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Boys High School Lacrosse in Bristol


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Some have asked around the area.   YES,,,We have a boys high school club lacrosse team in Bristol. We play around North East Tenn//Knoxville. Were growing and welcome/need guys around SWVA to join us. Blacksburg // Roanoke have some good teams and we plan to start heading  that direction this year and next.  @BristolRageLax

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  • 6 months later...

Wanted to ask a question/ comment related to our first post. I know this year has been a total bust, and who knows what this spring will hold.  Has anyone thought // kicked the idea around about starting a Boys HS club lacrosse team in Wytheville ?  As I mentioned above, our plans to head north to start playing in the Blacksburg // Roanoke area is always on our mind. Was thinking the other day, it would be great to have another team north of us in the middle to bridge the gap heading up 81. We all ( Bristol , Kingsport, Johnson City, Greenville) started with ( the bottom up approach) and still have, youth programs, and then quickly realized our kids were dropping lacrosse because of no HS team to move up to. I think the ( the top down approach ) is a better way to start  lacrosse in an area,, younger kids see older kids doing it , and they get interested. FYI, city and county high schools, down our way, will not be supportive,, they do not want to loose any kids to an out-side organization, and they cant or wont start a team for lack of funds and interest, and I can understand that. High School Club team, pick up 3 or 4 kids from each area HS who are not into Baseball ,Soccer , or Track. We have several football players who love it,, keeps them in shape for football. Sorry to be so long. Love the web-site !   thoughts// comments? 

Thanks  Chris   @bristolragelax

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Wytheville would be a nice central location for a SWVA travel team...there’s a population in Bluefield that would like to see it happen, and it’s somewhat equidistant from Bristol/Abingdon to there.  That being said, it’s going to be hard to overcome the sheer lack of programs west of Salem.  It would likely need to be adopted en masse by SWVA schools.

 

I, for one, would love to see it.  Lacrosse is a thrill to play and a thrill to watch.  

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52 minutes ago, UVAObserver said:

Wytheville would be a nice central location for a SWVA travel team...there’s a population in Bluefield that would like to see it happen, and it’s somewhat equidistant from Bristol/Abingdon to there.  That being said, it’s going to be hard to overcome the sheer lack of programs west of Salem.  It would likely need to be adopted en masse by SWVA schools.

 

I, for one, would love to see it.  Lacrosse is a thrill to play and a thrill to watch.  

You play sportz?

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I'd love to see Lacrosse pick up steam in SWVA. Second best sport in the world behind American Football. Nothing like heading over to the Naval Academy and checking out a game from time to time. Got to watch them beat UMBC in the snow a few weeks before UMBC became THE UMBC a couple years back.

Most exciting sporting event I've ever witnessed in person was the 6A lacrosse state title in 2015 between James Robinson and Chantilly. An overtime thriller.

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1 hour ago, swva_havok_fan said:

 

Pretty much any LAX game is exciting...

In soccer, you only get one Man City/QPR 2012 style game about maybe once every 10 years...

 

College lacrosse became even better with the :90 shot clock.  No more watching teams like Maryland play stall ball for 3/4 of a game just to win by a 5-3 score.  If lacrosse would get rid of that dumb “closest to the boundary gets the OOB ball” rule, so offenses would stop parking a dude on the boundary line, that would make the game complete IMO. 

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6 hours ago, swva_havok_fan said:

 

Pretty much any LAX game is exciting...

In soccer, you only get one Man City/QPR 2012 style game about maybe once every 10 years...

 

And of course there would have to be some shirtless dude prancing around 🙄

I used to love soccer but the constant flopping turned me off. My wife is hispanic so if soccer is on TV it's the wussy Liga MX brand complete with 4 dozen flops instead of the EPL brand which is much better IMHO.

I recall watching some crappy friendly between Honduras and El Salvador or Costa Rica and I kid you not, there were 6 guys laying on the ground screaming in "agony" at the same time. 

