The Vail Lacrosse Shootout is one of the biggest and best summer lacrosse tournaments on the face of the planet. It has everything you’d want in a summer event, as Vail combines a stirring history, top level play on the field, divisions across every age group imaginable, plenty to experience away apart from lacrosse, and a visual backdrop unlike any other.
Playing the game at an altitude of 8150 feet also adds in another challenging wrinkle for Vail lacrosse, so a deep bench, well conditioned athletes, young legs, and some time to acclimate all help greatly!
I was able to spend two weeks out in Vail this past month, and while I saw a ton of great lacrosse games and got the full Vail Lacrosse Shootout experience, I also got to check out the local Vail lacrosse community, and what the Western Slope has to offer in a larger sense during the warmer months.
If you’ve never been yourself, the best way to experience what the Vail Lacrosse Shootout is all about is to listen to the people who play and live there, and to see the action play out as best you can from afar. We spoke with Casey
Unsettled Situation: Ep. 3 – Vail Lacrosse Shootout
See? Vail is amazing. We told you!
Thanks to Uncommon Fit for making these videos possible! If you’re looking for amazing custom team uniforms, gear, and apparel, these are your guys! They do unreal work, just check out the TBL uniforms and all the swag I was wearing in the video above!
If you’re looking for more in-depth videos about truly great lacrosse events, check out episodes 1 and 2 of Unsettled Situation, below. (Subscribe on YouTube)
Unsettled Situation: Ep. 2 – Final Four
Unsettled Situation: Ep. 1 – Czech Republic
Vail, like so many other lacrosse destinations, is an amazing town, filled with interesting people. None of these places are ever the same, and experiencing each locale’s scene and flavor never gets old. When you talk to a true believer, someone who’s done it for years, you start to get the gist of what’s going on. When the tournament ends, and you have to pack up and head home, you know it’s been a great trip when you’re already thinking about how to make it back the next year. These places take a hold of you somehow, they mesmerize you, and they draw you back.
So far, that has happened to me at each of the three events we’ve covered with Unsettled Situation. I can’t wait to go back to Prague. It’s a truly unique event and place. The Final Four was special, and I had a ton of fun, but the new International Showdown event also has me really excited for the future. Now I’ve also been to Vail, and this little mountain town is already drawing me back in, imploring me to lace ’em up at least one more time in 2018.
This is what travel can do for you:
It can open your eyes, and push you out into the world. Then it keeps pushing you for as long as you will let it. It forces you to grow, and think, and learn. Brian Witmer knows what I’m talking about. So does Ryan Wallace. And Matt Schomburg. And PJ Martin. And Jamie Plunkett. And Casey
Travel is fun, but it’s also so much more than that – it’s an opportunity to truly live your life, and see what the world has to offer. Meeting new people, hearing new ideas, and trying new things are all invaluable gifts, so if you can use lacrosse to get out there, what’s holding you back? Follow the lead that’s been set by all of these lacrosse legends, get out there, and travel through lacrosse! I don’t see how you will regret it.
