Canby
Youth
Lacrosse
|
|
|
|
Email Sent on June 16:Folks… Thank you so much for everything you have provided this year. It was an absolutely unbelievable leap-of-faith that you all took back in February. Thank you!! It has been so much fun. Your generosity in the gift you gave me humbles me. The real gift that you all gave to me was the opportunity to work with your sons and have a whole heckuva lot of fun!!! As I said last night, the challenge lies in front of us. I think many of us have plans/hopes for 5th/6th grade team, 7th/8th, JV, JV2, and maybe a girls youth team too. That will take a lot of hard work by all of us. We need to “sell” the program and the sport. Talk it up, direct folks to visit our website (www.canbylacrosse.com), convince them to go ahead and get gear (they won’t regret it), attend camps, and more. I am even toying with the idea of an entry in the General Canby Days parade – I don’t know anything about how to go about that or if it would even make any sense, but it would help with exposure probably. As we move ahead into the “off-season”, I will continue to send email updates as things come up. I do plan on organizing some informal scrimmage opportunities throughout the summer. I am also still trying to figure out if we may do some type of clinic as a kick-start for the “other” kids in Canby who want to get going. If we do that, it would be really cool to get our kids to be helpers at such a thing. For the next week or so though, I plan on being a Dad and trying to recuperate a bit (actually, I’m not sure those two things can happen at the same time). Everyone needs to spend some off-season time working on their stick skills. As simple as it sounds, the best teams are the ones that can pass, catch, shoot, and score consistently and consecutively. Those moving up to HS next year will see a REALLY big jump in those skill sets. For now, everyone deserves to revel in the pride of the gamble that we all took and the pride of achievement that we have earned. Again folks… Thank you, thank you, thank you… Coach Nelson
Email Sent on June 12:Hey folks… I can’t believe the season is over. Saturday was such a great way to finish up an unbelievable season!!! I am so proud of the boys!! On Friday evening the 15th, we will have our end-of-season celebration at the Old Town Hall above Thriftway. We’ll have pizza delivered and we’ll bring drinks (the ones that were left over from the jamboree). We’ll have plates and napkins too. We will meet there beginning at 6:00 with planning to have the pizza get there around 6:15. Please bring your whole family. To cover the costs, I am asking each family to pitch in $15. (A better deal for the big families, I realize, but I also want to keep it simple…) I know that’s a bit and if it is an issue, it is not a problem and no one will say “boo” about it. Any excess will be put back into Canby Youth Lacrosse coffers. I look forward to seeing everyone on Friday evening… Coach Nelson
Email Sent on June 8:Hello everyone… A few things about tomorrow:
My cell number is 503-740-9703. Don’t hesitate to call with any questions. See you tomorrow… Coach Nelson
Email Sent on June 6:Hello everyone… It seems like just a couple of weeks ago that we weren’t even sure if we were going to have a team. Geez, this has been a really rewarding experience. The boys should be REALLY proud of themselves. I hope the boys re-gained some confidence based on the 2nd half last night – we finally seemed to find the “on” switch. I’m not sure how it ever got turned off, but… Team Pictures/Last Practice: We will practice tomorrow night from 5:30 to about 7:30. The boys should bring both game jerseys and wear shorts like they were going to play in a game. Shelley Toler is going to take pictures of everyone that she’ll make available for everyone (details are forming). We’ll take a team photo (even though Shea won’t be there – we may try another one on Saturday morning before our first game). Then, we will practice. Shelley will be there a bit early tomorrow, so the boys can show up like they normally do. The boys there early can have their picture taken early then. Game Times on Saturday: We play at 10:00, 12:00, and 2:00 against Hood River (field #2), Grant (field #3), and Glencoe (field #3). The place we are playing is WyEast Middle School, which is a little further than where we played at the port up there before. According to yahoo, it takes one hour, 33 minutes to get there. So, the caravan will leave Ackerman at 7:30 AM SHARP. You will probably want to bring snacks since there won’t be a lot of time between games. End of Year Party: We will celebrate the season on Friday, June 15, exact time and place to be determined. I hope to have details on Saturday. (As many of you know, Andre Dube’s family has moved to Texas. He is going to join them on Tuesday, June 12. So, Saturday will be the last time that many of us will be able to see him. Please take a moment on Saturday to congratulate him on his season. I suspect that some of us will go to eat somewhere after our last game as an informal celebration.) Summer Activities: I know that a bunch of the kids have signed up for stuff over the summer. I would love to know what the kids are doing. I am more than willing to try to act as a coordinator of sorts. Please let me know what, if anything, they will be doing. Gearsets: If you know of anyone wanting a gearset, please direct them to our website (Off-Season Activities) for info on pricing and ordering through us. TeamSpirit has asked me if they can use some of the photos on our website for a display at their store. I have indicated that they can use the team photo. They want to use some of the other photos too though. Please let me know if you have ANY anxiety about them using pictures of your son. I don’t there will be any royalties involved… (That’s a joke.) Lastly, I wanted to let you know that Frank and I had a very positive meeting with Dennis Burke (the Athletic Director at the High School) on Monday afternoon. He is very excited to have our 8th grade boys move on up to the HS and form a JV (and/or JV2) team. He mentioned quite a few really nice perks that we might get as our association with them is “cemented”. We talked about fields, painting the fields, access to a trainer, storage space, possible bus transportation, during the day access to the kids, HS eligibility standards, and a lot more. It was very encouraging and sounded like it is going to be a “go” so long as we dot our i’s and cross our t’s. Thank you for the tremendous positive support you have provided all season long… See you tomorrow… Coach Nelson
