My First Lacrosse Stick Part 2



The old STX 73, which was much like my first stick My first lacrosse was a STX 76 with a traditional pocket which ordered the summer I entered 9th grade in 1976. I was so excited that it seemed like it took forever for my first stick to come in. I kept bugging Coach Nick Padula every time I would seem up at the high school gym asking if my stick arrived yet. When it finally arrived, man talk about a happy camper; I was in nirvana looking at it and touching it; but I also I had no clue how to string a traditional stick and neither did any of my peers. Christ Weber, who graduated ahead of me at Croton, ordered a “STX 73 from coach Padula.” Chris read my post and wrote me on facebook about is on first stick stringing dilemma; every player goes through this. It’s learning how to tie your first bowtie. Speaking of 1973, Chris wrote, that is stick “came unstrung from Bacharach-Rasin and cost $15.00. Not only was it my first stick but also the first stick I strung” and neither Chris nor anybody he knew in Croton could explain to him how to string the pocket.

My First Stick

The STX Barney which was similar my first stick, the STX 76er 

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Like your first kiss, any fanatical lacrosse player remembers his or her first stick. Mine was a red STX 76er with a traditional pocket, and by today’s standard, a heavy round white shaft. The head was the size and shape of STX barney accept it had three wide stripes at the top of the head similar to the 1978 STX Sam-which by the way made a lot of money for STX. I ordered the 76er through Varsity Lacrosse Coach Nick Padula. This was the summer of 1976. Pack in those days, coaches in small villages in places like Croton-on-Hudson served as the middle men between local players and the three lacrosse companies of that time: Brine, STX, and Warrior. Truth be told, the Warrior Company of that era is a shadow of the company on steroids today which is sponsoring the U. S. Men’s National team. Coach would put the word out that he would be putting in a mail order for sticks in hope of getting enough orders to merit a discount on the entire order. That’s how it was in those days. My town, which always had thriving youth sports, never had a sporting goods store. In fact, I dad had to take me to nearby Peekskill to purchase me first baseball glove and rubber spikes to play minor league. Lacrosse sticks in those days were like really high quality imported olives—most stores not only did not carry them—they never heard of them before; more on lacrosse commerce in the 1970s tomorrow.

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

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

"Once I got my stick skills together I was dangerous thereafter,” Hobart's Ed Howard Part 2

Ed Howard covering Syracuse’s Tim O’Hara, a 2^nd Team All-American selection in 1979. In Howard’s playing days the Statesmen dominated the Orange 24 – 8 in 1977, 15 – 9 in 1978, and 16-4 in 1979. Not an easy bit of history for this historian and SU lacrosse alum to write about. The scores above are representative of three years of good old fashioned butt whoopings! It was during this era that upstate teams, Cornell and Hobart, dominated college lacrosse. 

Speaking of his first year on Hobart’s varsity men’s lacrosse team, Ed Howard (Hobart 79) says, coach Urick “always had me cover the best incoming rookies, during practice” which really helped develop his game. Ed took to the Hobart defensive scheme under Urick which fit his athleticism well, “pressure was our game” Howard says, “and we had Rick Blick in the goal,” a three time All American and a two time U. S. National Team player. By the way, why hasn’t any Hobart alum or fans nominated Blick to the National Hall Fame? He’s got the credential folks. At the start of Howard’s sophomore year, a starting defenseman for the statesmen failed out of the school just before the team traveled south for spring break workouts and games. During stretching before a scrimmage against Hopkins, Coach Schmidt casually informed Howard that he would be starting. In the first half of the Hopkins game Howard picks up a ground ball and goes coast to coast and scores a goal. He would go on to start the rest of that year and scored another goal in Hobart’s National Championship victory over Washington College the same year. But he did a lot more than score goals. “From the time I became a starter as a sophomore, I was always assigned the opposition’s best offensive player. I took pride in that challenge and was very effective (more times than not) in shutting down/ or neutralizing the very top offensive players in the game during my era,” Howard recalls. “We had a lot of athletes on our teams over the years,” says Dave Urick, “but Ed he had something extra, he was really smooth and developed some nice takeaway checks.” The summer between his sophomore and junior year Howard spent hours working on his stick skills in a handball court back in Buffalo. “I grew up in the inner city, and black folks on the corner use to call me ‘college boy,’” recalls Howard. He worked on his stick work for hours during a time when black folks in the city of Buffalo had never heard of the game. “I had a great work ethic” and focused on becoming a complete player with a right and left hand that summer. It was like, “I went from blurred vision to 20-20 once I got my stick skills together.” He says, “I was dangerous thereafter.” More on the final two years of Ed’s career at Hobart over the remaining days of Black history month.