 

Lacrosse is just badass.

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4 hours ago, UVAObserver said:

College lacrosse became even better with the :90 shot clock.  No more watching teams like Maryland play stall ball for 3/4 of a game just to win by a 5-3 score.  If lacrosse would get rid of that dumb “closest to the boundary gets the OOB ball” rule, so offenses would stop parking a dude on the boundary line, that would make the game complete IMO. 

Watching UVA outphysical Yale last year was a joy to watch. 

 

The first Lacrosse game I ever got to see live was UVA vs. Duke in Charlottesville a year or so after the "rape" incident . The Cav fans gave them hell, but Duke ended up winning. 19-9 was the final I believe.

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3 hours ago, mmqp said:

Watching UVA outphysical Yale last year was a joy to watch. 

 

The first Lacrosse game I ever got to see live was UVA vs. Duke in Charlottesville a year or so after the "rape" incident . The Cav fans gave them hell, but Duke ended up winning. 19-9 was the final I believe.

That was the beginning of a long, gruesome losing streak to Duke that we finally just snapped in the NCAA Semis last year.  There were some awful butt-trash seasons between 2007 and 2018, excluding the title we almost accidentally won in 2011. 
 

We still probably would have won the title in 2006, but Duke was THE team that could have challenged us.  And to have it thrown away on a fake rape allegation, just disgusting.

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13 minutes ago, UVAObserver said:

That was the beginning of a long, gruesome losing streak to Duke that we finally just snapped in the NCAA Semis last year.  There were some awful butt-trash seasons between 2007 and 2018, excluding the title we almost accidentally won in 2011. 
 

We still probably would have won the title in 2006, but Duke was THE team that could have challenged us.  And to have it thrown away on a fake rape allegation, just disgusting.

That woman should still be in prison to this day. I'm sure she ended up with a book deal or something instead.

 

Which season was it where UVA had Notre Dame on the ropes but had an untimely offsides to end their chance? 

 

You ever catch the Cavs play rugby? I went and watched them play Maryland one year and they got beat 77-5. But I know they used to have good teams. I've got out of keeping up with rugby these days though.

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52 minutes ago, mmqp said:

That woman should still be in prison to this day. I'm sure she ended up with a book deal or something instead.

 

Which season was it where UVA had Notre Dame on the ropes but had an untimely offsides to end their chance? 

 

You ever catch the Cavs play rugby? I went and watched them play Maryland one year and they got beat 77-5. But I know they used to have good teams. I've got out of keeping up with rugby these days though.

In the 2012 Quarterfinals, UVA was tied 6-6 against Notre Dame heading into the 4th and just collapsed early.  We fought back in it and I believe had an offsides doom us after we had scored a couple to get back in it.  We had a habit of letting teams go on long runs toward the end of the Starsia tenure.

 

When I was there, our rugby team was more a drinking team with a rugby problem.  Had a couple of friends that lived near the Mad Bowl, and they’d talk about how badly they’d get pounded.  77-5 seems about right based on what I recall.  Now, a women’s rugby team started while I was there, and IIRC they started out like gangbusters.  Unsure if they still exist. 

 