Email Sent on June 3:Oregon City game time is 6:00 PM. Please be there by 5:15. We are planning to play Riverdale on Tuesday, June 4, 6:30 at Ackerman. If you are planning to play in the summer league, the registration deadline is tomorrow June 4. Visit our webpage and look over the Off-Season Activity page for details. You might want to check out the website. I have put some more pics up there (thanks to Nicole Fuge). Lastly, I am beginning to get quite a few requests for gear for some “new” kids. I am now accepting orders for that. Gear sets include helmet, shoulder pads, gloves, elbow pads, stick, mouthpiece, and ball. Canby Youth Lacrosse will also pitch in a helmet decal and a Canby Lacrosse T-shirt. Sizes available and prices are: XS, S, M, L, XL with prices for the whole package of $185, $195, $205, $215, and $225. Anyone wanting gear sets should email me and then send a check for the correct amount to:
Canby Youth Lacrosse (Or, you could drop the check at my house.) See you tomorrow… Coach Nelson
Email Sent on June 1:OK… We are going to play Oregon City on Monday. Game time is 6:00. Please plan on being at Ackerman at 5:15. We will practice from 9 to 11 tomorrow (Saturday, the 2nd). Frank is confirming that we are “on” for the Riverdale game on Tuesday. See you tomorrow (most of you anyway)… Coach Nelson
Email #2 Sent on May 30:Oregon City is claiming that they never had the game scheduled. Frank is sure that it was. At this point, it does not matter. They are unwilling to play on Saturday – they say they won’t have kids. They would like to play us on Monday night. I realize that this could be a problem for some of you. I am somewhat undecided about whether we will play them on Monday or not. It largely depends on everyone’s availability. So… Here’s the deal as it stands now: 1) We will practice tomorrow night from 5:45 to 7:00 (unless a different team shows up – then we’ll play ‘em) 2) We will practice on Saturday from 9:00 to 11:00 3) We do play Riverdale on Tuesday 4) We practice on Thursday June 7 from 5:30 to 7:00 5) We are in the Hood River Tourney on Saturday June 9 6) IF enough guys can make it on Monday, we are likely to play OC on Monday evening Tomorrow at practice, I will need to know who would make it Monday or not. If circumstances make it not possible for your son to make it on Monday, I definitely understand. Please come with that answer though. Again, I am really sorry about this… Coach Nelson
Email Sent on May 30:Hello everyone… I can’t believe we have only a week and a half left of the season. Geez!!! It has been so much fun!!! A few things I need to make sure you know about:
I’m sure there is a bunch of other stuff too, but those are the main things that come to mind right now. Thank you for all of the support that you have shown to us… Truly, it has been a lot of fun!!! Coach Nelson
Email Sent on May 20:Well… That game yesterday really showed some progress. I am really proud of the way the kids bounced back. I’m sorry about the mix-up with the field, but it worked out. A few things:
See you Tuesday at 5:00… Coach Nelson
Email Sent on May 18:Hello everyone…
Get some good rest, bring a positive attitude, and lots of energy. Visualize yourself doing the right things in the right ways, believe in yourself. Let’s see how this dipstick game measures up… See you tomorrow… Coach Nelson
Email Sent on May 14:Hello everyone… Well, Saturday was fun, but it would have been nice to have performed a bit better. We performed well against West Linn – that was a good win. We also saw a couple of pretty good teams in Glencoe and Hood River. I will be interested to hear from the guys about what they may have seen in those teams that we can try to do – things that may help us take another step. The numbers are still grinding just a bit, but I know that we did make some money on the event – not as much as I would have liked, but some. I want to extend a HUGE thank you to everyone for all of their incredible efforts. The guys really need to extend a thank you to their parents for their efforts too. I am particularly excited about getting the chance to play Hood River again. We get a chance to measure a week’s worth of improvement. It is easy to say something like they are better than us and we can’t compete, but I know we will not do that. We will dig in, work hard, and get better. We will extend practice tomorrow night a little bit. We will go from 5:30 to 7:30. We have a number of things to get better at. We’ll do that. Keep the faith. It’s a cliché, but… When the going gets tough, the tough get going. And so get ready to go… Starting tomorrow night… Coach Nelson PS: I am not sure, but I think the Hood River tournament on the weekend of June 9/10 may be the EOY tourney. If that is true, our season will end with that tourney in Hood River. Hopefully, we’ll know soon…
Email #2 Sent on May 10:Hello everyone… We will practice at Ackerman tomorrow evening from 6:00 to 7:00. I understand that the late notice may make getting there a little tough. Please do try to make it though… I am so jazzed for this Saturday. It will be so much fun. Coach Nelson
Email #1 Sent on May 10:Hello everyone...
Here's the game times for our
jamboree...
