Down The Alley
P-Mac, Ted, and Steve "The Source" bring you "Down the Alley" podcast. We are thrilled to be able to talk Lacrosse with you each and every week. We will dive into specifically into Minnesota High School Lacrosse, Club Lacrosse (we run 36 Lacrosse and Team36) and other random topics such as food, bbq and travel.
Down The Alley
Episode 127: Doing the Laundry with Caio Stephens
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DOWN THE ALLEY is a weekly podcast focused on Minnesota Lacrosse that is aimed to provide coverage of the MSHSL High School season and exposure for MN’s top lacrosse athletes. You can support our team by subscribing to our channel and following us on social media!
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And welcome to Down the Alley.
Speaker 2This is P Mac and Ted T S Burides.
Speaker 1Happy January, happy new year. I think this is our first recording that we've sat down and recorded together. It's been a long time. I feel like we did the one with Sean couple weeks ago. Okay, I guess Sean was the most recent.
Speaker 2But a lot of the episodes have been pre-roll, like pre-recorded, as we kind of got through the holidays and travel and a billion other things that have come up with. Yeah, so I think this is the first. I Guess like we're doing it on a on a Tuesday this week. It's normally Thursday, but it will be the one that's posted this week.
Speaker 1Yeah, I feel a little off my game, feel a little rusty. I did go on a on a on a buddy of mine's podcast last week. So you know I've gotten the mic out recently. But yeah, it's, it'll be good to kind of get back into our north normal recording you know kind of weekly get to. You know rant about. You know what's going on. I've got a rant written down but I know our friends at Old Southern barbecue have something going on.
Speaker 2Yeah, um you know, I think, so I went there this weekend.
Speaker 1I saw that and you were making, and you, you, you made some leftover action.
Speaker 2I saw so like I Wanted to be known for sure that like we don't just or at least me, I, maybe you guys do but I don't just go there and say I go there because they sponsor the show I honestly like go there to eat now like it's like a regular spot and like my kids like it and my wife likes it. So went there and you know, the barbecue bug hit me where. I'm like you know what? I think I'm just gonna get a pound of like everything and then have leftovers, just like I made the drive out here. I mean it's not that far, but I'm like let's get a pound of brisket upon a pot, committed your pocket for afraca ribs and then just have the meats ready to go for you know things.
Speaker 2You know for leftovers or whatever. So I did. I did make a breakfast Hash with the leftovers. First time making it, I used leftover brisket and leftover hot link, so sausage link for those that don't know what hot link is. Really good. I actually impressed myself because in my first time actually making that and I kind of just made it up as I went, I wasn't like following a recipe, I Just was kind of ad libbing to see like how can I make this work? And it turned out great. So I know that they have a bunch of specials going on, promotions. You know NFL playoffs are going on and so I know we went and got barbecue and Watch football and, you know, dealt with the polar vortex this weekend.
Speaker 1I it's been probably a month or two Since I've been at their location. However, I have started diving into their sauces. You know, we got, you know, a trial. So my brother, he, he moved into his he's out of mom's house so he was hosting the family and we went over there and I was in charge of cooking and I brought some barbecue sauce over and the people, the people were fans of it, people liked what they were Tasting.
Speaker 2So yeah, and and I know this weekend Might not be this weekend, but soon I do you want to try all Southern Barbecues wings? That's the one thing I haven't had yet. Is there smoked wings? So I don't know if any listeners have had those at Old Southern Barbecue. Let me know what you think. I'm a big fan of wings and so we'll see. I guess I everything else has been good there, so I don't anticipate them. You know being not good, so but that, but that's like a perfect thing to grab, you know, for like a football game or whatever, if you're gonna watch this weekend. And that brings me to I don't want to call it a rant, but kind of a, a back-and-forth that me and you had on Twitter, um, about Jordan Love.
Speaker 2Oh yeah so it was like somebody posted, like Shepter or one of the NFL insider guys said that if the Packers win a playoff game, in his con in Jordan loves contract, he gets a half million dollars, five hundred thousand dollar bonus.
Speaker 2Yeah, I just was like I I said something like I hope the Packers win, but they score, like two special teams touchdowns in a field goal and win, you know, 17, 16 and you know Jordan Love throws for 48 yards and two picks and gets his $500,000 bonus.
Speaker 2He ended up playing great, they ended up crushing the Cowboys. But you were like you can't cheer for the Packers and and I and then I kind of rebuttal, saying I'm not really cheering for I'm just thought it was funny that, like you know, there's 11 on each side on a football field. Like you know, 11 offense, 11, defense, right, 11. So you know 21 starters can dominate the game and then the $500,000 bonus goes to like the one guy, yeah, which I thought was like I just thought that was funny, but he earned it, he played well, their defense played well. But that brings me to the point of Like, as a Vikings fan, and you can you cheer, in this case for the Packers and the Lions, like can you cheer for an interdivision team to do well and like, pick them as like the team that you, that you want to see do well, even though like their division rivals. But it kind of like says, like oh, our division is the best division.
Speaker 1I think Packer wise. I'm not speaking for all Vikings fans like I'm, I'm just a minister of sports fans. I'm not. I don't have tattoos, the Vikings on me, so I know people are more into the Vikings In Minnesota. I. They're my favorite team, don't get me wrong. But as a as more of a casual football fan, I don't. I don't think as a Minnesota, you can cheer for the Packers on any level at any time. I will say I, I like the Lions, like their vibe right now. Their coach is awesome and they've felt a lot of pain over the years. So, and and I've experienced the Detroit, you know sports culture, you know going to school out there. So I, I think, I think, I think I'm Minnesota. You know I'm okay with a Minnesota, you know tipping their cap to the Lions this playoff season. You know, hopefully they, you know, do well in going to run. But Packers, I think it's a different story. I don't think you can, so it's it's.
Speaker 2I agree. I agree with what you're saying in the sense that it's you can cheer for, like, the division, but if it's the arch rival, you can't cheer for him. So if you're a go for football fan, you can cheer for anyone but Wisconsin to win it. If you're a Michigan football fan, you can want the big 10 to do well, but you can't want Ohio State to win. So it's it's your rival that it's off limits, but other than that you can. You can cheer for them. You can cheer for like what about the Bears, for this example? If the Bears were in the playoffs, would you cheer for them?
Speaker 1I don't know, like, I guess I'm it. No, like I'm not gonna go out of my way to cheer for the Bears, like, come on like.
Speaker 2It's. It's interesting because there is a lot of people that are like, absolutely, if their team's not in it, they're just like nope, I'm Don watching Whatever. And you know. Then there's people like me where I'm like all right, I have to have a backup team. I'm a Minnesota sports fan, like by default, yeah, but I have to have a backup team Always so that I can have something to watch in the postseason. Basically is my thought process, because it's rare that if we get in anywhere, it we're not lasting very long.
Speaker 1Especially right now. Things, things are ugly.
Speaker 2So usually I like I just personally pick a team from the other conference so it's like there's no weird issues. But yeah, listeners, let us know what you think about that. Can you cheer for the rival? Does that make your team look better of like the, the division as the whole or the conference as a whole is better, yeah.
