3 Counties Lacrosse Tournament!!

So, last Sunday was the first lacrosse tournament the 3 Counties Club has ever played in. It is my job to help develop the club - and have it become a permanent club in one of the different leagues.

We journeyed down to Cardiff early Sunday morning as we entered a mixed and women's team. The squads were comprised of MSJ girls, Americans, Worcester Uni boys - and other club members who attend training on Friday nights.

Although there was no actual "leaderboard" we are pretty sure our women's team killed it and won the tournament (which was exciting as it was our clubs first tournament) and our mixed team did really well considering it was the first time many of the boys had ever played in a lacrosse match!

Some LAX action shots taken by Mrs.VanPraag

Off the draw. Did not like this guy

SO stoked for WALLIS after her pizza shot (aka - behind the back goal)

buddies. live. love. lax

being a diva coach.

getting ready for draw again

step squat scoop

Forecast running the field

Boys eating some snacks in between games

Lottie on the draw
Shes AMAZING at lax and will play in the states. I look forward to following her career.

Waldo (note the guys face)

Ralphie running over a girl. She was fine - but wasted time off the clock. 

I LOVE LAX
2 Hands!!

AMERICA.

Sloppy running down the pitch

Nicky throwing the ball

Pure aggression

Prestfelde :)

Last Wednesday...we had a POP Lacrosse Development Day at Malvern St. James. Prestfelde came up for the day!! It was amazing to see my girls again as I still think they are mine :( . TO was there and it was really nice to catch up with her as well.g The girls (coco especially) dominated the day which made me happy. I miss Prestfelde all the time and am looking to go back soon as Paul and Stu (2 South African boy GAP students) are leaving soon. I can't believe how fast a year has gone....

Being Silly :)

Half Term!!

That time rolled around again...the kids had another break from school - which conveniently fell on a weekend where Ali's uncle happened to be playing a concert in Amsterdam. We took a break from our busy schedule to see D GUETTA in Amsterdam. We got the hook up and sat VIP at a booth next to Paris Hilton and even got to meet him and go onstage with him! It was a surreal experience. It was my first house/dj concert and it was absurd. He was an amazing DJ and we had the best time. (will add proof when Ali posts her pictures!!)

After Amsterdam, we came home for Monday as we both had some training sessions Monday/Tuesday. She met me down in Malvern on Tuesday night and the next day we left for Portugal. Yes, I was able to return to paradise, aka lagos just in time for Halloween and some sunshine. The weather was gorgeous and the water was great. Mama made us crepes (pancakes) and we meet some more nice Aussies. I love it there, and if I am ever lucky enough to return - I will be a happy person.

Construction workers meets LMFAO party rockers for Halloween

Birthday Party!!

First Abroad Birthday

Been a really long time since my last update! Yikes! Sorry for the delay in case anyone was stressing out about where I've been in my life.

So I celebrated my first english birthday abroad. As we all know I love birthdays, and paloozas- so it was a tough day because it was really hard being away from my family and friends.

I was lucky to have gibs though because she threw me a birthday party in Manchester at one of the people on her teams house. Although they were already having a party that night - she made it into a birthday party for me, and put signs up everywhere. She also bought me "my favourite things" which included bagels (with cream cheese of course) and some coca cola.

Al and I ready to celebrate in Manch

MSJ GALS

WOO our girls have been kicking some butt and taking some names. We entered the Welsh Rally back in September where we came in first, and entered a regional tournament at RGS where we came in first (beating out Stowe and Wycombe Abbey - 2 very prestigious and infamous lacrosse schools throughout the country). The girls are awesome, and they are only getting better every day.

Waldo and I are very proud of them :) We are trying to get some of them to play in the states. There are some really talented girls on the team.

Girls after Welsh Rally!!

Girls after RGS Tournament

#winning. numero uno

#allwedoiswin - Welsh Rally

Taking a break. Hard day on the job

Wall-E and Rig-B

This is it...its going to be my chance to become famous.  

Dave Abini, Midlands INTO Lacrosse Officer and my fabulous boss, is filming a segment for TDAS (The Dave Abini Show) which is basically going to follow around me and Wallis, documenting our jobs, and what we are doing for lax. 

Bio on Wallis, my housemate:
She's the SCO (school coaching officer) stationed at Malvern St. James, whereas i'm only here one or two days a week. On top of lacrosse, she has boarding duties and her own form room (homeroom). This is basically the job I did when I cam over in January. She went to UMW and is a center because she runs a lot, although claims she "doesnt like to work out" haha. Originally from the great state of Texas moved to NJ. Its been awesome being able to coach sessions with her so far. We get along great and its nice having another American around so we can gang up on our british roommate and are a force with the girls.

According to the girls Wallis is the "nice one" and im the "scary one" (but in a good way of course one of the girls said...). This makes me laugh...me, scary? Perfect.

Spellman would be proud- we had a fitness session last Saturday morning and I made them do perimeters screaming "YA GOTTA MOVE" followed by sidelines and an intense Plank Sesh. Ugh, dare I say I miss perimeters? Nah...

So follow TDAS on Facebook and i'll be posting more videos to come :)

Wallis and I

Bath Eights, 2011

Best. Weekend. Ever.
I'm sure i'll say that a few more times over the week, but really - it was something special.

supporting our friend Pat on timperley lax!

After the course ended up on Friday, and I had taught Leisel how to drive stick shift, we caught a ride down with Vince who plays for Brooklands. (Ali is the Brooklands Girls LDO) Vince is a great guy and so nice! Ali and I like to harass him for no particular reason.

The 3 hour roadtrip was filled with singing, "dougey-ing", and sleeping. "Woooo we're going to bath!" Getting lucky with the weather, we arrived in Bath refreshed and ready to explore the town. Bath is absolutely gorgeous and I encourage myself to go back and look around some more when I'm not completely consumed by lax.

We went out Friday night with the Brooklands guys LDOs (Fuzz and Andrew - Go Endicott!) and met up with everyone else. Needless to say it was a great night.

Saturday was the actual tournament. Unfortunately the Germans whose name I cant type/pronounce won the tournament. Looking forward to the first girls tournament and the start of the season! I want to start playing again!

Lax Life Shot
Notice the fist pound, thumbs up, giggle, stick stringing etc. etc. 

The following night I tagged along with the Brooklands guys for a team dinner.  We decided to thank Vince for driving us by giving him a proper "ice". The american lax bro tradition of sneaking someone a smirnoff ice without their knowledge. Then they have to take a knee and chug the whole thing. Its disgusting, but foreign lax bros seem to love it even more than american lax bros!

Vince Getting Iced

To Summarize:
It was a great weekend: I saw some long lost friends that I had met years ago at the English Lacrosse Tournament at Eton, met a lot of nice people, and watched a lot of good lax... :)

P.S.
Dan (american) who is the other timperley lacrosse writes a blog for inside lacrosse... check it out!
http://insidelacrosse.com/news/2011/08/29/a-yank-king-arthurs-court-playing-and-teaching-lacrosse-england

P.S.S.

SideNote: Lax Bros are the same in every country :)