On the Cover:
RYAN MAHER, billy pesce, brendan maher, and chris cusolito of Melrose Youth Lacrosse enter Gillette Stadium for the 2014 MBYLL & Trilogy Skills Clinic. Photograph by Alyssa Pesce
2 The Scoop / Spring '15
"The Face-Off"
From the Desk of Tom Spangenberg, President MBYLL
Yours in lacrosse,
Tom
T.M. Spangenberg
President, MBYLL, Inc.
Mass Bay Youth Lacrosse League
Spring is Here. Let the FUN Begin!
Welcome to the second issue of The Scoop. On behalf of the Mass Bay Youth Lacrosse League (MBYLL) all-volunteer Board of Directors, we are excited about the spring season finally getting underway. Our pre-season was certainly full of challenges: snow; getting all our coaches certified in over 16 coaching clinics we held throughout eastern and central Massachusetts; snow; transitioning to a new game scheduling system; snow; enabling our League Athletics hosted web-site to properly ‘sync’ with the referee’s assigning system, Arbiter, so assigned officials are known and visible for all our games; and of course snow. All kidding aside about the snow, we are all looking forward to seeing green grass, feeling the warmth of the sun, and ensuring all lacrosse participants have a fun experience this season.
Having a fun, safe, rewarding experience is the key goal for our spring season. Achieving this goal requires a collaborative effort on behalf of all participants: coaches, officials, players, parents, and fans. Our collective behavior on the field, bench, or sideline really matters and together we have to be vigilant to support and celebrate positive behaviors. Coaches focus on developing a player’s character, a sense of camaraderie, and what is means to be a part of a team representing their community. Officials focus on safe play following the rules of the game. Parents play a key role from the sideline—as well as during rides to and from the field—by cheering and celebrating their young athletes, their team, AND the opposing players/team on game day. Please review the MBYLL Parent & Player Guide (hand-out from your coach or online at mbyll.org) for more information on the rules, expectations, and what you can do to ensure we all have a fun, safe, rewarding experience this spring.
As we look forward to enjoying another successful season of lacrosse this spring, please do all you can to support your coaches—and all coaches on the sideline—who have taken the time to get trained and certified by completing the many hours of both online and in-person sessions and clinics this pre-season. Your coaches are charged with an extremely important role: delivering a safe, fun, and rewarding experience this spring for all players. Let’s all support and celebrate our collective efforts towards these objectives.
Yours in lacrosse,
Tom
T.M. Spangenberg
President, MBYLL, Inc.
Mass Bay Youth Lacrosse League