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How Those Knees Holding Up?

Editor’s note: The following was written by Matt “Ramathorne” Ramsey of the Connecticut Valley Lacrosse Club, a competitive post-collegiate team competing in the American Lacrosse League.

It seems each year each guy throws out the excuse, “I’m too old for this“, but for some reason we all come back. Nobody is immortal and immune to the stress lacrosse and loads of beer can put on your body, but for those in the lacrosse community aging is a figment of our imaginations and the beer after a game is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Case in point, the American Lacrosse League and the world of Post-Collegiate lacrosse. A new season is right on our doorsteps full of more bad knees, empty beer cans, and stellar lacrosse.

For some the last game of their college careers ends up being the last time they ever step foot on a lacrosse field. For others the dream never dies and continuously lives on through Post-Collegiate lacrosse. The American Lacrosse League is the best of the best when it comes to life after college lacrosse and consists of roughly 50 teams from eight states, each vying for their division title and league championship. The league also includes two of the nations oldest continuously run lacrosse programs, both close to exceeding 100 years in existence; the Baltimore Lacrosse Club and the Connecticut Valley Lacrosse Club, run by yours truly.

Just as more high schools and colleges adopting the sport, the league keeps expanding. This year alone the league welcomes several new teams. Think you can hang? Form a team and suit up. (pssst New England could use another team) The games are run just as any game is; with one small difference…you’re allowed six poles on the field at all times. Now that may not boast well if you’re on offense, but for a team stacked with powerful defenders it can be a field day.

This past season the league was won again by New York Athletic Club; while they might not be the best looking team, these guys can ball. New York Athletic Club is run by Brian Carcaterra, you may have heard of him, and consists of many MLL alums as well as those from Syracuse, Hopkins, Princeton, and Maryland. On paper, the roster is bullet-proof. Competition is solid all around; with very few teams who cannot compete with one another.

2009 NYAC Championship Team

Once the season kicks off I will provide an update each week as to the action and highlights. I might even toss around some pretty pictures for you to oggle and drool over. I invite every reader to go ahead and check out the website (www.americanlacrosseleague.com) and if you’d like check out a game near you. For now, get a load of the candy some teams will be donning this season…

About the author: Ramathorne’s career took him from the Varsity fields of Southington High School and the Nutmeg Elite Lacrosse programs to Division III top 25 school, Eastern Connecticut State University. Ramsay played as a midfielder for the Warriors from 2005-2008 helping the team to a Little East Conference Championship in 2006 and a birth into the Division III National Championship Tournament. After graduating from Eastern Connecticut Ramsay assisted with the Rip-It Lacrosse program and currently runs Connecticut Calley Lacrosse Club, a competitive post-collegiate team competing in the American Lacrosse League.