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St. Augustine, Florida – There are lots of opportunities to leave Florida and play lacrosse. You have the IWLCA’s, the National Draw, Lax-4-the-Cure, and many other events up north you can attend. But during the weekend of July 17-18th of this year, what is the point of leaving Florida. You have the best 7-v-7 tournament right here!
Members of the TFG 2010 White team lost two games by a total of 2 goals, including the Atlantic Championship game. Another team with only a couple subs, the 2010 White team gets my award for best teamwork!
That’s not to brag. It’s to rationalize why we (The Maniax) as a club do not go north during Heatwave Championships. We go North many times a year and we always schedule our trips north to not conflict with great events in the South. Why would we want to do that? There are so few good southern tournaments to attend in the first place! The Heatwave Championships are one of the best! And this is why:
1) The Venue – The ONLY lacrosse park in the south is Landrum Lax Park in Ponte Vedra Beach. It has perfect fields, and is 1 nautical mile from the beach. Its strategic fencing (for lacrosse) and layout provide a great team tent environment and atmosphere.
2) The Teams – This year, more than 24 high school teams alone attended. The competitive levels were better than ever and the teams improved as the games were played. Seven middle school and three women’s teams rounded out the field. There is something for everyone there.
3) The Format – 7-v-7 on a small field (35 yards by 60 yards) with ‘instant clears’ in a tournament format. Plus, this year’s 3-v-3 Championship (sudden victory; single elimination) and the 2nd Annual Braveheart Championship (sudden victory; single elimination), added to the hysteria.
4) The Location – PVB is at a cross-roads. 5 1/2 hours from Atlanta, 4 hours from Miami, 5 hours from Naples, 2 hours from Orlando, 7 hours from Charlotte. It’s a great place to meet for a weekend tournament and with planning, teams can drive to town or catch a cheapee flight into JAX.
5) The Intensity – There are a lot of Maniax teams that attend this event. There are a lot of other club programs who attend as well. The sheer intensity of the Maniax playing each other for bragging rights and the other club programs raising their intensity in that spirit makes the event more ‘college-like’ than other tournaments intensity-wise. Plus having college teams there is a big help!
Jennifer Armbruster (11) helped lead TFG '11-'12 Central to a runner up finish and a win over HOTlanta Heat. '11-'12 Central stopped rival TFG '11-'12 State by a goal to advance to the finals.
Club programs who attended the event included: LaxManiax Elite (4th year club), HOTlanta Lacrosse (3rd year club), SOFLA (4th year club), Team Trident (2nd year club), and Beaches, Planet Lax, Eagles Stix, Copperheads, and LM Lax, all first-year clubs. It was an excellent showing for the teams who made the trip. Other than a 30-minute lightening delay during pool play, the weather cooperated. Scheduling a tournament like this in the morning is key in Florida this time of year.
Our club had a very strong showing. TFG teams dropped only two games during the entire event. 2010 White dropped a 1-goal decision to HOTlanta Heat (8-9) and bowed out in the Atlantic Championship game 10-9 (vs. Trident Zebras). The other TFG teams included the 2010 Black team (undefeated winners of the Sawgrass Championship), and TFG 11-12 Central (runners up in the Sawgrass Championship but otherwise undefeated), and TFG 11-12 State (knocked out in the Sawgrass semi-final by their counterparts by just 1-goal). TFG 2013 played well, but was eliminated in the Atlantic semi’s by TFG 2010 White. The tournament was everything it was supposed to be – a lot of competitive action and excitement for players, fans and officials alike.
Middle school teams and elite teams played very well too. The Championship game in the Sawgrass MS bracket was won on a braveheart tie-breaker by CFL 2014, coached by Rollins College defensive mastermind Brad Pinneke. They avenged an earlier loss to Maniax South-Central coached by Rich Howard and company. After earning the #1 seed into the tournament, had defeated the CFL ‘14 team 13-10 in pool play.
The Atlantic Championship was swept by the Maniax Southeast, after not winning a game in pool play on day #1. The Southeastern girls rallied for two in a row on Sunday and a Championship award!
3-3 Titles were claimed by TFG 11-12 State (Maddy Blakeman, Olivia DiCarlantonio, Taylor McCord – all 15-year olds), and Maniax South-Central (Brenna Pinneke, Ali Williams, Mari Grace Gabrovic) at the Middle School level. Poetic justice for these teams whose championship runs were cut short in the 7-v-7. 
Braveheart titles were won by Emotion Silvestri (Mustangs Lax 2010), and Olivia Blakeman (Maniax South-Central). Silvestri, who plays for the LaxManiax 2010 White team, chose to put together a team of players from her high school to enter the Heatwave Championships. It was the first major tournament that girls from Mandarin High School, FHSAA District 1 runners up in 2009, had ever participated in.
One of the interesting stats of the event is the goals for vs. goals surrendered number. This is often a great way to show the competitiveness of a tournament. The Heatwave’s winners averaged 11 goals for and losing teams 6.5 goals for. This tells me two things: the games are very competitive and that defense determines who wins them. 6.5 goals on that small of a field over 24 minutes is not very many. TFG 2010 Black held all but one of their opponents to just 4-goals or less in their six games. One of those games was played without a goal keeper for the first 18-minutes of play. You really find out what your team is made of when they are playing without a goal keeper and have an attacker yellow-carded for 3-minutes! That’s why practicing man-down situations is a great idea! With just 1-sub for two of their six games, the 10 Black team also taught the club lesson in resilience and ball control. Some very high Lax-IQ players on that team.
Winning is mostly due to defense, goal keeping and clock management. Less about attack.
The scores were slightly higher on the middle school side, with the point spread closer to 5-goals between the teams on average. The higher goal count is mainly due to them playing with a 2-pass rule and not learning how to play ‘real’ lacrosse defense until they become club players. The 2-pass rule is killing the development of both defensive and midfield skills in Florida lacrosse. There are enough good players who have played the sport for a year or more to do away with the 2-pass rule. As quickly as kids can learn how to throw and catch, why ‘handicap’ a team to try to get the ball to the kids who do not work hard enough to develop their passing and catching skills? Isn’t that the intent of the rule? Help the kids who can’t really possess the ball in the first place, to possess the ball? It doesn’t work. It is simply a well-intentioned rule that slows the progress of 75% of the team in favor of those who do not work on their skills away from practices.
The 2-pass rule stinks even at the recreational level. May as well add a 5-step rule, like Ultimate Frisby. That rule stinks as well! Nobody has to stop the ball!! That’s the most important thing!!
I am sure a blog will come on the intention of the 2-pass rule soon! Stay tuned.
When polled, most members and coaches of other clubs enjoyed the 3-v-3, and Braveheart, Championships and the excitement they brought to the event. Plus, even if your team is not ‘on’, you can still ‘win’ something. Everyone likes to have a chance to win something at the Heatwave!
And they do!
LEAVE NOTHING
Every day leading up to USTC we will be posting a pump up video. Watch it, enjoy it, and then go out to the wall, call your friend, or go shoot!
Watch it here: http://www.nike.com/nikeos/p/nike/en_US/courage