Canby Youth Lacrosse Spring 2007 Jamboree Notes
Games Game 1: 9:00 AM Canby vs. West Linn Game 2: 10:30 AM Hood River vs. Glencoe Game 3: 12:00 PM Canby vs. Glencoe Game 4: 1:30 PM Hood River vs. West Linn Game 5: 3:00 PM West Linn vs. Glencoe Game 6: 4:30 PM Canby vs. Hood River
I would like the kids at the event by
8:00 AM on Saturday morning. There will be some setting
up to be done. We may need their help doing that.
I hope you saw my other email about
Josh's #21 game jersey. Please look in your gear bag for
it.
I am still pondering it, but we may
practice briefly on Friday evening. Be checking email
for further updates.
Coach Nelson
Email Sent on May 9:Hello everyone...
Yesterday's outcome was a bummer, but
the kids played hard. You can see so much progress being
made. We are starting to understand the game so much
better. We have some areas that we clearly need to work
on. We'll be doing that tonight!! It's all good!!!
As you should know from previous email,
we need all families to pitch in to help on Saturday. We
have a fine field of teams - Us, West Linn, Hood River,
and Glencoe. It should be great fun!!!
The work assignments are below. I will
also be handing a sheet of these at practice this evening.
(Yes, there is practice this evening from 5:30 to 7:00 -
no practice on Thursday this week.)
Thank you everyone... With the effort of
all of us, this will be a great event for all involved!!!
Coach Nelson
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's the work assignments:
Jamboree Working Assignments
I have taken the liberty of assigning each family to a job during a specific timeslot. If you cannot cover the slot indicated, I am going to leave it to you to swap with another family. If, for whatever reason, your family can't work at all, you will need to try to bribe some other family into covering for you.
All slots require an adult to work. In the concessions, additional help of siblings might help some too.
During the balance of the day, I ask that folks be generally available to help out with whatever may be needed. Things that could come up include things like a run to the store for more of something or, helping to keep the area generally clean.
You will, almost for sure, have to work during one of our games (game times are still being finalized). I apologize for that, but hopefully you will be close enough that you can watch anyway.
Frank and I will be floating around all day checking on everything.
Concessions 8:00 – 10:30 McDonalds Koenigs 10:30 – 1:00 Parkers Callaways Bells (Three families – it is lunch time here) 1:00 – 3:30 Dube’s Casciatos 3:30 – 6:00 Ungers Nelsons (Austin)
Game Clock Games 1 & 2 Tolers Games 3 & 4 Nylens Games 5 & 6 Fuges (Tony's family)
Scorebook Games 1 & 2 McKinneys Games 3 & 4 VanAmburghs Games 5 & 6 Rusts
Email Sent on May 5:For this upcoming week ONLY, we will not practice on Thursday because a bunch of the guys are involved in a school thing on Thursday evening. We will practice on Wednesday from 5:30 to 7:00 instead. Also, the Kingsway game on Tuesday is at 6:30 at Ackerman. The boys should be there by 5:45. We will need some folks help out with running the clock etc. Dan? Shaun? Lastly, next Saturday will be a busy day for all of us. From about 8:00 until around 5:45, we will need folks to work concessions and the clocks etc. All families will need to help out at least some. I am thinking of something like either working two games of clock/scorebook (has to be an adult) and/or 2.5 hours of concessions (an adult is needed, kids can help too). I just wanted to put it on your radar screen. Coach Nelson
Email Sent on May 3:Hello everyone…
See you tomorrow…
Email Sent on April 30:That was a good Tigard team. In my mind, they are the best team that we have played up to now. Even during warm-ups, you could see their stick, passing, and catching skills were a lot more polished than anyone else we have played so far. I still am really proud of the way the kids progressed even during the game. We began to realize who we needed to locate on defense and how to defend them. We also got better at moving the ball to open men earlier. We still have a long way to go, but as we always strive to do – we will be better than yesterday and not as good as we will be tomorrow. I think the final score was 7-2, but the 2nd half was 2-2 I think. As tough as they were, we did compete. Reminder: NO PRACTICE TOMORROW!!! As I told the guys, this is not because I think we don’t need the practice, but because we need the rest. The guys are really spent – that is apparent to me. They need to get some rest and some water in them. They also should invest in a short (10 minute) regimen of stretching. As the muscles recover, they need to be stretched in order to maintain flexibility and maximize the gain from the exertion. Thursday night’s practice will be at 5:30. Please be aware that we may go long on Thursday night. We do play on Friday, but we have some things that we need to get worked out. Stay positive… We’re got some ground to make up on some other communities… We’re getting there… See you Thursday… Coach Nelson
Email #1 Sent on April 29:Hello everyone… Wow!! What a fun and exhausting day of lacrosse yesterday. Actually, the whole weekend was fun as it turned out. The boys should be really proud of themselves. They performed hard and performed well. Over the 3+ games, we outscored our opponents by a combined score of 30 to 13!!!