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I agree ,, adopted by schools in SWVA would be much better, but that wont  happen any time soon.  Several SWVA schools adopted soccer several years ago when it was hot, and some now wished they hadn't . Many schools have trouble filling a roster. National Soccer did a much better job of back in the day of " selling the sizzle" ,, Lacrosse not so much, although they say its one of the fastest growing sports. A little back story to back up my HS club first theory, and there are a lot of details ill have to skip or ill run out of room. VA HIGH started a club team maybe 4 years ago and in 2 years it folded because they couldn't replenish the cupboard, we absorbed it and added others to start our RAGE CLUB HS. Most of our youth move up to other HSs,, John Battle, Abingdon, Tenn High, and some to VA HIGH, but not many. It was a bad business model.  My brother in law started a club team at Science Hill, same problem, but they now have traction, and are doing pretty well,, also heard Dobyns Bennett Kingsport starting-- they should be ok. TENN HIGH,, same thing, their trying, but getting numbers is tuff. Chucky Doak in/near Greenville TN started and folded, same problem, they asked Greenville HS about starting, Greenville AD told them to take a hike because he didn't want to screw up the State Champ Football program. I know,spoke to, and have good relations with all Washington County VA HSs,, same story. Was told the travel to Roanoke and cost was too much.  Small SWVA ADs and Principals will not adopt lacrosse,,, their just not into it,, the bigger schools, maybe, but its a long way off, and not until they can see a local club team getting traction. Waiting on schools could take 20 years, or never. Club Lacrosse is the way to get the ball rolling in SWVA, its just like travel Baseball, and we all know how many travel BB teams are crossing VA every weekend. Need someone to start a team near Wytheville /Bluefield !!!

Been to Klockner several times to watch UVA Lacrosse. If your not sure about this whole Lacrosse thing, go to a college game. VT has a great club team, a lot of our youth go there every summer for camp. Also ODAC has several teams.

WAHOOWA,, have several in the family, married one, daughter heading up for first year next month, or not, who knows at this point.

 

 

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Wanted to add/clarify something on my story. A RAGE parent approached VA HIGH about starting and funding Lacrosse as a club team at VHS and they were very supportive.  After the player/parent graduated is when it lost steam, no fault of VHS. VA HIGH was the first school in SWVA to buy into lacrosse, they really allowed the start of everything in our area on the HS level. VA HIGH would still have a team if our youth program could keep the roster full, but as I said, our kids head in different directions. VHS is the only one that will let us into their school to recruit,, we couldn't survive without them.  Big Thank You  to VA HIGH !!

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2 hours ago, Bristol Rage Lacrosse said:

Wanted to add/clarify something on my story. A RAGE parent approached VA HIGH about starting and funding Lacrosse as a club team at VHS and they were very supportive.  After the player/parent graduated is when it lost steam, no fault of VHS. VA HIGH was the first school in SWVA to buy into lacrosse, they really allowed the start of everything in our area on the HS level. VA HIGH would still have a team if our youth program could keep the roster full, but as I said, our kids head in different directions. VHS is the only one that will let us into their school to recruit,, we couldn't survive without them.  Big Thank You  to VA HIGH !!

I hope you dont take this wrong, it is only a thought. With names like RAGE, It just makes the whole thing sound so cheap and superficial. Give your/these team(s) a name that the kids will take pride in for years to come.

Those fly-by-night names are great at reeling in kids in the short term because they're so "edgy" and "unique" and catch the eye so to speak, but they're not good for building long term success as kids lost interest so quick.

 

It is great what you're doing in that area. I'm blessed to be in the hottest part of the state for Lacrosse and can drive across the river into Maryland and catch that hotbed whenever I so desire as well. It would be wonderful to see the great American sport of Lacrosse pick up steam in SWVA and Northern TN.

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6 hours ago, UVAObserver said:

In the 2012 Quarterfinals, UVA was tied 6-6 against Notre Dame heading into the 4th and just collapsed early.  We fought back in it and I believe had an offsides doom us after we had scored a couple to get back in it.  We had a habit of letting teams go on long runs toward the end of the Starsia tenure.

 

When I was there, our rugby team was more a drinking team with a rugby problem.  Had a couple of friends that lived near the Mad Bowl, and they’d talk about how badly they’d get pounded.  77-5 seems about right based on what I recall.  Now, a women’s rugby team started while I was there, and IIRC they started out like gangbusters.  Unsure if they still exist. 

 

Going back about a decade both VT and UVA had good clubs. I remember VT even beat Navy one year pretty handily. But Clemson owned the ACRU or whatever the ACC called their club rugby conference. I believe both Navy and Clemson play top tier rugby now vs. squads like Cali while the other ACC teams play in the lower division IIRC.

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