Speaker 1I hear that. You know. Obviously I've seen that. You know people say that, but I don't know. I'm more on the side of like. If your team's out like, I Would say I'm more on that side of things, like I'm not cheering for the people that were battling to get into playoffs against every week.
Speaker 2I'm with you. I just hear that other narrative, a lot of people being like well, I'll cheer for the rival because they're in our division or they're a big 10 team or a, you know, nfc team or whatever.
Speaker 1One rant that I had, and I think I blogged about it too, and on the only pod calm, I think I. I think I sent this over to you and and and our and our great commenter turnbull. He chimed in in the comment section on On the down the LA pod blog. So one test, our run tests are those things of the past? Are those, are they needed, are they a team builder or is it a waste of time?
Speaker 2Yeah, I think I kind of agree with the narrative that I think a few people chimed in of. You know if that's a standard you're going to set, like for like a preseason thing or a first day thing to kind of test the accountability of the people in your locker room, I think that's a great reason to do it. You know, if you're spending 45 minutes of practice every day doing distance running for a lacrosse team probably not going to win a lot of games If that's all you're doing and that's so you know. I think its context is important on that. But I kind of take I don't think it was your side. I think Gold's chimed in funny enough.
Speaker 2You know who would expect that he never chimes in never chimes in Turnbull, I think was on this too of saying you know, it is a good way to sort of see who's willing to commit to a hard thing and kind of be accountable to their teammates and be like you're exposed. If you don't, it's not even if you pass it, but if you're like not even close and it's clear that you didn't do anything in the offseason, like I think that sends a pretty clear message to the people around you.
Speaker 1Yeah, no, I would agree. That was kind of the side I was on. You know you get your locker room rolling towards the same thing, towards a common goal. I know. You know I talked about the Detroit ones. I don't know if I passed a single run test, like they were. They weren't. People did pass them but it was. There were more people failed them than passed them. But, like you said, you got to get close, you got to, you got to show your you're at least in the right in the ballpark of passing. If you're, if you're nowhere close, yeah, you're sending a bad message to your teammates or coaches. You know everything like that. I don't know.
Speaker 2And you know, I think, if you're, if you're like to kind of play devil's advocate, if you're, if you're trying to use run tests, like distance running tests, as a measure of success for your lacrosse team, like every day, it's probably not the most effective way to develop, you know, an athlete like I don't know all the studies and stuff, but you know, just running 10 miles every day, you know, is that going to be the best way to develop your athletes on a lacrosse field? No, probably not. But again, if you're looking at it from that accountability perspective, I think they're still valid.
Speaker 1Right on, Right on, Right on what else? What else has gotten your your wheels turned out? Anyone make you mad on on Twitter lately? No, Are you off Twitter. It's 2024. No, you've actually doubled down on Twitter.
Speaker 2I've doubled down on Twitter, in the sense that I recently joined prep lacrossecom as a contributing writer for sort of the Minnesota lacrosse scene, so been I won't say it's like made my usage of Twitter more.
Excitement for Lacrosse Season
Speaker 2I have like been like that's like the medium that they're big on, so like I wanted to make sure that I was like following those protocols and like, once the season starts, I'm probably going to do more, I guess live tweeting or like more engagement, as like games are happening and like lacrosse is firing up. But nothing's made me mad necessarily. The same seven people that complain about club lacrosse are still complaining about it. Yet they're still running a club while they complain about it, and so that's. That's pretty funny to see how angry they get about what everybody else is doing all the time and not watching their own bobber. So that's pretty funny. I think I've been more excited, honestly, because all the college programs have been sort of starting the content right, Like first day of practice, gear drops, schedules are coming out, and even like high school teams have been dropping schedules as well. So this is the best time of year. Honestly. I'm getting so excited for lacrosse season at all levels.
Speaker 1Yeah, the itches is definitely starting to come back. Yeah, I'm excited to get all my monitors going in February with, you know, a bunch of college lacrosse games. Yeah, I had a good, I had a good.
Speaker 2I had a good. I had a good, I had a good, I had a good, I have a good one from today. I had texted coach Clem, who he had on, you know, last last show, two shows ago I guess. I had a text him a question about something and he was like hey, can I call you? And we had like a half hour conversation about lacrosse today, like high school lacrosse, and I'm just like that's when you know you're getting close, is it just like? You know? That was way more fun than actually working on anything productive. Today. I'm just like talking shop with coach Clem about I don't even know what the original question was. I'm just talking about teams and who he thinks going to be good this year and who's who's looking good in winter league, and you know all this stuff like winter leagues are starting, you know. So that's going to be a topic of discussion.
Speaker 1Is he going to domes every Sunday to watch teams? You know winter league games, I think he's.
Speaker 2I think he's helping out the Nilds. I think he's like helping their winter league team, like he's like coaching. Like how much coaching is he actually?
Speaker 1doing. He's doing off, yeah, off season stuff. No, that's cool.
Speaker 2Yeah, so or he are. He helped out for one game and because they needed a body or something. I don't know the extent of the details, but but yeah, you know. I mean I don't know, he probably is breaking down film right now. I got I loves it. So shout out coach Clem, I had a great conversation with him today and you know. But yeah, no, no big rants, I think it's just more excitement and kind of seeing like the matchups coming up in, like colleges is getting close, like scrimmages are probably starting in a week or two year and then gate, like first games are that first weekend in February, I think.
Speaker 1Yeah, no, I think once February hits, depending on you know the league and in the conference games. Yeah, games are starting, I know. Yeah, I think, I think scrimmages are starting soon. I was talking to bronze Coach Brunswald. I think William Penn is going to scrimmage some D2s here coming up.
Speaker 2That makes sense, proximity wise for them.
Speaker 1Yeah, yeah, and I think they they had a couple of close ones in fall ball. So the D2s want to run it back and you know, william Penn, I think, is you know, has a little bit of a bigger of a target on their back going into 2024 than maybe in previous years.
Speaker 2Yeah, and you watched them a little bit last year. You know solid squad. Honestly, I think NAIA falls under the radar a little bit. It doesn't get as much, obviously doesn't give it as much TV time, so maybe people don't watch it. But I watched a little bit of one of their games and I was impressed, honestly, with the level of both teams and it was a competitive game and it didn't really.
Speaker 1It didn't feel like it wasn't NCAA by any means, it was you know as, yeah, it looks all you know checks all the same boxes right and they got good streams going and I think it's a little more. I think I might do some content like coaching content for down the alley pod this spring off of an AIA film. I feel like it's really digestible. You know, like some of these D1s, like especially high level Saturday D1 ball, it's like okay, yeah, splena just did something really cool again. Like yeah, sure you can make a highlight reel, but like what are you going to really like? You know not, you can learn from that, but like what can you? What can you take, break down and implement into your Minnesota high school team? You know what?
Speaker 2I mean it's like less practical maybe in the sense yes, yes.