One other note to put on your radar screen: We will be hosting a similar event at Ackerman on May 12. I am going to try to get the same ref’s that we had for our Glencoe game. We will be providing clock and scoreboard operators (hey, that sounds like yesterday actually). We will also be running a concession stand, maybe even with a barbecue. This will mean that we will need a LOT of help. We will need folks to be willing to work even during our games. Luckily, the field is “right there” – so you should be able to watch even while working. We should be able to raise some money and have another great day of fun!!! Also, I know that several of you took pictures over the weekend. I am looking for one of the team shots that I could try to get into the Herald. I would need it TODAY though. If you have one, please forward it to me. I did update the website with an “article” about our Clackamas game and added some pictures too before we left on Friday. If you have more pictures, get ‘em to me and I’ll post ‘em. I think folks are looking at them, right? But before we get ahead of ourselves, we have to deal with Tigard tomorrow. See you then!!! Coach Nelson
Email #2 Sent on April 29:Hey everyone… I wanted to let you know about a camp this summer that I think a few of the kids are REALLY interested in attending. Of course, it is a U of O camp. It is an overnight camp (where the kids stay in the dorms) and thus is pretty spendy. The guy who runs the camp is the head coach at Stanford and played at Princeton. He is very knowledgeable about the game. (Frank and I attended a clinic that he ran for coaches before the season.) The other coaches involved are the U of O coaches, some LumberJax, and college players. The reviews for the camp have been quite glowing!! You can review the camp info at http://www.lornesmithlacrosse.com/oregon-lax-camp.htm. The cost of the camp is $515 for the week. It is from July 8 through July 12. Obviously, there is NO expectation from us that your son “has to” attend the camp. Some sort of summer camp would probably be wise though, assuming they plan to continue to play into the future. I do have a little bit of a selfish reason for alerting you to this. Steve is probably going to attend and there is a team discount if 5 or more players from the same team attend. So, if you think you are interested, please let me know. Canby Camp (?): On a related note, thoughts about this are still percolating around my head, but… I think I will hold a camp of some sort during the summer. I think one of the reasons that we have had such a positive experience so far is that some of the kids got started with this last summer. That really helped. I am thinking of a week-long camp – maybe in the evenings, or mornings – that would be open to kids from current 4th grade on up through HS. I also have some ideas about how we might be able to help interested kids (and their parents) overcome the “cost of the equipment” issue. Anyway, with the fun that the kids have been having, it really looks like the Lacrosse Era in Canby is going to stick!!! Coach Nelson
Email Sent on April 26:OK folks… I think we finally have some “definites”…
Swimming suits would be a good idea as the hotel has a pretty nice pool setup. This will be great fun folks!! I’m so pumped!!!! My cell number is 503-740-9703. Please call me when you get into town so I will know that you made it. Let me know if you have any questions. Coach Nelson
Email Sent on April 22:Well… The games will start to come fast and furious now. The ride really picks up steam now. Notes:
Check out the website (www.canbylacrosse.com). Nicole Fuge got me some pictures and I have put them on the Photo Gallery page. Also, you should know that I have an archive of all emails that I have sent to you on there as well – it is the Team Notes page. Lastly, I am really anxious that some kids do not lodging arrangements taken care of for Sisters. Would everyone please reply to this message letting me know what plans are in place for your son? In some cases, it will be whole families, in other cases kids will be staying with each other, and various other things too. Please let me know though so I can feel assured that we all have accommodations taken care of. Thanks! Coach Nelson
Email Sent on April 20:Did anyone happen to take any pictures at the game yesterday? If so, can you please try to pick 1-3 of them that show as much of the team in action as possible and forward them to me tonight or tomorrow (Saturday)? BTW: It was a real nice job by the guys. We got better than we were against Grant and also learned some things that we need to do better. Oh yeah, we won too!! All in all, another successful outing… Don’t forget 9:00 AM Saturday at Ackerman is our next practice!!! Coach Nelson
Email Sent on April 18:Hello everyone… Our very first home game!!! Waaa-hoo!!! I know that I am so unbelievably pumped!!! The boys need to be at the field by 5:15. We will need help in a lot of ways. So parents, please be willing. If you see something that needs attention, please ask about it and don’t be surprised if we ask you to take care of it. I believe we have a guinea pig – oops, I mean volunteer – to run the clock (Dan Toler) and flipchart scoreboard. Even though Grant did not have one, we are supposed to have a “book” – like in basketball. We have a book and I believe Shaun McKinney has volunteered to help with that. I’m not sure what, if anything else, we may need help with, but… You get the idea… Hopefully, Team Spirit will come through with our shirts and hats tomorrow. They said that they thought they would be able to do that. Assuming they are ready, I will pick them up and have them tomorrow evening. It would be GREAT if you were able to slip on the shirts. (Don’t forget that I need payment too…)
See you tomorrow!!