My Series on Hobart All American Ed Howard: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=Ed+Howard

The Business of Lacrosse



1978, Freshmen Croton Harmon High Game at Croton Point Park. Bill Laemel (Left and in the back ground on the side line; click to enlarge image), Me, Fred Opie (center), and Hank VanAsselt (right). The thought of Hank lose on the field back then with a long stick in his hands is a scary movie. Ed McMan was our freshmen coach. He was Nick Padula’s side kick and a great guy to play for.

In late 1970s Westchester County, there were no Herman's World of Sporting Goods (went defunct in 1993) Model’s, Sport’s Authority, Dick’s Sporting Goods, or any other sporting goods stores selling lacrosse equipment. In fact it wasn’t until my junior year in high school 1979-80, that Laura Lee Sport’s in Ossining (then located in Arcadian Shopping Center) and the Lacrosse Barn in Yorktown that I go to a retail store to purchase a lacrosse stick and all the related paraphernalia. Now you see sport stores, department stores, and others retailers carrying sticks (and equipment often in abundance).You even see lacrosse equipment commercials on television (not to mention lacrosse sticks showing up on Law and Order and in GQ magazine). In addition, you can buy any kind of lacrosse stick you want on the internet—custom made and strung—and get it shipped to your door step in 2 to 3 days. Folks we’ve come a long way since 1976.

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

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

Interview with Ousmane Green, Yorktown's Lacrosse Tradition: https://soundcloud.com/thestudytable/interview-with-ousmane-green

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

“It’s about changing your lifestyle” : Staying Fit Then And Now Part 2

Fred Opie covering Hobart's Marc Moore in  the 1984 Manhasset High School's Lacrosse Day of Champions 1984

While playing for Syracuse, I took the game of lacrosse very seriously which meant that while friends from high school took it easy over the summer with partying and seefood diets (eat whatever you). I had to make different choices.  For example, I got up early and went for training runs or did the same in the evening and carefully chose what and when I ate. I would coordinate with staff at my high school to get access to the weight room, and I did lots of wall ball to improve my stick skills. Today I am just as serious about my writing and teaching but more importantly about my fitness. Some say I don't have enough time to work out. I say if you are too busy to workout you are too busy! I also say, look at your older family members and say do you want to look like them when you are their age? Tomorrow I will share some strategies I have employed to reduce my waistline. 

Food and Fitness: http://www.foodasalens.com/search?q=resolution

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

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

Review of The Lacrosse Feature Film Crooked Arrows: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/2012/05/review-of-first-feature-film-about.html

Passion, Practice, and 10,000 Hours

1978 Croton Harmon vs Walter Panas at Army’s Michie Stadium

When I was in eighth grade my physical education Don Daubney, a University of Rhode Island grad, taught a soft stick and soft ball lacrosse unit in the Spring. He followed that up with a boys 8^th grade summer rec program that lasted about three or four weeks that I joined. The summer program culminated with a game against the Lakeland/Walter Panas rec program. Like my first game at Syracuse against Carolina, I was both scared and thrilled at the opportunity. The exposure and opprounity was critical to my lacrosse career. Just learn about the experience of an outlier like Bill Gates and you will see that exposure and opportunity are critical one's development. Gates logging 10,000 hours of practice on computers at a very early age in life. Malcolm Gladwell will tell you there is no mastery without passion and10,000 hours worth of practice.

