Monday, September 28, 2009

Winter Leagues

It's not too early to signup for Winter lacrosse Leagues.  Most leagues begin play in early November:  Checkout the links to the right for more details on each of these

Players Indoor

Who: Leagues for U10, U13, U15, JV and Varsity
Where:  Naperville
When:  Session I  November 1 -- December 20, Session II  January 3 -- February 21

Lacrosse America

Who:  Leagues for 4th-12th graders, beginners through experienced
Where:  Darien, Frankfort, Highland Park, Libertyville, Northbrook and St. Charles
When: Session 1 November 7 -- December 19, Session 2 January 10 -- December 28

True Lacrosse

Who:  Leagues for Youth and High School
Where:  Chicago, Schaumburg and Woodridge
When:  Session 1 November 4 through December 19, Session 2 January 6 through February 17

Fall/Winter Tournaments

Field of Screams -- October 24

Players Indoor in Naperville is hosting their second annual Field of Screams 7v7 Tournament on October 24th (for boys) and October 25th for girls.  For more information, check out

http://www.playersindoor.com/

Lacrosse America Fall Shootout -- October 17 and 24

Lacrosse America is hosting their Fall 7v7 shootout in Vernon Hills.  7/8 and frosh/soph teams play on October 17 and 5/6 and Jr/Sr. teams play on October 24.  For more information, check out

http://www.lacrosseamerica.com/

True Lacrosse Turkey Shootout -- November 27

Work off that Turkey in this 7v7 tournament.  Youth teams (5th-8th grade) will play in Schaumburg and High School teams will play in McCook.  For more information, check out

http://www.truelacrosse.com/

If you would likeyour tournament listed on this site, please let me know.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

The Heirarchy of Youth Lacrosse in Chicago

Travel Leagues

Two organizations run formal inter-program youth leagues in Chicago:  Lacrosse America and True Lacrosse.

Lacrosse America has been running house leagues in Chicago for more than ten years.  They operate lacrosse programs for many park districts throughout the area and run regional leagues for teams from different towns to play each other.

http://www.lacrosseamerica.com/

True Lacrosse runs the Illinois Youth Lacrosse Association which had its innaugural session in the Spring of 2009 and included seven lacrosse programs in three divisions:  7/8 A, 7/8 B and 5/6.

The ILYLA included teams from Aurora/Naperville (Fox Valley Lacrosse), Chicago, Kenilworth, Orland Park, South Bend, Western Springs and Wheaton.

House Leagues

Many towns and Park Districts run house leagues for boys who want to learn lacrosse and develop their skills before venturing into a more serious travel league.

If you want information on your house league included here, please contact me and I will be glad to add it.

Travel Teams

For boys who want to make a more serious commitment to lacrosse, a number of towns have clubs who travel primarily within the Chicago area, but often once or twice a season to regional tournaments to test themselves against teams from other states.  A partial listing of clubs would include:

Chicago
Fox Valley Lacrosse Club (Aurora/Naperville)
Kenilworth
Lake Forest
Northbrook
Orland Park
South Bend, IN
Western Springs
Wheaton
Wilmette
Winnetka

National Travel Teams

Several organization sponsor teams that compete with the best teams nationally.  Typically these organizations have teams for Middle School, JV (Freshmen/Sophomores) and Varsity (Juniors/Seniors).  The exact age divisions never seem to be completely consistent.  More on that.

Teams I am aware of that travel nationally include (alphabetically)

Players Lacrosse

http://www.playersindoor.com/

Team Illinois (sponsored by Lacrosse America)

http://www.lacrosseamerica.com/

Team One Lacrosse

http://www.team1lax.com/

True Lacrosse All Stars

http://www.truelacrosse.com/

Introduction

The purpose of this blog is to be a focal point for information related to Boys Youth Lacrosse in the Chicagoland area. This would include information on all youth programs up through Middle School and Club Teams through High School. This blog will not discuss information related to teams aligned with high schools (IHSLA).