Email Sent on April 15:Hello everyone… A few things here: - Sisters Tourney: By now, everyone should have arrangements for staying in Sisters worked out for the weekend of April 28/29. The hotel will barely fit all of us, so if you are willing and able to “buddy up” with someone else to share a room, that would likely help us all out. The hotel is the Sisters Inn. The hotel’s phone number is 541-549-7829. When you call, you should mention Canby Youth Lacrosse. The rooms are double-queen with a couple of single kings. The rooms will cost $75 per night. You will “take” one of the rooms that I have reserved away from me and put them in your name for you and your family (or whoever/whatever combination of friends you can come up with). You will be paying for these yourselves. We don’t know what time we will be playing at all yet, so you will probably want to reserve both Friday night (the 27th) and Saturday night (the 28th). - Yesterday’s Practice: I thought we had a really good practice yesterday. I think every kid felt like they got better in that 2-hour period. If we can keep that up through the season, whoa – look out! - Practice is REALLY important. If help in getting to practice is needed, please consult with me as early as possible. I am willing to come get your son, drop him off after practice, even have him come over to my house until you can get him. I know that things come up (for me too!), but if I can ever help in any way with any problems like this, I am more than willing. A missed practice by an individual player does “hurt” the individual, but it hurts the entire team too. I’m not trying to lecture here, just ask for your help and to let you know that I am willing to help too. - Our “Image”: I want our home game events to be “polished” and "professional". We will play on a “normal” size field (actually, not quite, but really close), we will have a way for spectators to know the score, and so on. Obviously, since we are new, we will be trying to figure exactly what that means at each step of the way, but I know that it will require some help from parents. Please be willing. - T-Shirt/Hat Orders: Team Spirit is trying really hard to have these things ready for us by Thursday for our VERY first home game. I will pay for these myself (not through Canby Youth Lacrosse) and then will ask for checks/cash made out to me. Particularly if you give me cash, you better make sure that I note it somewhere for you. Everyone should know how much they will owe me. Feel free to reply to this email for exact amount if you have forgotten. - Equipment Bags: I ordered lacrosse equipment bags for the guys. They are really nice. I think they will like them a lot. Due to cost and timing, they will not be embroidered. However, I am currently “negotiating” with Canby Trophy to give us (and to thus become an acknowledged “sponsor”) some easily identifiable tags for them for each kid. The idea with these is that they would be “big enough” for each guy to recognize his bag from a short distance. We are not sure, but there is good chance that the cost of these bags will be completely covered by Canby Youth Lacrosse. That “jury is still out” pending some other expenses and other potential sponsors. If we do end up needing more money, it should not be much. - Calling for Pictures: I have seen several of you taking pictures of us. I hope you are getting my good side – it’s pretty hard to find it though. Anyway, I would love to post some more pictures of the guys on our website. Please email any pictures to me that you think would look good on the web site. I know the kids would enjoy the publicity of it. That said, please don’t send me 100’s of pictures either. If you want to do that, perhaps you could burn them to CD and hand them to me. Our next practice is Tuesday evening at 5:30. Another opportunity to get better!! Coach Nelson
Email Sent on April 12:Hello everyone… I did not want to wait until Saturday to let the kids know that I thought they did a nice job tonight against Grant. I told them that after the game. We do have some work ahead of us. We all learned some things that we need to get better at and that we need understand better. There’s nothing wrong with that. The guys played hard, played smart (most of the time), and had fun. Those are our three primary goals every night. Along with those, but definitely after them, we would kinda like to win some too. Most of those Grant players have been playing for years (liken as many as 5 years) and many of them play year-round too. I was proud of the way that the kids competed and kept up the fight. Even after we got down early, we stayed with it and actually made a decent showing outside of a few minutes of the game. Despite not winning, I felt good about our performance and wanted to make sure that you knew that and reinforced it with your sons. And now we get to get better. And that is a LOT of fun!! Just so you know, we will have a flipchart scoreboard at our games so everyone has an idea of the game status. We will also have a clock that tracks the penalty times as well as game time. It is not a big one (unless we can borrow football’s scoreboard which we are pursuing), only really intended for the timekeeper to be able to see, but for them to be able to easily see. One last unrelated note: Tomorrow night (Friday) is the last Portland LumberJax home game of the year. It is “Fan Appreciation Night”. Tickets to the upper level (the part that they normally close off) are $1 each. I don’t know if Steve and I will go or not, but I wanted to be sure that everyone knew about it. See you Saturday!! Coach Nelson
Email Sent on April 10:Well… Here we go… Let the real games begin!!! (I know I am going to count Monday night as a “W” anyway though…) Game time on Thursday is 6:00 PM. The game is at a field between Grant High School and Grant Middle School. We had maps at practice tonight. As is my custom, anyone who needs help getting there (as in their son needs a ride OR the parents don’t know how to get there) can join our team caravan to get to the game. For this game, the caravan will leave from the front of Ackerman at 4:15. I tend to be real tight on my timelines, so don’t be late. There is no requirement that you join the caravan. So, if you want to go directly to the game, please be there by 5:15. - The boys should bring BOTH jerseys with them all of the time. Contrary to what I said the other night, I believe we will end up wearing the white ones for this game. So, get ‘em washed (hang dry ‘em though). - We don’t know what to expect in a lot of ways. In particular, please bear in mind that we are representing so much more than just ourselves and that we have HIGH expectations for sportsmanship and positive support for all involved. - If your son is going to need a ride to the game, please let me know ASAP. If I need to bring a bigger vehicle, I can do that but it takes some planning at home. My cell number is 503-740-9703. If you get lost or can’t find the field or have any other issues, please don’t hesitate to call me. Away we go!!! Hold on folks this ride is fast, it might be bumpy, but for sure it will be lots of fun!!! Coach Nelson
Email Sent on April 9:Holy cow everyone!!! That was incredible! I am really proud of the way the kids played. They showed a lot of good teamwork. The hard work that they have all been putting in really showed. We have a bunch of stuff that we need to work on, but that was a really good start. Practice tomorrow is at 5:30. We will practice at Ackerman, but will likely be on the field closer to 13th. Please bring your T-Shirt/hat order to practice unless you gave it to us already. One other note: Apparently someone took jersey #13 – Sheamus McKinney’s. I’m sure it was an accident as the kids were digging through the box and probably grabbed two jerseys accidentally. Please check though. Obviously, Shea needs his jersey for Thursday. If you do have it, please bring it tomorrow. Again, nice job everyone!!! Coach Nelson