Speaker 2It's like oh, that's a great man up look. But like, do I have three lefties and three righties that can all hit corners from 15 yards? Do I have an axe attackman that can throw seam passes Right? Kind of start to go like this on paper, this is a great looking scheme. And then you have to kind of match that with, like, what kind of athletes do I have and what kind of cross players I have? So I agree with you, yeah, yeah, like you know, the big time D1s are doing things that they have obviously have the, the personnel to do it. I think that'd be great. I think that's going to be great, though, you know, get more exposure on NAIA. But also I think that will make for good content for, like, midwest lacrosse.
Speaker 1Yeah, for sure, For sure. What other, I think you started talking about. What other content are you going to be? You know, working on and thinking about going into 2024 as we flip the calendar?
Speaker 2Yeah. So last year, down the alley, we kind of did the down the alley plus thing. That was an experiment just to see how that whole thing worked. It was. It was like a subscriber based blogging thing. You know what? We got a good handful of people and I really appreciate everyone that. If you're listening, I appreciate you subscribing to that last year.
Speaker 2I think a couple of things. We've kind of decided the blog. This year we're going to keep that free, so I probably won't be writing as much like sort of quantity wise. Last year was like literally every day I was doing updates, mainly because we had paying subscribers. I wanted to make sure I was delivering on that.
Speaker 2I think this year we want we want more people to read. We want more people to have access, specifically kids, I think. If they're getting shouted out, if their team is getting talked about, if they're a piece of that, you know, we want to make sure that they can see that and get the recognition that they deserve. And you know, not every kid's going to be able to throw down 10 bucks a month or whatever. So that will be kind of one content change for the spring. So hopefully, you know, people go to our site and read, you know, read the updates, and the source will still be crushing it on the girls side with their analysis. And I mean I think they even dive deeper with the analysis than I do. So if you're a girls lacrosse fan, for sure want to check that out.
Speaker 2And then, like I said, I recently joined Prep Network. On the Preplacross side it's a new site that just launched. They've been doing high school recruiting coverage for years in other sports, so Prep Hoops is probably the most prominent one that many of you have probably heard or seen something from. And when Ty Zander's left inside lacrosse I think we talked about that on the podcast a few months ago she ended up being kind of the new person they've hired to launch Prep Lacrosse, so their lacrosse division of this site. And it's very player driven. So it's very much player rankings, player standouts. It's not going to be like DTA in the sense of this team is the best team in the conference or here's our favorites for section one from a team perspective. It's going to be very much like who are the best 2024 defensemen, or not even the best here seven to watch.
Speaker 2Or if we do go to if I do go to a game Five standout players from the Banilled Prior Lake game, you know, or the playoff game or whatever. So that's the type of content you can expect. That is a subscription site and so when you subscribe you have access to the Minnesota stuff, but also nationally. So if your player is someone that's, you know, nationally ranked or into recruiting or you want to be, could be a good site to get familiar with.
Speaker 2I think Ty will do a great job leading the charge. There is a really good guy and I'm very grateful that I have an opportunity to do a little bit of coverage, as much as I can, for Minnesota. I know that Minnesota nationally isn't maybe the top priority from a recruiting perspective, but we do have a lot of good athletes here that go on to play in college and want to play in college. So my goal is to just shine light on some of the more under the radar people maybe not necessarily the two or three kids that are playing on super national teams that are all around the country, but, you know, or under the radar kids that are doing great at their high school level.
Speaker 1Yeah, no, I'm really excited for you. It's gonna be a cool. I think it's gonna be a learning experience. I think it's gonna be. You know you're gonna learn more about the business, learn more about media in general, and I think it's gonna compliment you know kind of what we're doing with down the alley. It's gonna add another you know piece of you know content being thrown out there for you know the players and you know players in Minnesota. So I think it's gonna be. I think it's gonna be cool.
Speaker 2Yeah, no, I'm excited. I've already thrown a couple articles out right now. It's very much been sort of positional of like pro grad class, so it's been like a lot of deep diving into stats and awards. And you know, obviously if I say like this kid is a top player, then you need to have some reasoning behind that right, like not just because I say so, but they had 80 points and they were first team all state and they whatever you know like.
Speaker 2So it's been a good exercise and like really digging and finding the facts and finding some kids that I've actually found a couple recently that I had no idea really who they were, and then I kind of was scouring through stuff and saw some film and I was like, holy smokes, like this kid doesn't have a lot of attention. You know, maybe their high school team isn't very good or whatever. They don't play on a big time program, so they kind of just fall by the wayside. So it's been cool. I think the biggest piece in news, though, is the Down the LA Coaches Summit coming up here in a couple of weeks.
Speaker 1Yeah, that's been something. You know it's been a team effort. You know I've been doing a lot of the logistics and having some conversations. You know we took notes and you know from last year we've been taking kind of feedback throughout the year. We've made a couple of small adjustments, couple of big adjustments that I'm excited about.
Coaches Summit Updates and Girls' Inclusion
Speaker 1February 17th is the event prior, like high school, so you know, date, location is gonna be similar, right, we're gonna be at a high school, it's gonna be throughout the day. A couple of big things that we have recently locked in and confirmed. I would say one game time media. Game time media is locked in, confirmed, you know, gonna be recording. You know everything that happens. We I think you and I, maybe somebody else as well kind of we're manning. You know simple cameras and we got it recorded. We got things recorded but you know amateur, right.
Speaker 1So that was one area of the event we definitely wanted to, you know, upgrade and make a little more professional. There's gonna be a live stream option, which I think is cool. We got some folks up in Moorhead that have already locked in and ready to go. They're gonna check that out. So you know, I think game time media they're gonna do a great job. I have no clue what that experience is gonna be like. So you know, work with us if you're signing up for that part, like you know. I think it's gonna be awesome, but you know we'll take notes this year and make it even. You know it'll be great Food Old Southern Barbecue making sure that people are well fed. Super excited about that, as they've been keeping Ted fed all winter long. So you know, for some of down the alley nation that maybe hasn't made it there yet, and they're coming to the coaches summit yeah, good chance to try it. Yep, what else? Networking event? Yeah Well, networking opportunity. At the point, it's a prior league.
Speaker 2I think that that was maybe the most discussed piece of feedback. Not even feedback, it was just the most sort of off the cuff mentioned thing last year, amongst all the speakers, for sure, but also coaches, you know. There was just jokes of like, where's the pregame tailgate, you know, before we speak, where's the post game at? You know, are we going to sports page? Because last year was at Kennedy, and so I think that was something I think people really had a desire for was a kind of like a post event option to chat and shoot the shit with people and so good job, kind of locking that part in Something formal, I guess.
Speaker 1It's gonna it's a formal might be the wrong word it's gonna be organized. They know we're coming. Schedule it's on the schedule. We're gonna have a VIP area. It's gonna be set up. I have no clue what that will, you know, entail. Keep your expectations very low. However, the point it's a great local spot, family owned business and prior lake. Been around for most of my lifetime. I may have had a different name, you know, in my early days, but it's been the point for a very long time. Like old Southern barbecue, it's a family owned, lacrosse family owned. They're in the lacrosse world.
Speaker 2They've done a lot of things for prior lake Sports. All of them, it's prior lake savage sports, right, yeah, all the sports. So yeah, no, they're good. I think that was the right place.
