How Stars Earn Their Stripes
In his Pulitzer Prize winning play, “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” playwright Tennessee Williams postulates: “What is the victory of a cat on a hot tin roof?—I wish I knew… Just staying on it, I guess, as long as she can…”
On a sweltering weekend in the middle of last July, a hodgepodge collection of 5th graders from all corners of the Mass Bay Youth Lacrosse League map came together to play lacrosse on a hot tin roof (literally) and definitively answered a question as old as organized sport: “What is a victory?”
The journey for most of the players began in May when their Mass Bay Select teams’ coaches nominated them to be a part of the 2016 Mass Bay Select All-Stars. The All-Stars is an annual gathering of some of the most accomplished athletes in the league. Taking place at Harvard University in August, the 2016 manifestation randomly split forty-nine 5th grade All-Stars into two patriotic-themed squads: The Stars vs. The Stripes.
In June, league organizers extended an open invitation to all 5th grade All-Star nominees to take part in a special opportunity of playing for an MBYLL-based team in a summer tournament in nearby Providence, Rhode Island. The only restriction: they had to be available that weekend.
“Most of our All-Stars finish their town teams in the spring and immediately join a summer tournament team or club,” said Joey Picard, Mass Bay Select All-
Star Coordinator and Stars & Stripes manager. “We knew a lot of the nominees wouldn’t be available to join but were confident enough ‘free agents’ would jump at the chance to play in a fun tournament.”
Thirteen such “free agents” did jump at the chance to play for a league team put into the Trilogy Providence Tournament run by Trilogy Lacrosse.
In its five-year relationship, MBYLL and Trilogy Lacrosse—a New York based organization which runs camps, clinics, and tournaments all over the United States—partner together for several training clinics required of all Mass Bay coaches as part of their coaching education credentials. And in 2014, Trilogy Lacrosse played a significant role in the Mass Bay Colonials experience in which they hosted two tryouts and trained the teams at their overnight camp at Deerfield Academy the week before the World Lacrosse Championships.
Two summers later, the league put a 2023 team into the Trilogy Providence tournament in an effort to bolster the collaboration of the two organizations and to provide some Mass Bay families with another unique lacrosse opportunity. To round out the 19-athlete squad, team coaches and managers extended the invitation to a larger pool of league 5th graders and several coaches were able to quickly provide gifted athletes free the weekend of July 16-17. This special group became the first Mass Bay Stars & Stripes, about to take on some serious
summer contenders.
Rick Zaccardo of Reading Youth Lacrosse and treasurer of Mass Bay Youth Lacrosse was chosen to head coach this special group of “Stars.” Rounding out his staff was Picard (also acting as team manager), Greg Klim of King Philip Youth Lacrosse, and Larry Cordio of Leominster Youth Lacrosse. Klim served the league as Director of Coaching Education before retiring in September and Cordio as Secretary of Mass Bay Youth Lacrosse League before taking over as Director
16 The Scoop / Spring '17