Email Sent on April 7:- Scrimmage Monday night vs. Oregon City – Ackerman – be there around 5:45 - Today’s practice is “normal” 9:00 to 11:00 – no parent meeting – maybe Monday around the scrimmage - I have order sheets for the T-shirts and hats. I’ll pass them out at practice today. I need them back on Monday. - Bring regular sneakers to practice today – we will probably be on the field anyway though. - That U of O game last night was great!!! First game is only 5 days away!!! Coach Nelson
Email Sent on April 4:Hey gang… A few more things here: Games - Added Game: Frank has successfully added a game to our schedule. We will be playing Glencoe on April 19 at 6:00 PM at Ackerman. So, that will be our FIRST home game!!! Waa-hoo!!! - Oregon City Scrimmage: Frank is trying to line up a scrimmage with Oregon City, maybe on Monday evening. Stay tuned for details of that. - U of O Game: As many of you know, in addition to all the other stellar attributes of the University of Oregon, they also have the #1 ranked college club lacrosse team in the nation. And, on this Friday evening (April 6), they are playing against Chapman University at Lakeridge High School. I have worked a deal to get us in for free (along with ALL of the other spectators too). Anyway, I think it would be GREAT for everyone on our team to be able to see a real outdoor lacrosse game that uses the same rules as we will be playing with. So, everyone who can and wants to go, we will meet in front of Ackerman and leave promptly at 5:30 on Friday. Game time is 6:30, but it would be good for the guys to even watch the warm-ups. If you would prefer to meet us there, that would be fine. Apparel and Stuff - T-Shirts: If we can get enough folks who want them, we can get T-Shirts like the players have for $8 each. Team Spirit is willing to make these in about any size. The shirts can be navy blue, yellow, or white. The lettering color options are the same. Adult sizes from small to XXL are available. The boys may want an extra one, you may want one to show your support for the team, your other kids may want one, whatever. If you want one, please email me with size and color/combos. I’ll collect the money for them later. - Balls: We can get lacrosse balls for $15 per dozen. I am going to be ordering some more for the team, but Frank pointed out that some of you may want some for your homes as well. If so, let me know ASAP. You can get white or orange. - Baseball Caps: If we can get orders for 10 or more, Team Spirit can do baseball caps for $15 each. Please let me know if you would like one of these. - Equipment Bags: Perhaps by the end of the week, I may cut loose on ordering some lacrosse equipment bags for everyone. Hopefully, we will have money that we can cover the cost of these completely – Wouldn’t that be GREAT!!! Lastly, as I mentioned to the kids the other night, while we are OK with the size of our roster, we are certainly not over-stocked. I have asked the kids to consider friends that they think would be able to pick up the game fairly quickly and might enjoy the sport. If they know of anyone, they should have their friend (or their friend’s parent) give me a call (503-263-2059). We are not desperate, but could use another player – even two. Practice on Thursday will be at Ackerman. See you then… Coach Nelson
Email Sent on April 1:Hello everyone… A few things I wanted to be sure to mention: - Wallflowers Framing Gallery has donated $200 to the program!!!! Waa-HOO!! Thank you so much!! - We can still use more money. If you know of any business or individual who might be interested in pitching in, please feel free to discuss this with them. Our website – www.canbylacrosse.com – has a link for how to make a donation. - We may move practice over to Ackerman where we will hopefully have a full field painted. When we do, we will tell everyone via email – so be watching. If you show up to practice and it appears that no one is there, check over at Ackerman. - We have only 4 practices left before our first game. We may try to scrimmage Oregon City as one of those practices. That sure does not give us much time left to get ready for Grant on April 12. - We may want to extend a few practices too. Please be patient with us as we try to get ready. Especially next Saturday, we will probably want to go longer. In fact, if the weather holds out, let’s plan on parents coming to all or part of that day and we’ll have a “get acquainted with the game” session too. Maybe we’ll make an all-morning event out of it. Just be watching email – details will come later. - Our first home game is still a ways off, but please be ready to be asked to help out. We will need folks to run the clock, run the penalty clock, and help in a wide variety of ways (many of which we won’t know about until we need it and it “blindsides” us). - We are “in” for the Sisters Tourney. Hopefully, you have made arrangements for the hotel or have made alternative plans on where you will be staying. We have only 12 rooms for our team. We have 15 players who are going (at least I only know of 1 that can’t go). If you have friends or family that you could stay with, that might help everyone out. The hotel’s phone number is 541-549-7829. When you call, you should mention Canby Youth Lacrosse. The rooms are double-queen with a couple of single kings. The rooms will cost $75 per night. You will “take” one of the rooms that I have reserved away from me and put them in your name for you and your family (or whoever/whatever combination of friends you can come up with). You will be paying for these yourselves. We don’t know what time we will be playing at all yet, so you will probably want to reserve both Friday night (the 27th) and Saturday night (the 28th). The kids are doing so well and have gotten so much better than when we first started. We are entering into a phase of the season when we begin to put our practice emphasis on team stuff and move beyond the individual skills. It is REALLY important that the kids get some away-from-practice practice in. If they can find a wall, friend, family member, or other guinea pig to throw 100 passes with each hand each day, their individual skills will continue to grow. Thanks folks for EVERYTHING!!! Coach Nelson
Email Sent on March 24:Hello everyone… I have reserved a block of rooms at the Sisters Inn for the weekend of April 28-29. You should call them and “claim” the rooms as soon as possible. The hotel’s phone number is 541-549-7829. When you call, you should mention Canby Youth Lacrosse. The rooms are double-queen with a couple of single kings. The rooms will cost $75 per night. You will “take” one of the rooms that I have reserved for you and your family (or whoever/whatever combination of friends you can come up with). You will be paying for these yourselves. We don’t know what time we will be playing at all yet, so you will probably want to reserve both Friday night (the 27th) and Saturday night (the 28th). The hotel says that they are now fully booked for the weekend so there are no “extra” rooms. Hopefully we can fit in the hotel as is. There is no requirement that you stay at the hotel but it is fun to be there together.