Speaker 1Yeah, yeah, that was like first on my list. You know there was other options, but I think they check all the boxes. They're somebody we definitely wanna support. So down the LA coaches summit. I miss anything.
Speaker 2Yeah, adding the girls side, I think.
Speaker 1Oh, of course, yeah, wow, wake up, austin.
Speaker 2Yeah, I mean, I don't think it necessarily was like anything different. I think we're doing the exact same stuff that we did last year, but we're just adding girls speakers, girls coaches. We had a great question, actually Gold asked this question. He said you know, our boys coaches a lot to go to girls speakers and girls coaches a lot to go to boys speakers, and we're gonna post the schedule and you can go to whoever, whomever you so desire, like you can listen in on any speaker you want, and I think you know I'm really interested in hearing some of the girls speakers myself.
Speaker 2So, and I'm sure there's some like girls coaches that wanna hear about maybe some scheme stuff on the boys side, or even, you know, I guess coach Clem, for example, is doing a film breakdown session. So it's not really I'm sure he'll have boys lacrosse clips that he'll be working off of, mainly because that's what he has access to. But all of those principles on how to game plan, how to break down film and how to do it you know, how to watch a game as a coach versus a fan I think there's a skill set there that I'm really interested in hearing about and I think a lot of girls coaches will also be interested in that as well. So, yeah, you can go to any speaker you want, but we are definitely. We definitely have girls and boys coaches there this year, which was kind of the original plan last year, but it just we couldn't get the speakers lined up and it just only worked out to just push the boys side. But we definitely made sure that happened this year.
Speaker 1And the girls coaches are maybe even more fired up than the boys coaches.
Speaker 1There's a wait list. There's more girls coaches. You know that wanted to speak and it was like I. We only have so much room, you know. So I'm excited about the turnout on the girls side. I hope it's more than the boys. I hope they knock it out of the park. I hope there's more girls coaches than boys coaches this year. I'd be sweet. So we do. I think we have an interview coming up here. I believe, I believe they're gonna. I think they're trying to join us. They may have lost the invite email so I might have to resend it. So we're working through this. We're working through this. It might seem like we've been ranting about all the things we're doing, which is not a bad thing. We got a lot going on.
Speaker 2What is that called in like politics when you buy time until?
Speaker 1like a.
Speaker 2A filler buster, filler buster, right. Yeah, we're doing a filler buster right now.
Speaker 1We had a little filler buster. You know, while we're looking for emails and we're finding Zoom links and yeah, we're here, we're here. We're here, we're just filler bustering.
Speaker 3Sorry about that.
Speaker 1No, no worries, you know it's technology, it's. You got meetings. I get it was all across meeting.
Speaker 3Yes, sir, it was.
Speaker 1Well, we'll talk about that in a minute. For those who aren't watching the YouTube and are just listening on the podcast and might not know, we've got a former Minnesota defenseman another banilled guy Too much banilled on this podcast recently. A lot of banilled, but when a player like this slides in our DMs and wants to come on our pocket, or you think I'm going to shoot this down. No, no. So former banilled current high point defenseman, you LSM there or they thrown you that close.
Speaker 3I came in as an LSM and about halfway through the fall I was moved down to close defense.
Speaker 1Another topic we're after. I'm going to write that down. We'll talk more about that. Is it high stuffence? I've never actually met you at it in coach. I don't want to. I don't want to botch this, is it no?
Speaker 3problem. No problem, it's Ky-yo Steve.
Speaker 1It is Ky-yo. Okay, sorry about that, ky-yo. Welcome to the podcast. Welcome to Down the LA Thank you guys.
Speaker 3Thanks you guys for having me on Love the show. Huge fan of the show actually. Last season I'd listened to every single week Love to hear your guys' updates, didn't all? I'm not going to lie, didn't always listen the whole way through, but I did listen to every episode. I'd like to say that.
Speaker 1Dude, you're messing up our stats. Man, Can't you stop halfway through the episode?
Player's Experience With Coach Clem
Speaker 2We still get the download if he clicks on it. So yeah, I know we appreciate that and we're excited to have you on. I actually haven't formally met you either, but obviously know who you are. I think your coach, coach Clem. We talked about him already on this show. He's getting a lot of airtime for not being here.
Speaker 3He's a great guy.
Speaker 2Yeah, he on the last episode said he will die on the hill, that you should have been Mr LaCrosse in 2023 last season and as I was kind of digging into the stats, I honestly might have to agree with him. So you were a superstar player at Benilde, obviously playing Division I LaCrosse, so we're excited to have you on and we'll ask you some of the basic questions, but I'm sure we'll get some good stories from you as well.
Speaker 3Oh, yeah, for sure. A lot of Coach Clem stories for sure.
Speaker 1What was it like being a player for Coach Clem? Let's get him out of the way. What was it like playing for him, playing under him, for the four years you were there?
Speaker 3So pretty much. I actually went to Orno public school my whole life, so since first grade up until ninth grade and then, after COVID hit, I transferred to Benilde my sophomore year. So I got to play for him and Coach Horn for two years, two years, and those two years they were great man. Everything was unbelievably cutthroat, like unbelievably cutthroat, very systematic. But once you found your confidence and kind of almost gained your leeway with them, hold on, once you gain your leeway with them, it was very like empowering and they would really give you a lot of slack to do whatever you wanted.
Speaker 3So like whether that was all right. We're in a defense. Kyle say you have a matchup and you're gonna have to play sound defense this week. And then we get to the game and I'm just like running around throwing all these different kind of checks trying to take the ball away and I come off the field. Since I played LSM during my time there at BSM, he would like look at me and then he'd be like, all right, you got it. Just like, don't get scored on it. I'd be like all right.
Speaker 1So you had a good leash. He gave you some leash to work with. Talking to him, he said you always liked the big matchups. So were you the one going to him being like, all right, who's their dog, I want him. Or you probably knew who their dog was and you're asking, or was he just giving you it? You're like here you go, have fun? Or are you going to him being like no, this is who I'm guarding this week?
Speaker 3It was a very mutual conversation because I would always do a lot of film and scout teams very early compared to some of my other teammates, so I would already know who their dogs were. Also, growing up back home in Minnesota we all kind of play against the dogs in clubs in the in-state tournaments, so you kind of know who those guys are, unless there's really like a young guy who's standing out. He's like, oh, I don't know this kid, but let's go, I want the matchup. Give it to me.
Speaker 1One matchup that you know, if I think, if you pay attention, you know to the season last year. You know Alpha on Alpha Mickeit versus you just kind of neutralized each other. Well, you neutralized him. You know what was playing against him and what are their big matchups did you have over the last couple of years?
Speaker 3So that matchup specifically was probably the most not really hyped, but it was kind of the most hyped one. Looking at the history that I've had in high school. Also looking at Ben's history in high school Like he was up for Mr Lacrosse undoubtedly, I think that I thought that he was going to win it through and through. Congratulations to Carter. I thought he had that one in the bag but yeah, I was really excited for it. I've played against him. He's been on Team Minnesota. His his.
Speaker 1Like you took it away from him. You, you shut them down. I think you took the award away from him.
