Lax Is Life Woody Thompson

For high school lacrosse players, the sting of losing the 2020 spring season won’t go away any time soon. But with club lacrosse in full swing with a more "local" flavor, the kids are back on the field. Graham Niemi has been coaching high schoolers in club ball for years, and as the head man at Fairfield Prep since 2016 he's got a strong read on how the talent in CT has changed with the times. We sat down and talked about this altered season, what 2020 might have been for the Jesuits and general thoughts about the game and his long tenure as a Yale assistant.

I admire the lacrosse people who live in a place where the game is struggling to find a foundation. People who make the effort to build something from the ground up. Brian Mayglothling its a former Wilton All American who played at Notre Dame and came back to CT to eventually live and coach in Stratford. After a brief stint as the head boys lacrosse coach at Stratford High School, the 2020 season would have been his first at the helm of crosstown rival Bunnell High School. He's heavily involved at the youth level for both boys and girls and is trying to create a culture in town where kids want to play lacrosse at the local high schools. Brian and I used to work together and it was great to catch up with him and talk lacrosse.

In the state of Connecticut very few people have a better lacrosse resume than Bob Russell.  We talked about youth lacrosse, high school lacrosse and college. I could barely get a word in edgewise - but that's what you get when you get a lacrosse guy like Bob Russell talking about the game that has defined so much of his life.

Maura Fletcher and I have been friends for a long time. We met because of lacrosse - and her dedication and commitment to the game - both in our town and elsewhere - makes me proud to have her friendship. I had a free afternoon, so I went over to her house and sat across a very wide table and we talked about her 2020 team, the game itself and how people who love it are part of a special family.

Guilford Boys Lax head coach Brian White shares his perspective on missing the 2020 season and the CT high school lacrosse scene in general.

Gregg Simon was the long-time Athletic Director at Newtown High School and is now doing great work at the CIAC overseeing the administration of HS sports state-wide. In this episode of "Lax Is Life" we talk about what it was like inside that organization as the decisions were made to cancel the 2020 sports activities in general. And then of course we got around to talking lacrosse.