Background

Many adults who are actively involved in youth sports have heard the concerns expressed by youth sports organizations and other advocates about the current state of parent-operated youth sports leagues in US communities¹. Most advocates share the belief that the serious deficiencies in these programs [1] are primarily a result of being organized and managed to fulfill the desires and ideals of the involved adults (i.e., winning games, elite player focus, etc.) instead of the needs and motives of most kids and [2] are the main reasons why far too many kids stop playing organized team sports at an early age.

“Every year more and more children are dropping out of sports – not because they don’t like to play – but because the system is failing them.”²

Youth Sports Quality Institute’s Blog.

The first-ever “all-inclusive” Southern California Lacrosse Tournament, PacificXPOSURE will be held in north San Diego County June 25-27, 2010. The destination tournament will provide a clean, safe, fun and competitive environment for all age level of lacrosse players, family, and friends.

“San Diego offers the ideal climate for this premier event with outstanding athletic facilities, perfect weather, a wealth of world-famous attractions and accommodations, and the ultimate Southern California destination experience,” Wheeler said. “PacificXPOSURE offers an ideal opportunity for friends and families to celebrate the end of the school year and the beginning of summer by enjoying San Diego’s perfect climate by participating in this premier destination lacrosse tournament while vacationing on the world-famous Southern California Riviera.”

Nike, STX, Inside Lacrosse, HoganLax, PacLax, Active and the San Diego North County Convention & Visitors Bureau will be among some of the wide array of sponsors and supporters. In addition, proceeds will go to the Wounded Warriors Project.

Tournament Directors will include Summit Performance Group (San Diego), Dennis Yeatman, owner of PacLax (San Diego) and Matt Hogan, owner of HoganLAX (Annapolis, MD).

The tournament is open to boys and girls and men and women Open Division lacrosse players from across the country and Canada. Attendees will come from as far as California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, Texas, Canada and the East Coast. Divisions will be separated by age level including elementary and middle school youth U-11, U-13, U-15 groups, high school and club boys and girls teams, and Open Division Men’s and Women’s play (high school graduates and above).

According to Wheeler, the PacificXPOSURE Vendor Village at Del Norte High School in 4S Ranch in Northern San Diego will showcase a myriad of youth and adult services, lacrosse and sports products, food & beverages and entertainment, with additional exhibits and showcases at other tournament locations including Rancho Bernardo High School. In addition, the event will showcase an exclusive boys and girls Combine on Friday, June 25, coaches’ chats, parent/child lacrosse meetings and evening events.

Sponsorship and vendor/exhibitor opportunities are available now, for companies, organizations and individuals involved in marketing youth and young adult lacrosse, sports, lifestyle, apparel, food and beverages and other related services and products.

“Our simple goal in any sponsorship is to develop a partnership with each company or organization to ensure new brand awareness, existing brand reinforcement, product promotion or simply showing the community your support for youth sports,” Wheeler said.

For more information on the PacificXPOSURE Tournament, please visit our website at www.pacificxposure.com or contact us at 800-734-0161. Follow PacificXPOSURE on Twitter @PacificXposure, and Fan us on Facebook @ PacificXPOSURE.

Suburban youth baseball and softball coaches can expect to find fewer players on the ball fields this summer, according to many league directors.

And while the finger can be pointed at everything from the recession to competition from other sports, experts increasingly are blaming children’s habitual video game playing as a key reason why droves are ignoring America’s No. 1 pastime.

And the better children get at video games and more used to the fast-paced action they get, the less likely they’ll give them up to play the real game, experts say.

“Instead of going out to play sandlot baseball, kids today are content to sit in front of a computer to play a video game,” said Rich Honack, a professor at Kellogg School of Management.

via Daily Herald | Youth sports leagues find fewer suburban kids are signing up to play.

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via Gait Lacrosse, Trilogy Announce Partnership.

February 12, 2010

The road to the national championship goes through Syracuse. And C.W. Post. And SUNY Cortland. And Onondaga Community College.

Last year, the aforementioned New York schools captured the Division I, Division II, Division III and National Junior College Athletic Association titles, respectively.