Speaker 3There were. There were a couple of conversations about that, but who knows, at the end of the day, yeah, we've just always especially prior Lake and BSM our history like we've never really liked each other. I feel like we have a sense of mutual respect for each other because we both acknowledge it like we're dogs. But I love that game. I love the competitiveness we had. We were just talking smack the whole time. It was a really fun game and I'm glad I got the best of them, because the main reason I'm just gonna throw it out there is because I did not get that Mr the Cross nomination and I saw that he did and I was like, all right, all right, let's go.
Speaker 1So you weren't even. You weren't even. You know they do a great and this is sarcastic they do a great job even letting everybody know who is even nominated. So were you even nominated? Because I don't even know if I saw a list to be honest, I was not nominated.
Speaker 3Okay, okay, I was not.
Speaker 2That's a fail on the states part.
Speaker 3Yeah.
Speaker 1And that's just a gif of Michael Jordan taken that personally Just adding a chip to the shoulder.
Speaker 3Yes, sir, exactly what it was.
Speaker 2So some we've talked on the podcast a couple times about players that we quote unquote say are worth the price of admission. I think Sam Art was one of them, who you probably know is just a guy that's going to do something spectacular In every single game. I feel like I would I'll you know, say it on the record here you are another guy that's worth the price of admission. From the film that I saw, from the games I've been to, maybe not necessarily like a skill or something specific like that, but you bring so much energy to the game. Like it just looks like you love the game of lacrosse first of all and love competition. But like, have you always been like that where you just are so juiced up all the time to like when you make that play and it's usually early on and it just gets the boys going like, do you feed off that? Is that something you kind of take ownership of, or are you just kind of just doing whatever and it just comes to you?
Speaker 3I mean, yeah for sure. Energy has always been a very big part of my game. It's something I take pride in. It's a very big aspect of leadership as well. So if I can go out there and make a play, I know I can make. But if I go out there and make it early, not only will it get my game rolling, get me in that groove to keep making plays, keep getting stops on defense, keep making clears, whatever it might be maybe a big goal, but it'll also get the guys behind me, especially the defense, to keep doing their job and want them to hunt and get their takeaways, their ground balls, their clears as well.
Speaker 2Yeah, I'm going to pull up the stats here quick. I think you had like 11 goals last year or something like that.
Speaker 1I feel like LSMs last year had like a crazy amount of points.
Speaker 3We were showing out last year. Yeah, for some dogs for sure.
Speaker 1The RLSM at PL was like top six in points.
Speaker 3Who is that kid?
Speaker 1He's under the radar. He's an under the radar guy. Tell me about him. What's his name? He's an absolute. You don't know him. You were a team M1 guy, weren't you?
Speaker 3No, sir, I was a true guy.
Speaker 2Oh you're a true guy. Cj Sheffield is his name. Yeah, he's a senior this year.
Speaker 1He's a hockey guy, he's a locker room guy. I bully him on a regular basis. He's a beauty, but yeah, he's, I don't know. What else do you want to know? He's not committed anywhere that I know of.
Speaker 3Yeah, I don't know. Like I've never really heard of the kid and he's just a dog dude, like he is an athlete, you're going to put him on the wings. He gave me such a battle on the wings, especially in the state championship the year before. That kid is an athlete, he wants the ball, he wants to go out and hit someone, he wants a 1v1 matchup. Not many people would were taking it when we played you guys, they didn't really. That's what I know. They didn't really want it. That kid, that kid's a standout poll for sure.
Speaker 2As a neutral party here, as someone who's kind of seen both both guys play you, you and CJ kind of play the same way, I kind of feel like you actually share a lot of similarities. I don't know if CJ's as I don't know animated maybe and like, like, like visibly brings the energy, but like you can tell, like he wants the competition and like he is so nasty off the ground, like he gets ground balls, like like picking them up backhand, like I'm like I don't, how did he do that, running at full speed? So shout out to him. I know P-Mac, you probably know a lot more, but yeah, no, I think you know respect across the board. You guys notice each other's game. I'm sure you'd say the same thing about you.
Speaker 1But yeah, he's got some mits. Being a hockey guy, he has some good mits on him. Push loves transition but, like you said to like he wants the matchup, he wants to, he wants to get dodge done. So, yeah, no, he's, he's a.
Speaker 2yeah, that's a good shout out P-Mac I got the stats here. So and Kyle. So last year only 15 games out of the 19 have been input, so you can talk to your coaching staff about that.
Speaker 3Yeah, the postseason was not input.
Speaker 2Yeah. So if that, if I sell you short please don't kill the messenger here 12 goals, nine assists, so 21 points. As an LSM, I feel like there's some starting midfielders Short stick, oh mitties that don't even have 21 points.
Speaker 1That's what I'm saying. You were probably top six in points on your team 104 goals 104 goals that's insanity.
Speaker 2And 69 forced turnovers. Again, some of those things are like forced turnovers could be calculated, but you might have even been undersold on that. I thought you probably, you probably had more than that. Just insane numbers Like you talk about, like great LSMs and what they need to do for the team and if you can give, if you, if your LSM can give you 21 points, 100 plus ground balls and 74 turnover is in a game like you're dominating between the boxes.
Speaker 1What else does the state want in a, in a, in a defenseman? What else are they looking for for, you know, after season awards?
Speaker 3Maybe some height, maybe some weight. That's all I can think of Some height and weight, but yeah obviously it didn't matter.
Speaker 2I mean just putting up the stats here and again. You might have had more on those totals. You know with postseason, which it's just crazy. So you're at high point now. How was that going into? Like you know, I was your top dog at the high school level. I'm not going to say it was easy for you, because you certainly watched film, you worked hard. But you know you could go out with the confidence and be like I'm, I'm, I'm the guy Get to the division one level at a really good program. You know what was that like going into the next level.
Speaker 3Um, fortunately I have a BSM alumni, jack Van Overbeek. He's here. He's really helped me a lot. He's a senior this year. It was really nice having him and the advice that he gave to me coming in is just shut your mouth and just be a sponge. Just learn everything. Um, put your head down and be the hardest worker. You can be trying to work everyone else out, because where we come from, we like stepping onto the field.
Speaker 3It was just a completely different speed. Like I felt like my head was spinning. I was just lost on ball, off ball. The speed of the game on the wings, on the ground balls, like everything was just crazy to me and I was just kind of freaking out.
Speaker 3After the first week I was like what did I get myself into? And what the coaches told me? They were just like look, this happens to many of the non-hotbed area guys that come in that are just haven't played against this competition. Like we have guys that are from St Mary's and Maryland Calvert Hall, like prep schools, that have played against this kind of competition for their whole lives and you're just now stepping into it. So I mean it's definitely taking taking some time for me to adjust, but now that I've kind of nailed down the basics, it's more just hammering those fundamentals like in the ball off the ground. Stick work still has to be a big thing. Footwork is an everyday thing during extra work with the guys. So even when you think you have things figured out, your head is still spinning.
Speaker 1What you know being a freshman that fall ball, you know was any run tests going on. You know run tests have been a hot topic on Twitter lately. You know any physical challenges that you know maybe a high point does.
