Starting Lacrosse Program, Don Daubney

Lacrosse  at Lakeland Middle School, 1976

I am taking a look at my lacrosse career through the lens of Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers. It argues that success is a combination of opportunities, timing, and people in one's life. I talked about Elliot stark starting lacrosse in Croton-on-Harmon just before my family moved to Croton in the late 1960s. Without Elliot Stark there might not have been lacrosse in my town and in my life. Next there was Croton Harmon middle school physical education teacher, Don Daubney, a University of Rhode Island grad, who taught a soft stick and soft ball lacrosse unit to my eighth grade class. That rare exposure to the lacrosse in Westchester County at the time was crucial in my career. I would guess that less than half of the county’s public schools had lacrosse as part of their physical education curriculum and my tiny public school system was one of them. Thereafter Daubney ran a boys 8^th grade summer recreation program that lasted about three or four weeks. We learned the basics and once we had them down, the summer program culminated with a game against the Lakeland/Walter Panas recreation program. Like Elliot Stark, Daubney gave me a rare opportunity to play the game of lacrosse.

Excerpts from Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers, The Story of Success: http://www.gladwell.com/outliers/index.html

Interview with Malcom Gladwell on Outliers: [Listen Now 4 min 31 sec] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz4hPbHIZ6Y

Croton and Yorktown Lacrosse: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/2010/01/be-steve-mabus-in-your-lacrosse-world.html

Starting Lacrosse Programs, Elliot Stark

NYU lacrosse 1930. Elliot Stark played for NYU and Rutgers University back during the Depression

Across the country volunteer coaches develop, grow, and maintain vibrant youth lacrosse programs. In my case Elliot Stark did the heavy lifting in my home town of Croton-on-Hudson back in about the late 1960s early 1970s. A Brooklyn native, Stark played lacrosse at Rutgers University and later at New York University (NYU) in the early 1930s. The NYU lacrosse program argues that it has the oldest collegiate-level lacrosse program in the country with the first game played against Manhattan College in 1877. Until the 1970s, just about all the city universities had lacrosse teams. Stark would later go on to play and promote professional indoor lacrosse throughout New York City (NYC). For example, Stark organized a game between members of the Onondaga Nation (near Syracuse University) and the “New York City All-Stars” for the 1939 World’s Fair held that year in NYC. Mike Poster served as another early contributor to lacrosse in Croton. A gap exist in what we know about lacrosse biography and when he arrived in Croton. We welcome you to call in and share your lacrosse starters, pioneers, and planters stories @ 781-239-5611. We will share your stories with our followers. Please leave your name and phone number followed by your story.

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

What Makes A Good Coach? [Listen Now 52 min 50 sec] http://wosu.org/2012/allsides/what-makes-a-good-coach/

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

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

Navy's Syd Abernathy Part 3

West Point's Michie Stadium 

I had the honor to see Syd Abernethy play my senior year in high school in Croton and his senior year in college at the Naval Academy in a quarterfinal NCAA playoff game at West Point in 1981. Before that game, I had never heard of him. In addition, it was my first time seeing an African American in game, and one who clearly was one of the best players on the field and one who played my position too—attack. Many people don’t know I was an attackman in high school.

West Point Lacrosse History: http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/army/sports/m-lacros/auto_pdf/2011-12/misc_non_event/2012lacrosseguide.pdf

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

Croton and Yorktown Lacrosse: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/2010/01/be-steve-mabus-in-your-lacrosse-world.html

What Great Coaches Do

Me as a first year as an assistant varsity high school coach in 1986 

Some youth coaches I've met feel insecure about their abilities because they never played in high school or college. Great coaches can learn the game in different ways other than as starters on a team. You can become a student of the game reading, listening, and watching how to teach the fundamentals of the game. Great coaches work hard at learning how to teach the game to the age group they are working with. Great coaches run organized practices, show up early to set up the practice field, and ask questions when they you don't know something.  I've played with allot of great players over my career and I've been coached by allot of differed folks too. Being a great player doesn't mean you will be a great coach. Great coaches both love the game and love teaching. 

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

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

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

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

Starting Lacrosse Programs, Mr. Murph's

related links below

Lacrosse Pioneers in the Hudson Valley: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=+Elliot+Stark

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

Croton and Yorktown Lacrosse: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/2010/01/be-steve-mabus-in-your-lacrosse-world.html

Obafemi Alese's Nine Month Brown University Lacrosse Odyssey Part 1

My memories of Brown University include this goal and the loss to John Hopkins in the 1985 championship game at Brown Stadium

Fred Opie interview with Obafemi Alese 

Brown University Lacrosse: http://laxallstars.com/brown-state-blogging-seasons-change/


Brown Lacrosse Roster: http://www.brownbears.com/sports/m-lacros/2011-12/roster

How to Improve Your Stick Skills: [Watch 4 min 2 sec] http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/2012/06/how-i-developed-my-lacrosse-stick.html

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

How I Developed My Lacrosse Stick Skills

Fred Opie 

Lacrosse Wall Ball Routines:

http://television.insidelacrosse.com/tag/how_to

     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiwZV_a2EfY

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

Croton and Yorktown Lacrosse: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/2010/01/be-steve-mabus-in-your-lacrosse-world.html

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

Club Teams and Tournaments Are Out of Control!

