Bad weather washed out the final practices of the season for both the East Meadow Girls and the Hempstead Boys, on Thursday and Friday of last week. But by Saturday morning it we had bright sunshine and rising temperatures, as we prepared for the US Lacrosse, “Sankofa” Lacrosse Clinic at Lincoln Park in Hempstead. There were plenty of helping hands present and it was a good thing, considering that over 180 kids were registered and we expected walk ups, as well. A Free Clinic where you get a Free Lacrosse Stick, Free T-Shirt and a membership to US Lacrosse – sign me up! The registration process was not without some difficulties (a long line and more than a few “late registrants”), but it mostly ran pretty smooth.

Energy and enthusiasm carried the day. All of the feedback I received, was very positive. I was very impressed with all of the Sankofa Clinicians and the many Volunteers, who came down to help. Three young ladies, who I had the good fortune to coach, were among those volunteers. They jumped right in, got to work and did a great job all day long (almost four hours in total). While I was not surprised, I was certainly very proud of them.

I am not sure, yet, but it seemed like we had about as many walk ups and late registrants, as no shows, so it worked out pretty good, since the number of Sticks and T Shirts, were limited. All in all, I feel that it was a great event and hopefully, a fine introduction to lacrosse, for most of the youngsters.

Sunday was the final day of the PAL Lacrosse Season. The Girls played up in Oyster Bay, right on the water – though, this time there was no breeze, at 9:30am. It was already hot, and a number of girls on both teams, struggled with it. It was a tight battle, tied at 3, when the coaches (not this one) decided the game should end with about four minutes remaining, because it was so hot. I was very happy with how our girls played. We completed more passes yesterday, than probably the rest of the games combined. It was a good season, with a great deal of improvement.

From Oyster Bay, I headed directly to Lincoln Park in Hempstead again. By the time I got there, the car was indicating a temperature of 91 degrees. The Boys complained about the heat, as much as the Girls had, but you could tell they were excited to play, as there were many family and friends in attendance. Our opponent, Massapequa did not have enough players, so we lent them a couple of guys, so we could have a game. They had an excellent Goalie who made a number of real good saves. But our team played their best game of the year, by far and it was never really close. We passed the ball well, dominated ground balls and played very hard defense, all over the field. The progress these guys have made this season, is remarkable. I had a lot of fun coaching both of the teams, this spring.