Speaker 3Yeah, so we had a run test. It was the beep test or the yo-yo test Some people call it different things. Pretty much, you run 20 yards and back within like I think it starts at like 20 seconds or so, and then you got to walk five yards around a cone and walk back up to the line. So you got to make it there and back before the beep ends and then you just keep going and going and going until you can't stop. And the thing was coming in.
Speaker 3Vanna was like if you do bad, not only will you be chirped for being out of shape, but you may or may not be put on laundry. So, with that being said, I was like all right, I got to hammer this hammered conditioning during the summer just to make it easier on myself. So, yeah, I mean I thought I did pretty good. I was in good shape coming in, which is a huge thing. Guys Going to college, be in good shape If you're. Our coach Torpy says it all the time Not being in shape makes everything in your life harder, especially on the crossfield.
Speaker 1He's not wrong. If you, if you tested bad, what would you be put on laundry? Okay, so that's for. I know I love that. I had to do laundry my whole freshman year. So laundry sucks. You have to wheel it far. What are you actually cleaning? What's laundry? What's your laundry situation?
Speaker 3All right, so we have. We have these loops with everyone's number on them. So at the end of practice, you put short socks, underwear, shirt on a laundry loop and you throw it in the laundry bin. And who's ever on laundry has to take it down. Put it in the washer, come back. Put it in the dryer, come back, put all of it away.
Speaker 1You're doing the laundry.
Speaker 3Oh yeah, Like you were doing the laundry one day a week for the team.
Speaker 1That that actually might be where I so we had the laundry been and we had to carry this heavy ass bin off a flight of stairs and wheel it around to people who did the law. I think doing the laundry would be worse. I mean, yeah, we do have an elevator.
Speaker 3Thank, thank God. It is very, very nice. The elevator makes it easy going down to the laundry room. But yeah, we are doing the laundry. It is multiple cycles of laundry a day, so it's it's not great. Man, I'm going to be honest with you guys. I, we went up to Loyola this spring to play Villanova and Fairfield in our fall scrimmage and I forgot my helmet to the scrimmage. So after that scrimmage I was put on laundry and I am still on laundry.
Speaker 1Yeah, you deserve to be on laundry for that yeah. What else can get you on laundry?
Speaker 3I'm doing bad on the run tests, not having grades acceptable to coach, getting a bad email or something from a teacher. I don't, just I love, that you shouldn't be doing, I guess laundry.
Speaker 1I love that. I love that punishment. Oh, that you're grabbing like a prop or something. I the narrative I'll call it a narrative that High Point is a country club is how nice is the setup over over at High Point?
Recruiting Process and Choosing a College
Speaker 3I don't know about country club, but I will say we are very, very fortunate over here. We go to like a very beautiful, taken care of university. There's a lot of statues, there's flags from different countries all over the place. I don't know why, but there's music playing when you're walking around campus. There's fountains, there's there's just everything. Really cool buildings. Where do you study in? Right now? My major is finance and I am doing a minor in Spanish.
Speaker 1Do all the business. Students work in the steakhouse or something.
Speaker 3It is actually part of your class.
Speaker 1That you have to graduate. Yeah, talk about that, I I. I've heard about this.
Speaker 2I did my research. I've heard about the steakhouse.
Speaker 3So essentially it's called Prime. It's a five star steakhouse on campus and with our meal plan here, you can go there once a week as part of the meal plan, which is really, really nice. That's incredible.
Speaker 1I need to get on the meal plan.
Speaker 3And then so for one of the classes, you have to go in there with your classmates at night. You got to make an appointment. You got to call, make an appointment, got to dress very nice suit and tie, go in there and the waiters and the staff are informed that you are there for a class, and so they are giving you a grade upon your manners, how you order your pronunciation of words, just being vocal, not being nervous, not stuttering, just being like formality, I guess, for to have prepare you for like business dinners, things of things like that.
Speaker 1No, I think it's cool. I think it's a cool program that they do with that. You know ending up go ahead.
Speaker 2Coach Torpe has problems recruiting kids to the school when he's like, hey, here's, you, got once a week at this place.
Speaker 3Yeah, definitely not. I mean, kids get here. I've had multiple recruits this fall so far and they come here and they're like, wow, they go to other schools. Some of them have been ranked in the past better than High Point, but they'll go to their campus and they'll come here and they'll be like, wow, I can't believe. You guys live here every single day.
Speaker 1Love to hear your recruiting process. To bring it back a little bit how do you end up at High Point? How do you get connected there? I mean, honestly, you know banilled players at least a couple, I think, have gone there, maybe more, I guess I don't know. You know it doesn't look like maybe. Yeah, you definitely don't look like a military school guy with that unmade bed. But you know what other situations were you maybe looking at?
Speaker 3So my recruiting process started when everyone's did summer. Going into junior year. Actually, when I was in eighth grade, I watched High Point on TV and I knew that Jack was going there and they were beating teams like year after year. They were beating top five teams. They beat Duke, they beat Virginia. So watching that and knowing that I'm coming from a place that I'm not going to get looks like the four and five star guys are, and that I can find a place that not only wants me but I could fit in well in and hopefully play more than one or two years, you know what I mean. So with that in mind, I played club ball for many years and then, going into my sophomore year or junior year, that's when we got recruited right. It's been so long, guys. When was it?
Speaker 1Yeah, september, one of your junior year, right? It's kind of when the timeline opens up.
Speaker 3Okay, okay, okay. So I was going, carson Brandt and I actually lived in Delaware for three weeks. We lived there doing tournaments there and in Maryland, so being on the East Coast all summer just for recruiting. I went to this prospect camp here in the beginning of August of that year, came down, talked to Coach Torpey, did the camp, played well. And then the night of September one, the night before September one, I went to an event called Midnight Mania which I've seen that event.
Speaker 1That looks so cool.
Speaker 3Oh it's sick, dude, it's awesome and pretty much what it is for the people who don't know is you go, you show up, you talk to the coaches at about 11. They like do all their speeches and they talk about different colleges, where they're from, different things they're looking for, and then they take all the people in, let's say, a camp or in the scrimmage, everyone who's there, split them all up into teams and we had different coaches coach our team. So I had personally, I had Coach Galloway from Jacksonville and I had a Boston University coach for my second game. So they flopped the coaches. But at midnight you go, get into your teams, you talk to the coaches and then you go play. I think it was three or four games, two or three games, something like that. And that was a really cool experience because that night I got a text from Coach Galloway or from multiple different coaches that I was very interested in. But I got to actually be coached by Coach Galloway, so I got to talk to him about recruiting. He got to see me play firsthand and I got to play for him. That was one of the main spots I was looking other than here, so that was really cool.
Speaker 3And then, september 1, I got contacted by the Division 1 teams. It was Jacksonville, high Point, wagner College, and I'm missing one in there. I'm pretty sure I'm missing one in there. It's a long time ago. And then, moving on with that process, I got contacted by Division 2 and 3 teams as well. But I always had a dream of playing Division 1 lacrosse and with those coaches contacting me I knew that I would have an opportunity to. So I decided to dial in on them and just let those guys know if nothing ended up working out for me. So I took a visit to Jacksonville they wanted to get me down here right away Took a visit down there, did the whole campus tour, watched them practice and had a meeting with Coach Galloway, which was really cool.
