. That was the stage in the game when coaches came to see players like they now do at summer tournaments and thereafter offered opportunities to the players they believed would contribute their programs. Clay Johnson from my hometown played for Maryland and he was my hero. Thus naturally I wanted to play for Maryland one day. The problem was I recruited Maryland harder than they recruited me a guy with little notoriety. University of Maryland coach Dino Mattessich supposedly sent somone to watch me play against Nassau Community College on the island. Nassau was the top rank team in the nation at the time and players from the program regularly earned scholarships to the top lacrosse programs and schools in the country. I played perhaps my best lacrosse ever. However following the game Maryland continued show little interest no discussion of scholarship money occurred. I sent inquiries’ to the coaches at Carolina and West Point receiving in turn cordial rejection letters. It was during this time I learned the skill of how to spot a rejection letter without opening the envelope. This skill would later serve me well as I tried to get my first books published from 2000 to 2009. Syracuse went on to beat Maryland in the NCAA quarter finals that year in the Career Dome. Coach Dino Mattessich resigned as the Maryland lacrosse coach shortly thereafter and left coaching to become an athletic director. 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. Now that friends and people who I've coach are college coaches, I better understand both the process and just how many contacts they get about prospective players. Most do the best they can returning calls and emails but they are simply understaffed and overworked. Coaches feel terrible when a great player gets overlooked and players feel slighted when coaches show them no love. I certainly learned over the years how to make myself more attractive as I candidate and much of what I learned happened through lacrosse. Perhaps most importantly, I learned how to separate what I do from who I am and the importance of fit when potential employers or publishers say no to me.

My College Recruiting Series:

http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=recruiting

http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=College+Lacrosse+Recruiting+Series

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

What To Do If You Don't Get An Athletic Scholarship Offer?

Me on the right covering Yorktown's Rob Hoynes during the Spring of my senior year at Croton Harmon High School. Rob, a great player and person, went on to be an All-American midfielder in high school and at West Point.