My Series on Outliers: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=Outliers

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

How I Improved My Stick Skills: [Watch Now 4 min 2 sec] http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/2012/06/how-i-developed-my-lacrosse-stick.html

Staying in Game Shape in Lacrosse

In 1992 I was down in Guadalajara, Mexico getting ready for a MLC vs NYAC club lacrosse championship game at Hofstra University on Long Island. I did speed work, agility drills, and lifted weights while working at Gettysburg College from 1989 until my departure in the June of 1992 for Mexico. This kept me in very good playing shape. When I went to Mexico for the immersion program I had no lacrosse equipment but I knew I had a championship game back in the states in a week. So how did I stay in shape? First I found a gym where I could both ride a life cycle and lift weights not far from where I lived in Colonia Guadalupana. I don’t play anymore, but I still try and stay at hotels with gyms so I can work out. Second I ran most evening for 30 minutes or more and it was interesting to see the looks of the people in the different neighborhoods in Guadalajara that ran through. They were shocked to see me because of my height, brown skin, shaved head, and the simple fact that I was running between 9:00 and 11:00 pm at night. I can’t say I ever saw anybody else running at that hour. Plus when I first started going to Guadalajara in 92, you hardly ever saw black folks. I remember I would run past the a corner of the transit authority office and Gigante Supermarket in Guadalajara where prostitutes would try to get clients with scanty clothing and come ons; some were aggressive in trying to gain my attention as I jogged passed them. When I told my host mother about the prostitutes on the corner in question, she laughed and told me that they were male prostitutes dressed as women; I had no clue and was shocked at the disclosure. Road and stick work are so important in lacrosse but I was not concerned about losing my stick skills because I had spent so much time doing wall ball drills over the years that my muscle memory had me functioning at the subconscious level. In kind of like driving, after a while it becomes automatic. Even though I have not played since 1993 my stick skills are still relatively sharp as I play catch with children. Here is a tip Brian Kelley, the head coach at Calvert Hall High School in Baltimore, shared with me. If you want your children to develop both hands, set a policy that you will only have catch with them if they use their off hand. I tried it with my children and the improvement in their off hand is amazing.

Winter Workouts Part 2

Photo: Walter Payton running “the hill” in Arlington Heights, Illinois

What drove me to run in the cold, lift weights, and work on my stick skills as a Syracuse lacrosse player over winter break were stories of athletes like Larry Bird and Walter Payton. Bird, the story goes, would be out on the court in Indiana heat waves shooting jumpers for hours alone. Similarly during the off season with the Chicago Bears, Walter Payton ran steep hills religiously near his Illinois home about 20 times a day wearing specially made training shoes. So as I said in part one of this series yesterday, in January when I was playing college lacrosse, I would be working my butt off right now and eating wisely in hopes of earning a starting position when I returned to campus. I figured if I worked harder than my teammates and opponents I would have the edge. I continue the habit of working out four times a week but now it’s with weights and biking, and it’s for one hour instead of two. My habits have also stood me well as a prof, author, and blogger. The English writer Charles Reade said, “Sow a thought, and you reap an act; Sow an act, and you reap a habit; Sow a habit, and you reap a character; Sow a character, and you reap a destiny” 

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

Food and Fitness: http://www.foodasalens.com/search?q=resolution

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

Pro and Poor: My Season as Professional Lacrosse Player Part 2

The 1988-1989 New York Saints of the MILL that I played on consisted of largely my Long Island Lacrosse club teammates and a few players from the recently established New York Athletic Club Team (NYAC) out of Manhattan. Notable NYAC players on the Saints included Hall of Famers Kevin “Cooker” Cook (Levittown Division, Cornell, 2x USA) and Roddie Marino (Massapequa, UVA, 2x USA). The Saints also had a lot of other very good players including my Long Island Lacrosse teammates Jeff “Whack” Goldberg a Levittown guy and good friend of Kevin Cook. Whack and Cooker both where both surfing fanatics and they had the same builds and used the same Brine superlight 4 sticks. Few players in my day played with that model stick. I later learned from Cornell’s Frank Kelley it was the perfect stick for faceoff guys. From NYAC we also had the very talented defensemen Darren Muller (Brown All American and the 1985 Ivy League Player of the Year). Darren was big, fast, and a great athlete who played with reckless abandon. He played like Dennis Rodman—lots of hustle and throwing body everywhere to make plays but without all the off court drama. I may have been a professional lacrosse player, but without my day job teaching at Hempstead High School, I would have starved, sleep on the streets, defaulted on both my car payment and my student loan.

How To Get Better on And off the Field/Court

Hall of Famer Pat McCabe (Elmont, SU) covering Hall of Famer Tim Goldstein (Ward Melville, Cornell). Notice how shallow Goldstein’s pocket is? The quick release it provided is one reason why he was such a great feeder. That's SU All American Matt Palumb in the goal. 