Speaker 3The new coach of Queens lacrosse was Minnesota guy. Yep, what's his name? I'm blanking his name Nick Colpitz. Nick Colpitz, coach Colpitz. I love that guy. Shout out Coach Colpitz. He was there, I'm helping me out. I believe he was a faceoff coach for Jacksonville at that time. Congratulations on being coach at Queens. That's so sweet.
Speaker 3And so then I was talking to them, then got I had a visit here at High Point as well the following week. So I came down here, had my visit. Bryce Young, the defender for the Whipsnakes, was actually on snap at that time, so he toured my parents and I around here, got to have a meeting with Coach Tuma, who's now a defensive coordinator. He's a coach at Ohio State right now and I ended up just weighing everything out with my parents. Oh yeah, it was Boston University who I talked to as well. I ended up talking to my parents about all of our options and just realized, like High Point has been a place that I've wanted to come. I knew that there were other Minnesota guys going down to Jacksonville, but Coach Horman had a connection with Coach Torpy, with Jack and Matt Doudin. So with that I just decided it was in my best interest to come down here, and I also thank you for like, yeah, breaking that down and going into depth.
Speaker 1You know, I think for you know the minister, you know obviously mostly Minnesota listeners and players and families like listening, like they're going to get a lot of value out of that. You know they every recurring process is different. Right, they're not just going to be able to do exactly what you did and do the same thing, but you know there's a lot that goes into it. You spent the whole summer, you know, on the East Coast. You're talking to coaches, going to different events, doing different things. You know that's going to add a lot of value, you know, to. You know the listeners that are going to hear that story. So you know I appreciate that it's super cool. Like as an eighth grader it probably was High Point, like from eighth grade right, like you had older play. You know other Minnesota guys go on that you knew and you know it's cool that it kind of came full circle and now you're there now.
Speaker 2Yeah, and kind of a cool thing is you guys are going to play Queens Coach Colpitz on February 18th this year, so you'll get to see that. And you know, I think I agree with PMAC there. I liked the detail that you went into, because there's so many factors and you know, we always tell our players and I think we try to make it known on this podcast too of like you got to be able to go and find your fit and find, like what your vibe is and where you feel like you're going to fit in. And you talked about that, saying like I might have a chance to play here I know some people here. I'm getting a good vibe Like not that Jacksonville is a bad program and like Coach Colpitz is awesome and that would have been great too.
Speaker 2But like you just felt something about High Point that you wanted to explore and like that ended up being the decision. And then like obviously you're good enough, right, you went out and when you did these camps and when you did the tournaments, you went out and performed and like you were doing the work to make sure that when you got on the field and this coach is like all right, I'm going to watch this kid. All right, I'll take the second watch that. You went and made a play and then they went all right. Now I want to talk to this guy. So that's super cool and I kind of like the Minnesota High Point pipeline. I think it's like a cool, like a cool little thing that we got going here and hopefully now Jack's having a fantastic career and I think you will as well.
Speaker 1There's a couple of Minnesota girls on the girls team. There too, there is Meg yeah Sporny.
Speaker 3Yep Prior to Lake Gal. Yeah she is in my grade. Shout out to the Sporny's. Shout out, meg. Shout out to the Sporny's.
Speaker 1So you teased it. Upcoming season here. Games are going to be starting here in I don't know about a month, depending on when scrimmages start happening. For you and whatnot Sounds like you got moved to close. Was that something on your radar going in or was that kind of a shocker? And what's the upcoming? What's the vibe around the boys right now? What's the upcoming season looking like and what's happening right now and call it the preseason here.
Speaker 3So when I was coming in I was just in my head. I was like I'm coming in as an LSM, I could get moved down to pole or I could get moved down to close defense. I could stay up whole. They could even move me to short stick D midi, I would not care. I just I want to play lacrosse, I want to just be put where I could have success right, because these coaches they've been through it, they've seen all of it. They're going to know where my talents will fit me and where I can be most successful. So coming in I was just trusting them, like if you guys want to give me a short stick, I'll go out and I'll go try. I'll go ball, I'll go hit somebody.
Speaker 3But now that I've gotten moved down to close, what it was is that I mean I'm not in the league of the ball, I'm a freak athlete. I'm a six foot, now a hundred and 85 pound guy who I've never been the most athletic, I've just been smarter than everyone and always had the best stick skills, especially when I was younger. And that comes with watching a lot of film and hitting the wall a ridiculous amount and with that the cerebral ability that I have. They thought that it transferred a lot more down to close than it did up top at LSM. Because LSM is where you want your most athletic guy on the wing for the face offs to get that GB run around all the middle third of the field with the fastest guys on the field toward the midfielders and it ended up. I'm not the fastest guy, but they can put me down there. I'm a very vocal guy on defense as well. So if I can be put on that crease regarding that X guy where I can see everything and just kind of a lot of times since obviously I'm not with the starters this year I'm with that second group of defensive guys I can be kind of that guy that's like seeing everything, pointing everyone around, communicating what packages we're in, where we're sliding from, who's recovering.
Speaker 3If I'm going, I need to things of that nature. So that is that's why they told me why they moved me down and why they think it's a good fit for me. So far it's been working out really well. I've been getting a lot better understanding it a lot more, especially in high school. Never really played close. So when I got behind the goal guarding Jack, I was like what am I doing here? How do I do this? I have no idea what's going on, just like how do I maneuver around the crease. I've never done it. I have no idea.
Speaker 1So you get to run through it.
Speaker 3Yeah, yeah, I figured that out.
Speaker 2Tough. First matchup too, with Jack and Overbeek.
Speaker 3Yeah, I mean, I've done yeah, I've done ones with him and Carson a lot, especially Carson. He likes to dodge from wherever, but him at X is just scary. So that has definitely helped me out a lot.
Speaker 2As someone who's on like the second group, do you get tasked with kind of scout defense? Are they saying, hey, you're going to run this package, like you got to learn this package because our next opponent runs it so you can give our ones a look. Do they do that with you guys?
Scouting and Schedule Discussion in Lacrosse
Speaker 3Yeah, that's coming up actually this week. So this weekend we will go up to Annapolis at the Navy Stadium. We're scrimmaging Navy in Denver, so we are preparing for them. We have been preparing for them for the past week. I'm actually on the scout building team so they just take guys who like to watch film and kind of know what's going on, I guess, and there's two sides, so there's like the older guys, the starters, who are going to be playing, and then kind of the younger guys who need to build the scout. So we all just figure out hands of the returners, since it's the first game, so we don't really have any film from this. We figure out their hands, their numbers, their tendencies, how many points they had last year, things like that, like reoccurring patterns that could be useful for the older guys to know. So, yeah, we'll be getting into scout tomorrow for sure.
