Lacrosse Talk, Feenix Gear - Need help getting sponsored?

Hey folks, Its Alex Renaud from Feenix Gear. Today I have a special post for all of you. I have recently discovered this exceptional website site that is ran by a friend of mine called lacrosserecruits.com

Of course every young lacrosse player has high hopes of one day receiving that phone call or letter in the mail stating that they have been recruited of that they are being looked at. I at one point received a few letters and phone calls on this matter, and I won't lie, one of the most satisfying feelings you can ask for. Now you might ask yourself; Am i good enough? where can i get such exposure? well the guys at lacrosserecruits.com have answered this void with an excellent idea to help all you young lacrosse players become noticed and possibly into some sort of scholarship opportunity.

LacrosseRecruits.com is a tool to connect high school lacrosse players with college coaches. High school student athletes create a profile on LacrosseRecruits.com with all of their academic and athletic information. In addition, they are able to upload unlimited video and edit that video using video editing software built into LacrosseRecruits.com (we are the exclusive partners of Motionbox.com). The software is very easy to use and each of the 250 LacrosseRecruits.com members have been successful using the software. This video is then incorporated into the player's profile. Once the profile is complete, the player selects 6 "Schools of Interest." Each college coach is notified by e mail immediately that their program has been selected as a school of interest and can view the player's profile with a click of a button. Each choice is locked in for a month so a college coach knows the athlete is interested in his program and not just sending letters and video to every college coach possible, as they do now. For a college coach, we created a tool to help them find, track, qualify and communicate with potential recruits. We interviewed 50 college coaches and asked them what frustrated them about the recruiting process. LacrosseRecruits.com was built to combat these problems. If a coach spends all his time looking at recruits that fit his recruiting profile, more student athletes receive the attention they need. We were told by every college coach how frustrating it is to have to speak with 100 recruits to find 10 that are an academic fit for their program. We have had members e-mail us telling us they have received attention for programs they had never thought to consider. When a coach logs in, he has a list of ever player that has chosen his
program as a school of interest. He can then view each profile, add players to his favourites, send a message directly to the player and even request a DVD from the player. Once a player has uploaded his video to LacrosseRecruits.com, he is able to have DVDs printed and sent directly to the college coach who has requested it. To help high school players research different program's needs, each DI, DII, DII and MCLA program has a customizable profile on LacrosseRecruits.com. On this profile, a coach includes information such as which camps and tournaments they plan on attending, what position players they are seeking and even video introducing themselves to potential recruits
or highlights from the past season. In a nutshell, LacrosseRecruits.com is an environment where high school lacrosse players are able to have a portfolio of their academic and athletic accomplishments as a high school student athlete. For a college coach, LacrosseRecruits.com keeps his recruiting efforts organized. If you have any questions or would like a personal tour, please contact us directly. We are very excited about the nationwide growth of lacrosse and want to ensure every high school lacrosse player gets the exposure he deserves. With over 130k boys high school lacrosse players and only 240 DI, DII and DIII lacrosse programs, high school lacrosse players can no longer sit back and wait for the coaches to come to them. The more active a player is, the more successful he will be (as is the case with anything in life).

Thank you to www.LacrosseRecruits.com for not only this information but also for providing our young players with more opportunity.

Alex Renaud

www.feenixgear.com

Lacrosse apparel, custom team or business orders. Feenix Gear also offers eco-friendly clothing.


you can also visit my other blog at www.feenixgear.blogspot.com

Lacrosse Talk, Feenix Gear - Lakers Kyle Sorenson, MSL

Hi gang, Alex Renaud here from Feenix Gear bringing you news and views from Lacrosse. After having been to many of the Peterborough SR.A games i am pleased to be able to say that one of the Peterborough Lakers boys is tied for Gene Dopp award.

Kyle Sorenson of the Peterborough Lakers tie for the Gene Dopp Award for the MSL Rookie of the Year.

Tied with Derek Hopcroft of the Brooklin Redmen showed outstanding offensive skills finishing 9th in league scoring with 24 goals and 30 assists for 54 points.

Sorenson showed himself to be an outstanding two way player for the Lakers. Always able to read plays and execute to perfection are only a few of the things that have gotten him to where he is today.

Peterborough Lakers Player Profile

Kyle Sorenson #8
Shoots: Right

Hometown: Peterborough, Ont.
Height 6'1
Weight: 210
Birthday: June 22, 1986

Job outside Lacrosse: Play it Again Sports
Career Highlights: Mann Cup and Minto Cup
NLL Team: San Jose

Sporting Idol (non lacrosse) Mike Jordan
Other Aspirations: Win a Championship this year
Hobbies: Golf, Guitar Hero

Thanks to the Peterborough Lakers for this. For more information on the Peterborough Lakers and the MSL please visit their website. http://www.peterboroughlakers.ca/

Alex Renaud, http://www.feenixgear.com/
Lacrosse apparel, custom team or business orders. Feenix Gear also offers eco-friendly clothing.