For me the U. S. National team tryouts represented the pinnacle of my lacrosse experience. It’s was like being at a summer lacrosse camp with the best players in the country. One would go to the announcement board and see who was playing with and against each session. You’d look at your goalies, defense, middies, and attack and say wow, I cannot believe I am playing with these guys! These were players who were legends to me people like Jeff Long (Irondiquot, Navy): 1st team All-Americans,  players of the year at their positions, and former USA players. Wow what an adrenalin rush! As a professor and author, I get the same rush. Working with the best makes you better on and off the field. 

How to Improve Your Stick Skills: [Watch 4 min 2 sec] http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/2012/06/how-i-developed-my-lacrosse-stick.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 To Get Better During Practice and Improve Your Game

Yorktown and SU All American and 2012 National Hall of Fame Inductee Tim Nelson 

Former Syracuse Lacrosse Player and Tweener Fred Opie

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


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

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

Coach Mark Miller on Shooting Part 2 of 2

Here's a video I shot at Brown Lacrosse Camp, related links below

Colorado College Coach Mark Miller on Shooting Part 1 of 2

[Watch 3 min 6 sec]  http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/2012/07/colorado-college-coach-mark-miller-on.html?spref=tw


How Many Goals Did the Gaites Score Right-Handed?: [Watch 8 min 24 sec] http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/2012/04/how-many-goals-did-gaits-score-right.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

Lacrosse Shooting Video Montage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Myr2revkIyE

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

Interview with Coach Paul Wehrum Part 3

Coach Wehrum encourages his players. Herk vs ArmyB team, at West Point circa1982. 

I an interview with my Junior College (Herkimer County Community College) Coach Paul Wehrum. A native of Roosevelt, New York, his resume includes All American honors as a attackman at Cortland State and as a coach, US Team Assistant Coach in 1998, National Hall of Fame, three undefeated seasons, 15 consecutive regional championships, and 7 National Championships. I asked about his reflections on my career and how would fair if I were a prospective player today.

Thinking about young players that read my blog, for example my son who is ten loves lacrosse, and wants to get better. How do you account for the success I've had in lacrosse as one of your former players?

You came to Herkimer with a passion for Lacrosse and you had great stick skills. I think you were a very very talented young man and you worked very very hard at your stick skills.”

Did you predict my success or did it surprise you?

I did not predict you success because early on you had allot of physical limitations, you were pigeon toed, [and had foot and knee surgery] and you shocked me with what you did after Herkimer at Syracuse as a player like what happened in that Hopkins game at Brown. You found a real joy in playing. You did not feel restricted by me or by Coach Simmons. But if you had gone to different kind of program that did not give you that freedom, you could have had a very different playing career.

College Lacrosse Recruiting Series: Part 4 Dealing With The Pressure

That's me with the red gloves on and Herkimer Coach Paul Wehrum Warming up Greg Kaplan at the old Coyne Field before the stadium received a face lift , Syracuse University 1982 

After the recommendation of Tim Nelson, coaches Roy Simmons Jr. and John Desko came to watch me when my junior college, Herkimer County Community College played the Syracuse B team. In those days schools who could afford them had B teams which included their new recruits and walk ons. The structure gave rookies playing time in scrimmages against other B teams and junior colleges in games that would not count against their four years of eligibility. Athletic department budget cuts have done away with most B teams. I remember the game well because we played on Coyne Field on astro-turf at night. That was my first time playing on a synthetic surface. I enjoyed playing on turf because it complemented my game which was based on speed and trick moves in which I would roll, flip, and bounce pass on the turf. I remember covering Frank Lanuto (Sachem) who would later go on to run first midfield as a team at Syracuse with future hall of famers Todd Curry and Brad Kotz (both West Genesee products). Frank was a very strong player who protected his stick extremely well. I apparently held my own defensively against him. More importantly I played my game which was forcing turnovers, getting ground balls, pushing the ball up field, and creating scoring opportunities with my stick skills and field vision as former attackman. I also did not come apart under the pressure of knowing a coach had come to evaluate me.

