Another Fall (almost) in the books and our Team 91 Charlotte guys just keep raising the bar. This weekend it was our youth teams stealing the show.
We had 7 youth teams playing over the weekend and the boys took home 6 championships at two of the top events in the South. The only team that didn’t come away with a championship? Our 2033s…they played up in the 2032 bracket because they don’t have anyone to play in their own class. It’s a challenge at times but, trust me, the future is bright when they get to start playing against teams their own age.
Our guys were also dominant; our 2027 Blue, 2028 Blue, 2030, 2031s and 2032 teams all went undefeated with some big wins over the weekend! If there was any doubt on where the best youth teams in the Carolinas are, our young guys made sure to clear that up.
We started practicing back in early September with team practices on Sunday nights and our player skill sessions during the week. In addition to the daily “edge work” we ask our players to complete, our guys also have the option to play in our Charlotte Fall Lacrosse League, participate in our Impact or Advanced training programs or focus on specialty training through our Friday Night Faceoff and Goalie training (where we also have shooters getting reps!). You can learn more about the Winter options here:
The success of our teams is a result of all the training our players are putting in to improve their skills along with the commitment (and sacrifice!) from their parents to make it all possible. If a player wants to train a lot, that also means mom and dad are spending a lot of time in the car or at the field! It’s also a credit to our coaches who put in countless hours trying to put our players in a position to be successful. Between our players, coaches and parents, everyone is working extremely hard to create a great environment for our guys to develop!
I’m lucky that I get to sit back and enjoy it all with somewhat of a view from the top. I get to follow all our teams, hear from our coaches, parents and players and I get to watch all the different ages to see what we are doing well and where we can improve. There are three things that I am proud of when watching our teams and following our program:
- The consistency. I absolutely love that we have good teams, players, and coaches at every age. From 2024-2033, we can compete with everyone and there isn’t a drop off at any specific age. No team gets preferential treatment or extra attention, no one is viewed as “special”, and we aren’t known for one specific team. If you play against us at any age, it’s a “big game” for your team. In my opinion, the consistency is proof that we are doing the right things in our approach to development and instruction. It also creates an incredible environment for our players. If you think you’re a high level 2028, you’re competing with our 2027s…who are also really good. You think you are a strong 31? Get reps against our 30s in practice, Impact Training, or our Fall League. Regardless of what grade you are in, if you look above, you or below you, there are really good players to train with and against. That’s a big part of why our guys get better and faster than some players elsewhere.
- We have attacked developing youth lacrosse players and growing the game. Between our free clinics, our Intro Academy programs, our Little Sticks afterschool program, our Charlotte Fall and Winter Lacrosse Leagues and our Ducks Recreational lacrosse league, we have made a huge investment when it comes to getting sticks in hands and developing young lacrosse players over the last few years. The success of our youth teams didn’t come out of nowhere. There are very few lacrosse programs in the country that make the same investment in to growing the game and getting sticks in hands as we do. We also aren’t slowing down. We’re leaning into it with even more free clinics and intro level programs on the horizon! We know that we need to grow the sport in the Carolinas, and we make it a focus.
- We still have the “underdog” mentality. There is still so much we can improve on, on and off the field. We can get even more sticks in hands, we can improve our stick skills and lacrosse IQ across the board, we need to keep getting more people in the lacrosse community on board with what we are doing, we need to keep competing at the highest level nationally, etc. The list goes on. Every social media post by another club lacrosse program talking about how great they are also just motivating us more. We’re in a good place and it’s good to occasionally reflect on where we are but we have a long way to go and our players know it, our coaches know it and our directors know it.
We have another big week coming up with our Team 91 South teams playing in Long Island and Florida, 3 of our Team 91 Charlotte youth teams wrapping up their Fall in the Carolinas and our tryouts for the 2023 Summer this week!
If you’re interested in trying out for one of our teams, you can learn more about our tryouts on Thursday, November 17th by following the link below:
We hope to see everyone on the field soon!
Ryan Flanagan
