Gone Campin': U.S. Prepares for MLL All-Star Game
by Nathaniel Badder | Special to Lacrosse Magazine Online
| Training Camp Photos
Day One: Pick-Up Hoops with Team USA
Day Two: Team USA Starts Two-A-Days
Day Three: 'We Have Not Yet Begun to Fight'
Day Four: U.S. Prepares for MLL All-Star
Game
Intrepid reporter -- and US Lacrosse Director of National Teams -- Nathaniel Badder is embedded with Team USA at Bryant University in Smithfield, R.I., as it heads into training camp to ready for the MLL All-Star Game and FIL World Championships. Check back to laxmagazine.com this week for continuing coverage.
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WEDNESDAY, JULY 7, 2010
|
| In the middle of a grueling training camp, Team USA will play the MLL All-Stars tonight in the MLL All-Star Game at Harvard Stadium. |
6:15 a.m.: Out for a morning jog in which I disarmed
approximately 42,000 militant mosquitoes and, after three days on
my feet cruising around Bryant’s campus, my legs felt like
the cement girders which support the George Washington Bridge. I
can only imagine what the guys must feel like after four hard
practices in this East Coast heat and humidity. [Editor’s
note: In asking some of the players how they were holding up, most
reported a little sore but overall very good. Clearly, they are in
much better shape than me.]
10:36 a.m.: Practice concludes and with it, the truly physical
part of training camp ends too. This afternoon, we will head up to
Boston for a pre-MLL All-Star Game media event at Ned
Devine’s in the Fanneuil Hall Marketplace and tomorrow, the
coaches will take them through more of a
walk-through/shootaround-type practice in preparation for the
game. As I’ve said on a few separate occasions,
it’s been amazing to see just how hard the guys have been
going at it.
2:14 p.m.: Film school – Coach Pressler and the staff throw
in a tape from last night’s intrasquad scrimmage and
it’s really fun to listen to the give and take that ensues.
The guys -- having played through and coached many similar
situations -- ask great questions and the coaches fire back with
great answers, sometimes providing justification for decisions made
and other times accepting the players’ suggestions for new
ways to go. It’s a true exchange of ideas and lacrosse
philosophies.
4 p.m.: Road trip. Grab your pillow and iPod.
It’s time to pile on the bus and head for Boston.
5:35 p.m.: Downtown Boston is loaded with markets and
marketplaces. There’s Quincy, South and Fannueil Hall to name
a few. To the non-native, it’s pretty confusing.
6:48 p.m.: After some mingling, interviews and a few sliders from
the appetizer trey, ESPN’s Joe Beninati kicks off the formal
program and introduces the night’s speakers, including Body
by Jake and MLL founder Jake Steinfeld, who encourages the group to
never give up (on themselves, on the league, etc.). MLL
Commissioner David Gross reminds us of what great ambassadors to
the sport these players are. US Lacrosse’s Jody Martin
presents Gross with an autographed #10 Team USA jersey in
appreciation of the opportunity and reminds us of the goal ahead --
to bring the gold medal back to the States. Emily Helm, CEO of
MetroLacrosse, the charity of choice for the 2010 MLL All-Star
Game, tells the great story of the foundation and the kids it
serves. Joe turns it over to the video guys, who cue up a video
package with highlights of the game’s participants and
follows it with personal introductions of both teams.
8:07 p.m.: Risotto, rigatoni and chicken parmesan at Fiore’s
in the North End (followed by some gelato at shop down the
street). Molto bene!
9:40 p.m.: Back on the bus… and back to Bryant…
ready for bed.
Check back to laxmagazine.com for coverage of Thursday's MLL All-Star Game.