So, has the Empire State replaced Maryland as the pre-eminent lacrosse hotbed?

One former player turned analyst doesn’t see it as a trend, but as a continuation of what has always been.

“When was Maryland the dominant power?” asked ESPN analyst Quint Kessenich, a former Johns Hopkins All-America goalkeeper and a native of Lynbrook, N.Y. “I don’t know if anything shifted. Syracuse and Cornell have always had dominant programs.”

Slow down, cautioned Towson coach Tony Seaman.

“I don’t think that’s true at all,” he said. “[Last year's] Division I championship was a great game between Syracuse and Cornell, and it just worked out that those two were there. The years before that, it’s been Hopkins or Virginia. … As long as Syracuse is in the North and Cornell is in the North, they’re going to be well-represented. And as long as Hopkins and Virginia and Carolina are in the South, we’re going to be well-represented.”

The numbers, however, seem to support Kessenich’s stance…

via Has Md. lost its grip on lacrosse? – baltimoresun.com.

501(c)(3)

This is the most common type of nonprofit. It includes organizations that are religious, educational, charitable, scientific, and literary; groups that test for public safety, foster national or international amateur sports competition; or organizations engaged in the prevention of cruelty to children or animals.

This type of nonprofit applies for its status using IRS form 1023 and files annually form 990, 990EZ, or 990-PF. Contributions are usually tax-exempt.

Before you can apply to the IRS for tax-exempt status, your organization must first become a corporation. Incorporation will protect board members and other individuals in your organization from being held personally liable in case of a lawsuit. Nonprofit incorporation is very similar to creating a regular corporation except that a nonprofit must take the extra steps of applying for tax-exempt status with the state in which it incorporates and with the IRS.

Nonprofit incorporation usually involves these steps:

http://www.1to1advantedge.com/uslacrosse/dec_PA_mainarticle.html

By Margaret McAvoy

Maybe there is something in the water or maybe the state just breeds the talent.

In Maryland, girls start playing lacrosse when they are barely big enough to carry their own sticks, and the boys are so small they have trouble supporting the helmet resting on their shoulders.

And those Maryland-bred players have found their way to Penn State.

Fourteen of the 29 players on the Penn State women’s lacrosse team are from the state of Maryland, and coach Suzanne Isidor is, too.

The growth of lacrosse has exploded in the last 20 years, and the core of its popularity resides just below the Mason-Dixon Line. Starting as young as 5 years old, children in Maryland are exposed to the game through youth leagues and associations that jumpstart interest in the sport.

Penn State women lacrosse players and coaches from around the country have noticed the trend in Maryland breeding top-notch players. They say because the girls are exposed to the game at such a young age, they develop skills faster than other children in different parts of the country.

“All I know is when I was growing up, every 7-year-old girl was playing,” Penn State freshman and Baltimore native Molly Fernandez said.

Fernandez said she was one of those 5-year-old girls running around with a stick a bit too large and she joked, “If you are from Maryland, you play lacrosse.”

Ruthie Lavelle, the Maryland Youth Lacrosse Association’s (MYLA) president and founder said the league has roughly 40,000 youth players and has produced many Penn State players. The recreational league is the largest and the most recognized in the state and is responsible for organizing leagues and games for young players ranging from 5 to 15 years old.

Read on http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2010/02/10/maryland_influence_spreads_to.aspx

The real issue is a “healthy approach” to organized sports, not whether a team competes against other towns. There are countless examples of coaches in Ridgewood, who teach valuable lessons about sportsmanship, leadership and effort, while playing competitively. A little bit of heathy competition is not a bad thing, as long as winning is not valued as the only measure of success and that coaches don’t play their best players at the expense of less experienced or less gifted players.

It should also be kept in mind that recreational programs exist to serve one purpose, while travel programs exist to serve a different purpose. Parents and players need to understand which is appropriate for them. If all your son or daughter wants to do is socialize with his or her friends in an athletic environment, then travel programs are the wrong choice. However, there are many middle school children, who seek active competition with other boys and girls their own age. These children may be well suited for a more competitively geared program. This is not always driven by a parent’s desire for their children. In either case, the quality of the coaching matters. “Dad” may or may not be the right coach.