Summer time is here, and with the warm weather comes the best times of the year. Summer lacrosse is how a lot of us spent our younger years – going to a tournament or two every month, a couple practices in the hazy heat every week. Truth be told I don’t remember EVERY camp, EVERY tournament, or EVERY summer league game.
I do remember the big ones. I remember going to the Hobart camp. I remember playing in hard-to-find fields behind vacant schools in unfamiliar towns. I remember going up to Lake Placid for lacrosse and camping at Fish Creek the week after with family. That’s a big one.
The Lake Placid Summit Youth Classic (LPSYC) is simply one of the most holistic and well-natured tournaments out there. It’s just pure old-fashioned show up and play lacrosse. Summit Lacrosse Ventures added this tournament to their Summer offerings three years ago for a variety of reasons, and all of them being for the betterment of the game.
Quite frankly, the Lake Placid Summit Classic (the original Lake Placid tournament) is absolutely at capacity. Teams full of kids weren’t able to join in and get a team slot in this amazing tournament, and this really is an experience that everyone should be able to enjoy. The tournament scheduled for July 30 – August 5 coming up later this Summer will have older kids still playing, but all the younger divisions will have a tournament all to themselves!
34 teams will come from all over to the storied grounds of Lake Placid. Age groups will start at the youngest with a U8 division, and two year increments will give us U10, U12, U14, and U16 divisions. For the youngest players, coming to Lake Placid to have fun and enjoy playing lacrosse is sure to warrant becoming a staple of every summer.
The focus is on the kids having FUN and DEVELOPING. There are no colleges recruiting, and while I’m sure some Dad is recording his U12 kid’s game and sending film to Syracuse, that isn’t the norm. Only the best referees will be brought in to enforce the rules correctly so that these young players can learn to play the game correctly with the best in the business keeping everyone safe.
https://www.facebook.com/LaxAllStars/videos/10155465268343981/
I was able to attend the LPSYC the first two years of the tournament, and the scene around town really is something out of simpler times. Kids wander main street in droves, dipping in to the ice cream shop while Mom and Dad lag behind. Twighlight falls over mirror lake in silence, the only sounds a live band in the distance and a few kids laughing.
Literally from sun-up there are flocks of kids stomping around in the shallows – waiting for their turn to give kayaks, canoes and paddleboards a try. Out in the middle of the lake there are two kids hopelessly spinning a paddleboat in circles. I don’t recall the name of my personal favorite shop – but grabbing a bagel and tea in the morning and watching the scene on the lake is better than any television program or mindlessly thumbing through your phone.
