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2nd Annual Margolis Cup, Help for Jersey

Editor’s Note: We asked Pj Martin from UnCommon Fit to tell us more about the upcoming Margolis Cup, which is held in New Jersey, to provide an update on the tournament as it is something different. Not only is it a charity event (last year it benefited victims of Hurricane Sandy), but the tournament also pits high school alumni teams against each other, and we’re huge fans of that concept! 

One year ago, on December 27th and 28th, over 240 collegiate and post-collegiate lacrosse players came together to battle each other and raise funds to help victims of Hurricane Sandy. The event was called the War 4 the Shore, and featured mostly NJ high school alumni squads who rekindled old rivalries and competed, raising nearly $10,000 for specific individuals in the Raritan Bay area. Our charity for last year, Hope for Highlands, helped us aim the funds at specific full-time residents that had lost nearly everything in the super storm.

With both the venue in Flemington, NJ (PowerTime Sports) and the New Jersey Interscholastic Officials Association back on board, donating 100% of their space and time, the event will commence again as the 2nd Annual Margolis Cup on December 27th, 28th, and 29th of 2013.

Last year’s event kicking things off was an incredible story, as all the players and the tournament itself came together in a mere 3 weeks, after former US-19 team player, Ralph D’Agotsino, threw a Facebook invite out to a bunch of buddies.

The tournament news spread quickly and that’s when a former player of mine added me to the page. I have been spending time in Keansburg, NJ with Team Pecyna, the amazing crew of a friend and UcFit MMA fighter, Johnny Pecyna, doing anything to help the residents of my grandmother’s childhood home. I was blessed to have the Drew University and Princeton University men’s lacrosse teams and the post-collegiate Princeton Athletic Cub’s Rugby team come down en masse to help with clean up, along with many personal friends. It was after this that I contacted Ralph, and together with my teammates at Uncommon Fit, we got to work quickly finding an appropriate charity, locking all the teams in and getting the officials on board. The tournament was even lucky enough to have the trophy, The Margolis Cup, donated by a local shop.

The event’s games went from 8am to 11pm on the 27th, and 8am to 7pm Sunday. There was a lot of excitement and we saw some great play in our unique format. The energy was incredible and although guys fought hard, everyone came together after each game feeling proud of the nature of the competition.

This year’s format for the tournament is once again 8 v 8; 7 field players and a goalie. The field at PowerTime is indoors and is more like an MLL crucible, only shorter, but still with a 2-point line. Last year, Garret Thul, who is currently on the 52-man US Team training roster, found that feature most useful throughout the tournament (make sure to check out the ‘Thul Cam” towards the end of the video below). With plenty of college legs, two 20-minute halves and a 30 second shot clock, the format made for very fast lacrosse.

Although we all recognize that work at the Jersey shore is not yet finished, it was important for us to aim our work in a different direction this year. The competitors will come out and scrap for an amazing place called Mary’s Place by the Sea in Ocean Grove, NJ. Mary’s Place is dedicated to “providing a place for women with cancer to heal: mind, body, and soul.” Like last year’s tournament played for the people affected by the Jersey Shore, this year’s cause touches the tournament’s founders as well as many of the other participants in a very personal way.

Playing the sport we love for our mothers, grandmothers, sisters, aunts, cousins and the important women we love, is an amazing opportunity and we hope to use our medicine game to help bring some healing energy to those who need it.

Here is the roster for the 2012 Champs:

Roster

Attack
Tim Mulrenan – current Villanova
Dave Deriso – 2x AA Drew University
Garrett Thul – Army/Florida Launch/US Team

Midfield
Phil Rosenau – Captain Drew University
Anthony Terranova – Current Captain Rutgers
Joe Gillis – Current Syracuse
Paul Werner – Current Gettysburg
Adam Palilonis – Current Mass Maritime

Defense

John Lade – Syracuse/Rochester Rattlers
Chas Bernston – Rutgers/Tri-State Men’s
PJ Martin – 2x Captain Drew University/Tri-State Men’s
Joe Moore – Syracuse
Brian Megill – Syracuse/Denver Outlaws

Goalie
Marc Jacobson – 2x AA Denison/Tri-State Men’s
Duncan Saunders – current University of North Carolina

Information about Jim Margolis

Written by Shawn Cordner of In2itive Marketing and Team Pecyna (a leader during Hurricane relief in Keansburg)

War for the Shore Trophy to be Named for Lacrosse Player, Sandy Survivor.

The first Annual War for the Shore, a 8×8 Lacrosse tournament held in Flemington NJ, is a fundraiser organized by the We Shore Will campaign. Its’ goal is to help fund local New Jersey organizations that are directly impacting the recovery and restoration of the shore communities so devastated by Superstorm Sandy. New Jersey Lacrosse teams from all over the state will battle for pride, bragging rights and an until now unnamed, trophy.

One of the residents that could benefit from the War for the Shore fundraiser is Jim Margolis and his wife of 35 years, Irene. They are 20 year residents of Keansburg, a small (1 mile x 1 mile) Bayshore community in Central New Jersey.

Jim and Irene have no family in the area and, both in their eighties, they had few options when Sandy made landfall. Living blocks from the Raritan Bay, they quickly began to see water rush down their street. In a matter of moments, their street was under several feet of water, and the first floor of their home was overtaken by the storm surge. They were stuck and as Jim told us, it was “pure luck, or a miracle” that they were found by a good samaritan pushing a rowboat.

I met Jim and Irene after they were transported to a Keansburg shelter that we found through our friends at Team Pecyna. I was humbled by their stoicism in the face of this disaster. They all but refused assistance from volunteers at the shelter (including me) because they felt there were others who needed it more. Jim told me with a tear in his eye, they had never had to rely on anyone else before.

It turns out that Jim isn’t just a member of our community, he’s also a member of our Lacrosse family. Jim played attack in the 40’s at Boston’s Andover Academy. After hearing about the support for the We Shore Will Foundation from New Jersey’s Lacrosse community, he said he wasn’t surprised.

“I’ve been thinking about it, reminiscing, since PJ and I talked about it. (Lacrosse) teaches you teamwork, competition and endurance.”  Jim went on to say how he believed these characteristics are what drives the players and supporters of the War for the Shore to help the people in their community.

He said “I’ve never experienced this level of caring and humanity in my life. I think it’s always been there, dormant, and sometimes it takes adversity like this storm to bring it out.”
It’s for Jim, our Lacrosse brother, that we name our War for the Shore trophy; the James (Jim) Margolis Trophy. For his courage. For the long road ahead to normalcy. And because the story of Jim and Irene is the story of thousands of residents of the great state of New Jersey.

How you can help:

For donations or to register for the tournament, contact: PJ@uncommonfit.com