Lacrosse Talk - How to string a lacrosse stick

Hello, Alex Renaud here once again signing in from Feenix Gear. In this blog i am going to give you some very good pointers on how to properly string a lacrosse stick. You can be the fastest player on the field or the strongest defender out there, but if you can't handle the ball how are you supposed to become the star player that you one day hope to become.

The first key to realizing your dream could be as easy as properly stringing your lacrosse stick. For all of the lacrosse players reading this right now you will understand what i mean when i say: How many times have you been in a situation where your golden to pot that sweet goal and when you go to throw you stick hooks, the ball goes directly down and the ball bounces over the net, not the greatest feeling.

How about if your running on a fast break in either field lacrosse or box lacrosse and you're about to make that ever so important first pass and the ball just flies out of your stick in any direction or if you're the player receiving that pass and your strings are too tight and the ball simply bounces out of your stick. All of these situation come down to basic stick stringing.

This is why I have included a small note on how to string a stick, the trick is simply practice, practice practice. The more you play with your stick the more comfortable you will be with it, giving you better control while on the field or floor. Anyways here are some pointers that have helped me.

1. Stretch the mesh so that every hole looks the same in diameter. Soft mesh is ready to go, but durable mesh will take some stretching. If you are using durable mesh, run it under warm water to help stretch the mesh.

2. The rough side of the mesh should be facing away from the front side (see head diagram for hole placement and layout) of the stick. Fold the top row of holes over to meet the fifth row. The second and fourth rows should line up hole for hole. There should be a total of ten holes spanning the width of the mesh.

3. You are now ready to attach the mesh to the holes in the scoop.

4. Take the 54” piece of sidewall string and tie one hitch knot through the top left hole of mesh, marked with an arrow, attaching it to the top sidewall hole of the head.

5. Following the diagram and the highlighted holes, string along the path connect ing the holes in the scoop with the holes in the mesh. Upon completing the first row across, double back through the opposite sidewall hole and repeat the pattern back to your place of origin. Finish with a hitch knot around both strings, preventing any stretching.


SIDEWALL INSTALLATION

1. Starting at the second sidewall hole, tie a simple figure 8 knot to secure the string.

2. Follow the pattern in the diagram. Be sure to string the sidewall through every hole in the mesh. Be careful that you do not stretch the mesh to meet the next sidewall hole. Some mesh pieces will match up differently with different heads and may need to have the sidewall strung through two holes of the mesh before the next sidewall hole is met. Notice the Proton in the diagram, the sidewall string is strung through two holes between the third and fourth sidewall hole. End with a figure 8 knot when you reach the last hole.

3. Repeat these steps on the opposite sidewall.


BOTTOM LACE TIE OFF

There are two ways that you can tie off the mesh at the bottom of your lacrosse head.

STYLE 1
1. Using the excess sidewall string, follow the weave pattern in the diagram after you have completed the sidewall stringing.

2. Simply tie a knot to finish the string off.
Hint: This is best if you’re not sure how deep you want your pocket to be. By simply untying one knot, you can easily adjust the depth of the pocket. This is accomplished by either raising or lowering the lace through the holes in the bottom of the mesh. You can also easily take in or let out slack throughout the sidewall laces. This will allow you to adjust your pocket depth to your liking.

STYLE 2
1. Tie off the sidewall strings with figure 8 knots.

2. Use the extra sidewall nylon piece and follow the pattern in the diagram on the right.

3. Finish the pattern with a knot of your choice.

Hint: This system works best if you choose to experiment with your sidewall installation. This system's primary function is to make the depth and the width of the pocket completely separate functions from each other. If you like a deep, wide pocket, you can change the depth with the bottom lace and widen the pocket by pulling the slack out of the sidewalls. This installation process is great if you enjoy experimenting with different string styles.

Thank you to STX for providing these pointers.

I hope you have enjoyed this post and that it does come in hand when you do think about restringing your new stick.

Alex Renaud

www.feenixgear.com

Feenix Gear - field lacrosse for beginners

Hello, Alex Renaud from feenixgear.com here. Today i have chosen to give those of you who are not familiar with the sport of Field Lacrosse a heads up. The next few paragraphs will include brief discussion on the player positions of Field Lacrosse and a few short rule's to follow when first starting out.

Field lacrosse personally, is the more exciting sport when comparing both box and field lacrosse. I personally find field more interesting and for those of you who are just learning the sport, it is a much slower pace game there for will be easier to follow at first.

To start off field lacrosse is composed of two teams fielding 10 players each; 1 goalie, 3 defensemen, 3 midfielders and 3 attackmen as oppose to 5 players a side in box lacrosse.