Let me
know if you have any questions…
Email Sent on March 22:Hello Everyone… The boys are working so hard and you can really see the progress. I hope they are having a good time with this endeavor – it sure seems that they are. A few various notes: - We will NOT practice next Thursday, March 29. We will practice on Tuesday, March 27 and Saturday, March 31 though. I know that several of the kids will be out of town for spring break. That is fine, but if you could remind me of that, it would probably be wise. - Tomorrow, I will be sending in our registration for the Sisters Tournament on the weekend of April 28 and 29. I will get you some information on a suggested hotel, probably tomorrow. You will want to make reservations soon. The weekend should be GREAT fun for everyone. We’ll take Saturday evening and go to pizza together. The hotel has a real nice pool setup. Sisters is a neat town with all kinds of neat little shops. If your family can’t go (for whatever reason), let me know and I will work real hard to help make a connection so that your son can stay with someone else. - Our first game is not very far away – April 12th. Geez, is that going to be fun? I can’t wait. - As some of you may have seen or heard about, cups and mouthpieces will no longer be taken so lightly at practice. Please reinforce the importance of these things. I will no longer allow anyone to practice without those items. - Our game against NAYA (Native American Youth Association) on April 21 has been cancelled because they could not get their team formed. Frank is going to try to get another game or two scheduled in there somehow. - You probably received an email last Sunday (-ish) about your son’s membership in US Lacrosse. Some folks have asked if they owe the $20 registration fee for that. The answer is No, because it was covered by your registration fee. As a part of the membership, your son will receive a 4-copy subscription to Lacrosse magazine. It also will help connect your son with camps, clinics, and various other things that go on in the Lacrosse world. Their website (www.uslacrosse.org) is rather informative about the game and the association. A few other VERY worthy announcements: - Jenne Parker’s brother has secured our tickets to Saturday’s LumberJax game at no cost to us, compliments of Nike!!! Details on carpooling will be discussed at practice on Saturday. Is that absolutely unbelievable or what??? - Dave’s Prescription sent a check for $100 as a team sponsor. Wah-hoo!! - Dan Toler’s company is donating $200. Waa-HOO!!! - Fred Meyer has pitched in a $50 gift card! It just keeps getting better and better. As always, if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to send me an email (home: nelsonc@web-ster.com, work: nelsonc@wlwv.k12.or.us) or give me a call (home: 503-263-2059, work: 503-673-7016, cell: 503-740-9703). Coach Nelson
Email Sent on March 10:Holy Cow!!! Was that fun!!! Our first practice is now under our belts… The kids did GREAT!!! I hope that they had fun… I sure did… The boys should try to find a partner/friend/sibling/parent/guinea pig to work on some basic stick skills between practices. For non-lacrosse guinea pigs, a simple baseball glove works well. If nothing else, a solid wall to throw it off of works really well too. Everyone did great, but we have a long ways to go… Please get in the habit of checking our website (www.canbylacrosse.com). Our game schedule – as it stands – is out there and quite a bit of other stuff too. A few other things: 1) If you have any equipment issues that I am not working on already, please let me know ASAP. 2) Someone left a sweatshirt at practice (might have been Paul?). Someone else left some shoes (non-cleats). Give me a call if you want to come get them. 3) The boys need to wear a mouthpiece and a cup. They need to have both of these all of the time. I let it slide today, but I don’t want anyone getting hurt – so I will need to hold a hard line in the future. 4) The boys really need to get in shape. There is a lot of running in lacrosse. We’ll be working on the “getting in shape” thing. 5) The boys really do need to have cleats. Please get them ASAP. If cost is an issue, try a Goodwill store or the Kiwanis store or something. 6) If you think your employer might be interested in pitching in some money to the program, please pursue that. We can use any cash we can get our hands on. 7) The shirts I gave the kids do NOT have to be worn at every practice. I would like to wear them to practice at least quite a bit, but there will not be any punishment if they don’t wear them to practice. They can wear them to school or around town too. 8) If you are interested, the Canby Lacrosse logo is at Team Spirit. They can put it on just about anything they have (at some expense). I think it would be great if parents and family members wear heavily decked out in Canby Lacrosse gear. But you would be “on your own” for that… 9) As silly as it sounds, the boys need to practice taking gear on and off. We can’t have long delays during breaks that are caused just by how long that can take. I know they will “naturally” get better at it, but sooner (vs. later) would be great!! 10) I would really like to get us registered for that Sisters Jamboree. Canby Youth Lacrosse will cover the registration costs, but you would need to cover a hotel room somehow. Please let me know ASAP if you expect that to be an issue. We’ll work through it somehow, unless there are a lot of folks with a problem. (I think the hotel we used for basketball was about $75 per night.) 11) We’re waiting to get a better feel on our actual expenditures before moving ahead with too much, but we are entertaining the idea of some sort of team item (that CYL would at least partially pay for), something like a team gear bag, or sweatshirt, or something like that. 12) Game jerseys: The Game Jerseys we will get come in size Adult S/M and Adult L/XL. I know of no limitation on uniform number. I need to get these ordered as soon as I can. Please let me know your son’s size and number of choice. (I will “negotiate” any duplicate number requests.) Sorry, that list got longer than I expected… Again, what a fantastic experience!! I hope the kids are relishing the real unique and exciting opportunity it is to start up a new program like this. If you have any questions, please let me know. Otherwise, I’ll see everyone on Tuesday at 5:30… Coach Nelson
