Fall Season Is Over:

The biggest question we always have going into the fall is who is going to fill the shoes of the guys who have graduated. You hope that the upperclassmen will step up and take care of filling all the needed roles. This fall season we had a bunch of returning players step up and improve. Some of this is just now having the confidence and the pressure to step up. Also, a good number of the guys played summer ball, hit the weight room and became better players. The bigger question is how is the freshman class going to be. Ideally they will be bigger, faster and better than they were in high school and a few of them will step up and be ready to fill in right away. This incoming class could be the best in program history. They have all the skills and a few of them have proven that they will be ready to potentially start. We will just have to keep developing them and make sure we put them in a place to succeed.

Shootout A Huge Success:

Dave Alter and I started the Longhorn Shootout seven years ago with the idea of creating a showcase event on the UT campus. We are finally getting close to that ideal, with teams from all over the state and even as far away as Las Vegas and Louisiana competing. It is an awesome site to walk out to the fields and see lacrosse going on everywhere. We had over seventy teams playing on Dec. 4 and 5, with about 1,500 players and at least 3,000 fans in the tournament. Finding a parking spot was not an easy task!

My favorite level of play was the 5th/6th grade bracket and I spent a good two hours that Saturday watching those games. It is great to see the game spreading and growing in Texas. Some of these kids were new to the game, but the majority of the little guys were moving the ball well and playing hard.

One field over was the middle school division and they looked great. We had ten middle school teams in two divisions. I was most impressed with the top teams in the upper bracket. Watching Plano, T-Rex, ATX, Westlake and Cedar Park was a lot of fun and I can’t wait to see these kids progress and dominate at the high school level.

The high school varsity division was very strong this year. We are very appreciative to the Vegas teams for making the trip and setting the bar of play at a new level. It was great to see them here and they ended up winning the varsity bracket. Again, the level of play was better this year than ever before. Many of the teams had good depth with talented players. The UT staff enjoyed talking to a bunch of potential recruits. There were about five players at the tourney who are more than likely coming to UT next year and it was great to see them playing well.

Thanks to the UT players for putting on a very good event for Texas Lacrosse. This year the players did a great job running the fields, selling food and merchandise and the event proved to be an excellent fundraiser for the team. Special thanks to Scott Marmillion, this year’s tournament director. Scotty did a great job in his first year directing and we look forward to having him at the helm for the next few seasons. Also, thanks to Mark Kellner, UT Alumni President, for spending all weekend helping, networking and supporting the team.

A Personal Note:

Congrats to Dave Alter on getting his baby girl out of the hospital and into the warmth of his home. For those that don’t know the story, Dave and Allie had their twin girls premature and unfortunately lost one of their baby girls. The second daughter fought hard and over the past few months put on weight and drew strength from her parents. It is great to report that she is now at home and doing exceptional.

— Noah Fink Head Coach, Texas Lacrosse