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I am a former college player and current coach in Upstate NY.
I plan on moving down to the area next summer and wanted some info about local area programs. Who's good? What are the youth/rec leagues like? Are there any pick-up games or men's leagues?
Just trying to get a feel for the area and type of facilities teams have or have access to.
Any insight or links would be appreciated. Thank you!
I was just at a tourney in Elon Park (awesome facility on Ardery Kell)) this weekend watching my nephew play... Being from LI I know how dominate states like NY and Maryland have always been in producing great lacrosse players.
I will tell you that it seems to be catching on big down here. First off, Duke just won the national championship (which I'm sure you know) and put a bullseye on NC as a hot bed for the sport.
My nephew plays for Lake Norman United (Mooresville West) and they field a pretty good team... South Charlotte (i.e. Myers Park), northern Union County (i.e. Weddington) have very competitive teams.
My son plays at Marvin Ridge HS in Union County. We are originally from NY as well.
The private schools generally have the best teams though Providence is very good as well. In Union County, Weddington is probably the strongest. Not sure about the northern side of town.
The most popular rec league on the south side of town is Mecklenburg Youth Lacrosse, their website is Welcome to Stick With Us . WCWAA (Union County) has been developing a program as well, and it has grown tremendously. Their website is Wesley Chapel Weddington Athletic Association
I believe there are men's leagues (I wish there were women's as well -- I played in college too!) but I am not sure where they play. Call the Lax Zone store, they should be able to direct you. Lax Zone Charlotte in Charlotte, North Carolina
You can also check out Charlotte Lacrosse News they have a blog on there that keeps you up to date with the local lacrosse happenings. As for the best programs in charlotte Myers Park just won their first state championship this year. Charlotte Catholic, Providence are probably have the best public school programs in the area with a number of state titles. As for the Private schools Charlotte Country Day, Providence Day School and Charlotte Latin seem to always be on top. The sport is quickly expanding down here and the youth leagues at stickwithus seem to be leading the way, Welcome to Stick With Us . Also the Adult and high school State Games for lacrosse will be played at Elon Park in Weddington, State Games of North Carolina :: NCAS (http://www.ncsports.org/sgdetail.php?id=41 - broken link) Hope this helps.
Wilmington, on the coast, has some pretty good lacrosse at its four main high schools. They have been playing over a dozen years there. Greenville has some smaller leagues, but would be a good place for a coach. Both ECU and UNCW have clubs but they serve as a catalyst for the high school and "under" leagues.
Lacrosse has been around quite sometime here in the private schools at least. My boarding school in PA used to play Country Day and Chapel Hill in a North/South tournament every year about 15 years ago. They were pretty outmatched back then but started to compete pretty well by the mid 90s.
UNC has been a huge factor at Div I level for quite sometime and now Duke has come on in the last decade. Limestone College (Gaffney, SC) actually won the Div II championship a few years back. This has helped spur the sport on at several local small schools including Queens here in Charlotte. Kinda funny since our club team at Clemson used to whip up on them in exhibition games before they got too good to play us.
Ha yeah I was debating on putting a * next to Catholic I know they aren't entirely public, but they do play for the "Public" state title.
Great point!
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