Email Sent on March 5Hello everyone… Holy cow, we are only a few short days away from the start of what will turn out to be an incredibly successful endeavor for all of us and our community. Remember that Lacrosse is an all-weather sport (except for thunderstorms). We will practice every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday as previously indicated. On this Saturday, the boys should show up and be ready to begin practice promptly at 9:00. It would not be bad to show up as much as 30 minutes early just to get everything ready to roll. That will give them some time to gear-up and to get some stickwork in against a wall. Hopefully, by now you all either have your gear or have plans for getting it. If you need help with that, please let me know NOW!!! Time is getting really short. The boys should come on Saturday with their full compliment of gear – helmet, shoulder pads, arm pads, gloves, stick. They should be wearing rubber cleats, but should also bring a pair of “regular” sneakers as well. As weather dictates, we may go under cover and practice on the concrete. It would be a good idea to bring a water bottle and to have everything all packed up in some sort of gear bag (maybe we’ll get those as a team later on). All gear should be marked as to whose it is. There will times when parts of their gear will be tossed to the side and the boys need to be able to identify their own gear. As for clothing, they should dress for the weather. Who knows if the good weather of the last couple of days will hold out? It’s better to be ready for anything. If it is going to be raining, the boys will get wet. I would not suggest even trying to stay dry. If it is going to be chilly, some sort of thermal shirt is reasonable. Long sleeves are not “against” the rules, but don’t work real well as they constrict movement quite a bit. If used, long sleeves should be as tight to the skin as possible. Some kids will wear a shirt over the top of their gear. Others will wear one underneath everything. Some will do both. We don’t care as long as the boys are comfortable and able to play. (In games, our uniform will be worn over the top of all pads.) Shorts or sweats on the lower half of the body are fine. The boys definitely need to wear a cup. Anyone without a cup will not be allowed to participate in any kind of “live” practice situations. For those of you who have gear already, you better make sure that it still fits. Some of you have grown quite a bit since you got that. Please feel free to stick around and watch. We know that many of you know very little about this game. Practices might be a good chance to learn a bit about it. We’ll have a parent meeting with an acquaintance to the game session at some point in the fairly near future. If getting to practice is EVER a problem, please contact me as early as possible. My cell number is 503-740-9703. I will personally come get your son if that is the only choice. Practice is REALLY important so attendance is a premium. We do know that some have some commitments that are still finishing up but that notwithstanding, everyone needs to be at every practice. Our game schedule – as it currently stands – is on our website (www.canbylacrosse.com). You might want to review it. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask… Coach Nelson PS: You might want to stick a towel of some sort in your car to put on your car seat when you pick your son from practice.
Email Sent on Feb 28Hello everyone!!! Well folks, we are off and rolling. We have 16 players signed up now. That’s enough for our team. I have placed orders for the gear and team equipment that we need to get started. For those of you who ordered equipment, I will get in touch with you as soon as it arrives so you can come to get it. I’m guessing that will be either this Friday or next Monday. For those of you who were going to see about getting gear yourself, are you finding it? Do you need some help? You can still have me order a starter set for you if you need it. Our first practice will be on Saturday, March 10 from 9:00 to 11:00 at Trost (the field furthest off of Redwood/closest to Baker Prairie). Geez, I am so unbelievably pumped for this. It is going to be such great fun! If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. Coach Nelson PS: There are still a few spots for any Canby kids to still get involved. There is not much space left, or time to register either. So, if you know of anyone interested, please either forward this note to them or have them visit www.canbylacrosse.com (all registration materials are available on the website). We are not desperate – we do have enough players as it stands. No worries there... |
|
Send mail to
nelsonc@web-ster.com with
questions or comments about this web site.
|
