Factory Made! Volume 7 | Page 8

FROM THE EDITOR

I was watching college lacrosse, Mayland of course, the other day and thinking how competitive the sport has become. Not that it wasn’t when I played but there are now more kids playing, more great schools to play for, and kids are getting more athletic and doing ridiculous things with a lacrosse stick and it got me to thinking. Competition is a great driving force in most of our lives, I mean competing is something we learn at an early age. I remember when I was young, no more than six or seven playing knee football in the living room with my dad, fighting for every inch of that small space, being pitted against my friends in races in middle school, countless hours of basketball, soccer, football, and hockey game in our court where I grew up before it got dark. Competition has always been there driving me to see how far I can push myself. As a kid, I remember my Dad reminding me when I crossed the line and got too competitive and committed a bad foul, pouted when I lost, or cried when let in a goal in soccer, "it's not the end of the world, don't forget to have fun!" No matter how you slice it competition is everywhere, the way the world is structured you have to compete for things in life and that’s just the way it is, but maintaing that balance of competition and fun is just as important. We here at Factory embrace competition but are also very aware of the damaging adverse effects that being overly competitive all the time can have on kids. Our first and foremost goal is to shape and develop kids into young men so they can go out and be productive, confident, successful men in life not just lacrosse. See you all on the field.

Thanks,

Jimmy