Now with all these players on one field at once, things could get a little crazy. To avoid all of this, 4 players must always remain on defense, this can include your goalie and your 3 defensemen. The 3 midfielders are the lucky guys who are able to roam around the entire field, and last but not least the 3 attackmen must remain in the offensive zone at all times. Offensive players and defensive players are allowed to switch from offense to defence as long as there are always 3 players on offence and 4 on defence.

The game begins with a face off at center field. Four players line up in the defensive clearing line, 1 centermen lines up at center field, two more players line up on the side wing areas and finally the three attackmen remain in their offensive zone hoping their teams wins the draw. Once the whistle is blown the players lined up on the wings are allowed to run in and help retrieve the ball, all of the other players must wait until someone gains possession.

In field lacrosse there are no penalties, instead they have fouls. The penalty for a foul usually results in a 1-3 minute suspension where the player must run off and wait for his time to end, note the foul clock only begins once the player is off the feild. Players who accumulate 5 personal fouls are ejected from the game. Some examples of personal fouls are: slashing, tripping, cross checking, unsportsmenlike conduct, roughing. Other examples of technical fouls include stuff like holding, inteference, offsise, pushing, stalling, warding off, etc.. Technical fouls are usually only 30 sec suspensions.

Body checking is permitted as long as the player who is being hit has the ball or is within 5 yards of a loose ball. Finally the entire object of the game, i will state the obvious is to score on the opposing teams goal.

I hope you enjoyed this little bit of information brought to you by Alex Renaud from Feenix Gear.

I have included a field lacrosse layout to convenience you a little more..

Feenix Gear -Lacrosse History

Hello its Alex Renaud here from Feenix Gear eco-sportswear. This is the second of several post I will be posting on this page blogging about lacrosse and all of its different issues that relate to this magnificent sport. Today i have decided to give you a short history lesson on the great Canadian Sport we call lacrosse.

Lacrosse is one of the, if not the oldest team sports in North America and possibly the world. The game of lacrosse was played by Native Americans throughout Canada and the United States, but was most popular near the great lakes. Today, box lacrosse as we call it, is played with 5 players and a goalie on each opposing side. Traditionally, lacrosse games were major events and as many as 100 to 1000 men from opposing villages would play on fields that could reach from 500 yards to 15 miles in length. It was not uncommon for the games to last many days at a time. Pre-game rituals were not uncommon and were similar to rituals associated with war, players would decorate their bodies with paint and charcoal, some players would even decorate their sticks with objects representing qualities of the game. Before the game begun, player were required to place wagers, items such as handkerchiefs, knives, trinkets, horses, and even wives and children would be at stake. One thing is for certain, they did not have referees at this day and age. Thing got pretty rough out there. The medicine-man acted as umpires or coaches to the players and is said that a lot of men died throughout the process of a single game, it is also told that it was a honour for the losing teams captain to be sacrificed at the end of the game. The game today has changed very much, but the originators of the sport will never be forgotten as we continue to play our very own version of the sport of lacrosse. We have changed the game significantly since its original airs but never will we lose drive and the passion that our ancestors fought with in each and every match.

Alex Renaud
www.feenixgear.com

lacrosse, behind what everyone see's

So today i am witting about what people dont realise about team sports. Most people don't understand just how much work it takes to either be a player or even a team parent. That is at any type of level. Wither you are playing in the House League, minor or even Junior or Pro.

The amount of work that goes on behind the scenes of any sports team is insane. Im going to focus this discussion on lacrosse only. If you are a player and you are reading this then you will understand what i mean when i say we players are under estimated. All od those early morning runs or late night workouts. We train extremly hard every day but no one see's this. The only thing that people or fans see is the performance on the floor. You can be training harder then any one else, but if you make a mistake out on the floor then it is you that is deemed as a lousy player. What is a lousy player anyways? someone who doesnt work hard and have low work ethics or is it someone who does work hard but chokes under pressure? Is it fair to deem someone lousy because he folds under pressure, for all you know he is the hardest working player on the squad.

What are some of the training methods that you noticed worked for you in the past? and what are some that well were not so effective.

One more thing that people don't usually realise, and this one is going out to all of the lacrosse parents out there who dont get any type of credit. Parents will slave themselves by driving to the rink each and every day just so there child can participate in practices and games. Im not going to rant on about how much work parents have to put into their kids dreams. But i will say that the next time your Mom or Dad brings you to your next game or practice, make sure you thank them because without them you would have never been able to make it to where you are today.

Now with that being said, I think that car pooling should be something that teams want to look into. Our planet is ever so fragile and we are poluting it more and more with each day that goes by. It is up to us to try and make a different. There is a lacrosse apparel company called Feenix Gear who is trying to push green-friendly sports apparel. I know the owner very well and his vision and goals are very realistic, just needs more fan support. Check out the website at: www.feenixgear.com the clothing is unreal and its all green friendly.

If you have read this and have any comments or even anything else to add, feel free to post to this blog.