Related links below

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

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

Croton and Yorktown Lacrosse: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/2010/01/be-steve-mabus-in-your-lacrosse-world.html

Coaching Youth Lacrosse: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=youth+lacrosse

How Many Goals Did The Gaits Score Right Handed?

Related Links below

Cornell and MLC Lacrosse Alum Frank Kelly: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/2010/03/returning-to-field-glastonbury.html

The Gait Brothers: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=paul+gait

Coaching Youth Lacrosse: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=youth+lacrosse

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

Behind the Back Goal and Coaching: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=behind+the+back

What's Your Response to Losing A Big Game?

Dan Pratt 36 and Fred Opie 34 in the 1985 NCAA Lacrosse National Championship 

Lacrosse Pioneers in the Hudson Valley: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=+Elliot+Stark

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

Croton and Yorktown Lacrosse: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/2010/01/be-steve-mabus-in-your-lacrosse-world.html

Lacrosse Back in the Day At Croton Point Park: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=Croton+Point

What I Found When I Returned to Lacrosse After Ten Years

Syracuse University Lacrosse All-American and Hall of Famer Jim Brown 

 Former Syracuse University Lacrosse Player Fred Opie

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

Navy’s African American All American Syd Abernethy: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=Abernethy

Navy’s African American Head Coach Rick Sowell: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=Rick+Sowell+

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

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

Lacrosse Outliers, The 1930s

In his book, Outliers, author Malcolm Gladwell argues that success is a combination of opportunities, timing, and people in one's life. I want to use that theory help explain the reason why and others have had some degree of success in lacrosse. Elliot Stark introduced the game to Croton-on-Hudson back in the 1960s. A Brooklyn native, Stark played lacrosse at Rutgers University and later at New York University (NYU) in the early 1930s. NYU had one of the oldest collegiate-level lacrosse programs in the country with the first game played against Manhattan College in 1877. Until the 1970s, just about all the city universities had lacrosse teams. Stark would later go on to play and promote professional indoor lacrosse throughout New York City (NYC). Stark organized a game between members of the Onondaga Nation (near Syracuse University) and the “New York City All-Stars” for the 1939 World’s Fair held that year in NYC.  A onetime reporter turned political relations guy, Stark settled in Croton in the 1960s and started lacrosse in the town. Stark had both passion for the game and the ability to sell it to school and recreation department officials. I was born in 1963 and my family moved to Croton from Ossining about the same time has Stark. My mother grew up in Ossining and she believed that Croton had better schools and would offer her three boys more opportunities than she had experienced growing up in Ossining and she was right. By the time I began playing lacrosse in 8th grade in the early 1970s, Stark and others had made Croton one of the few lacrosse programs in Westchester County and a successful program as well.  

Excerpts from Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers, The Story of Success: http://www.gladwell.com/outliers/index.html

Interview with Malcom Gladwell on Outliers: [Listen Now 4 min 31 sec] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz4hPbHIZ6Y

Croton and Yorktown Lacrosse: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/2010/01/be-steve-mabus-in-your-lacrosse-world.html

Lacrosse At Croton Point Park: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=Croton+Point

The Croton Diner and Croton Point: http://www.foodasalens.com/2009/09/croton-dinner.html

Croton Point Park History: http://brickcollecting.com/croton.htm

Watching Army Lacrosse Games At Michie Stadium, 1975-1981

related links below

West Point Lacrosse History: http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/army/sports/m-lacros/auto_pdf/2011-12/misc_non_event/2012lacrosseguide.pdf

West Points’ Frank Giordano: http://www.foodasalens.com/2009/10/syracuse-lacrosse-aesthetics-and-hot.html

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

Croton and Yorktown Lacrosse: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/2010/01/be-steve-mabus-in-your-lacrosse-world.html

Meddling Parents and Athletics

Photo: Me helping coach my son’s Kennedy’s 1st and 2nd grade lacrosse team. In contrast to my son, who is a lacrosse fanatic, I didn’t start playing until 8th grade.

In today’s post I want to continue to explain my own experience parent and coach relations. As I mentioned yesterday, this went down back in the 1970s back when parents and coaches seldom butted heads. My injury during a freshmen football practice and the coach’s failure to follow up that night with my parents led to a confrontation between my Dad and freshmen football coach Nick Padula who also served as the varsity lacrosse coach. My dad, I learned years later, when ballistic resulting in me being overlooked the following year when it came time to promote JV players to varsity during the year end sectional playoffs. You see, my Dad’s youngest brother Earl Washington Opie died about his freshmen or sophomore year of a football head injury as a student at Sleepy Hollow High School in the 1950s. 

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

Croton and Yorktown Lacrosse: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/2010/01/be-steve-mabus-in-your-lacrosse-world.html

Lacrosse Back in the Day At Croton Point Park: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=Croton+Point

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

How to Improve Your Stick Skills: [Watch 4 min 2 sec] http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/2012/06/how-i-developed-my-lacrosse-stick.html