Team of Rivals Part 3

Long Island and USA teammate Norm Engelke (Cornell) and Me in Perth, Australia, 1990

While playing with Hopkins lacrosse alum John DeTommaso (Deto), Larry Quinn, and Brad McClain I gleaned everything I could. After all they played for some of the best high school coaches on the Long Island and then for Jim Tierney at Hopkins and John and Larry made the 1986 National Team. I have always said that some of the keys to my success on and off the field has been the ability to learn from others and trying myself with the best coaches and mentors available. In my opinion, playing with Deto and Larry Quinn made me a much better player, particularly because both of them had been students of the game and fierce competitors. Everybody responds differently to competition with some doubting themselves, others turning in the towel, and others rising to the occasion. I would argue that sports can be a great incubator for developing mental toughness and the discipline necessary to achieve one's goals. However, fear competition and or being jealous of others can cap one’s own growth and development. 

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

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

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

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

Back to School and Lacrosse

Herkimer General Fred Opie Covering Hobart's Rick Vacion in 1983

I played junior college lacrosse at Herkimer County Community College before earning admissions and a scholarship to Syracuse University (SU). In the process I gained a great education at an afforable price with in state tutition as a community college (but that's another story i will turn to later). The summer before the start of my first semester at Syracuse University I set my mind on earning a position as starting defensemen during fall ball. I somehow got in my head that a division 1 defensemen had to bigger and stronger than I was at the time—6’ 1’’180 pounds. That summer I ate like a champ and lifted like a chump and ballooned to 205 pounds! Please don't use the strategy I employed. Today I would be small by division one standards where the average defensemen are taller than me and over two hundred pounds; today players are also faster and stronger than during my era. My advice is speed and great footwork and stick skills can never be underrated. On offense size is not as critical as speed and stick skills. Few be understand that NFL Hall of Famer Deon Sanders was not big, but lightening fast!

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

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

Best Checks Videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_ZgV-JkmHU&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmQtx6a_6sY&feature=fvwrel

Lacrosse Entrepreneurs

Paul Rabil capitalizing on lacrosse in a Maverick advertisement (image from  http://www.redbullusa.com/cs/Satellite/en_US/Profile/Paul-Rabil-021242925475786)

The top lacrosse superstar and entrepreneur these days  is Hopkins grad Paul Rabil. After earning All American honors all four years in college, Rabil successfully leveraged his size, speed, and blistering shot to earn indoor and outdoor professional playing contracts and more importantly several endorsement deals that allows him to get paid for his passion. Rabil like his Hopkins teammate before him, Kyle Harrison, has become the Ryan Seacrest of lacrosse establishing a strong brand with stellar performances in the professional ranks, and creating clinics, and camps. He has become the face of lacrosse on television with his California beach boy like persona. Like Seacrest, Rabil his engaged in entrepreneurial activities on many platforms and done it well. I am thrilled about guys like Paul who can follow their passion and get well compensated in the process. For the record my son has a post of Paul on his wall. For a lesson on entrepreneurial strategy check out the Oprah Segment on Ryan Seacrest below. He’s over the top, but most of us lax folks are so behind, we could learn from this guy’s play book. As the proverb goes, you can give a hungry man a fish or you can teach him to fish.

Ryan Seacrest: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHAScLbJy4k&feature=player_embedded

Paul Rabil: http://www.paulrabil99.com/2012/

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

From Athlete to Scholar Part II

I've been talking about the slow transition from athlete to scholar that I experienced. In reflection I realized that in 1991 I started acculturating into academia similarly to how I had to acculturate into the lacrosse world back in the late 1970s. Like the lacrosse world, academia as it on culture including, language, dress, shared values, lifestyle, and hierarchies that I had to learn how to negotiate. The process started during my first year of graduate school when I was doing my course work—that lasted about a year in a half. During that time I learned how to do scholarly research and how to quickly read and analyze entire books and summarize them into a paragraph. I had to also learn seminar and how to present a paper in an academic setting. But again it was no different in lacrosse. When I first started playing back in the late 1970s, I was clueless. I had to learn everything: how to hold a stick, the names of the different parts of the stick, and the rules of the game. Also noticed as a youth lacrosse coach that one of the hardest things to teach young players particularly those in first and second grade like the ones I work with is how to communicate on the field. The best players in my opinion in lacrosse or those who communicate both on offense and defense but if you didn't know the game would not understand what they're talking about because it sounds like banter. Well the academic world is no different and the language sounds like banter to those who do not know it. It took a while but I learned become fluent in both lacrosse and academia. More tomorrow.

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