Speaker 1Scout teams huge and like you're going to learn a lot too, because every week you're going to you know it's going to be different, maybe a completely different set. You guys got like a name, you guys got a unit name yet or Still Scout, just straight up, scout Just keep it Boys of Scout, yeah, the Scout boys. Scout boys. I'm into that, yeah.
Speaker 2I asked that question because you did bring up how you love to watch film and I'm like you know. Obviously you want to be on the field. Everybody wants to be on the field, you know when you're a competitor like you are. But how can I contribute to the team if I'm not going to be on the field? Perfect job for you to be part of that group.
Speaker 2You said you're going into finance. Is that your major? Yes, sir, that's my major. Yeah, this, this, this of preparing the Scout and that's going to translate great into finance positions someday. You seem like someone who's going to be successful in finance because you dig in right. It's not always about what's on the surface. You got to dig in and finance from the little that I know P Mac knows more than me, so I think that's awesome, that you're doing that and that you're taking pride in that role. And again, our listeners a lot of high school kids, families everybody thinks that I'm going to walk on and be the guy right and it's like, no, you're not. But who are they going to remember next year when they have someone they need to fill a spot? Well, how about the guy that put all the Scouts together? That actually was working his butt off behind the scenes, so not super cool. I'm glad to hear that.
Speaker 1What's the big matchup, what's the? You know who's who's the big rival for High Point. You know who's who's the highlighted, you know game. You know coming up here in 2024?.
Speaker 3So we have a packed schedule. I don't know if you guys have seen it or not.
Speaker 2I'm looking at it right now. This is no joke at all.
Speaker 1You log in Sky Miles this year. What?
Speaker 3Oh yeah, for sure we're going on the road to some big games. We're staying at home for some big games. I'd say the head rival, who has been the past couple of years, is going to be Richmond and St Joe's. In conference, big teams have been successful, have been ranked the past two years in that top 25 consistently, and we beat Richmond last year to go to the A-10 championship and unfortunately lost to St Joe's. So that's going to be one that we're going to need back and we're taking that to the A-10 championship as well, for sure.
Speaker 2Yeah, I'm looking here. You got Duke, which is a classic early season matchup, both North Carolina teams.
Speaker 1Don't you always, don't they always kind of start with Duke or play them early? Yeah?
Speaker 2Yeah, you know, we talked about Queens mainly because you're going to see Coach Culpit's, you know. And then you got Cleveland State. I make that one because Justin Dallam's there, shout out Justin Dallam.
Speaker 3Greatest school we have ever played for Love that guy.
Speaker 2Yeah, so you'll get to see him and then you got two easy games back to back against Syracuse and Georgetown. Really, easy right, but those are two out of conference. That's you get. You're at the dome or you're at the dome in Syracuse. That's a cool experience.
Speaker 3That's my dream. Guys Like that is. That has been on the bucket list for so long.
Speaker 2The fact that we're going to go up to Syracuse and play in the dome, that's crazy, I hope that like I don't hope this, but something happens, like the gear doesn't arrive, but like your gear does and they're like, hey, you're on Spalina, like you're out there, buddy, get out. I don't hope that happens.
Speaker 3I don't want somebody forgets their helmet, yeah All right, you're up, you're taking a spot on laundry, you're taking a spot on the field.
Speaker 2Yeah, then you got Georgetown. At home you can do a Jersey swap. Swap with Seamus Foley I don't know how well you know Seamus, but because I think he was gone from Bonilla by the time you got there but another BSM alum. You're going to Jacksonville, which is always a time Tough team Hampton. Then you're going to Chapel Hill to play North Carolina and that's those are the games that you have before you even get into your conference schedule. Yeah, st Joe's in Philly, richmond, you got at home, you know Hobart and UMass, finished with them, and then, yeah, then you got your A10 tournament. So coach Torpy must think he's got a squad this year because he's scheduling the big dogs.
Speaker 3Oh, yeah, he loves he's. He's tells us that he tries to schedule us the hardest teams possible and the ones that say no are just they don't, they don't want that smoke and we'll have to find someone else to play. So he always tries to pack it up and get us ready. Just allow us to have confidence and go into those games knowing that we can play right alongside those teams and that we've beat them in the past and we can still beat them now, especially with the squad we have this year.
Speaker 2Yeah, no, that's a. That's a great schedule. We'll be definitely be a lot. We'll be tuning in. Pmac and I, before you got on, we're just talking we were pretty pumped because, like the college teams are starting to sort of have content and practices have been starting, so like lacrosse season is sort of starting now. We're just so fired up. High school Minnesota is a little farther away, but you know we get our college fix from like about six weeks and then then high school gets full swimming for us. But can we?
Speaker 3change that? Can we change when the season starts like that's brutal.
Speaker 2Yeah.
Speaker 1If there's not 10 feet of snow on the on the ground in March. That's. That's the tough part year to year Right.
Speaker 2See if you have like a senior project or a project in one of your business classes like how to create a case to present to the MSHSL to get them to actually do something about it. I mean, that would be. That would be a great thing to work on because, like we're so far down their list of priorities. But yeah, baseball and softball start mid March. I think. Like track and field starts before us too, so it's like they're all outside. Why can't we be? But I don't know. I digress.
Speaker 1Since you listen but you don't ever finish.
Speaker 3An episode sounds like you, not everyone guys, come on.
Speaker 1You may know, you may not know what we end with, and that is what is your alley. It's something you're maybe fired up this year, maybe it's a lifelong thing. You can kind of take it any direction that you want.
Speaker 3I've thought about this a lot of times actually.
Speaker 1Like you had to know it was common.
Speaker 3My alley would just be being the most positive person you can be.
Speaker 3For me that has really translated a lot to the field and being a leader, especially when I was younger because now obviously I'm not really in a leadership position, but back in high school it was just on those days when something happens and something's feeling down, or the boys don't really want to practice, it's cold out and we aren't playing a great opponent and no one's really focused up, or it's after a loss.
Speaker 3Even after we lost the prior lake last year, it was like you got to own your mistakes and you got to stay happy because at the end of the day, someone has got it worse and we're living beautiful lives. We get to play lacrosse all the time, we get to hang out with the boys before and after lacrosse all the time. We have great food, we all have houses, we all have running water. There isn't really much to complain about, especially in the world I grew up in and the people I was surrounded with at Benilde, st Margaret's, when I saw people complaining about little tiki-taki things when all they have to do is just smile, just make someone laugh, give someone a compliment, just give off that energy and it just makes the whole room, the whole community a better place.
Speaker 1That's a great message, a great way to end the pod and a good message going into kind of start here in 2024. We live in the greatest country.
Speaker 3God bless America, god bless.
Speaker 1America yeah, a lot of people that we're surrounded with in the lacrosse community. You're right. Yeah, we're blessed. I appreciate that message and I appreciate you coming down the alley sharing your story, getting to introduce you to DTA Nation. They should already know who you are, but if they didn't, they do now and you added a ton of value to them and sharing your experiences. I appreciate that.
Speaker 2Yeah, thanks for coming down the alley with us. Thank you, guys very much.
Speaker 3Check that one off the bucket list. Keep doing what you guys are doing. You guys are just spreading it all throughout Minnesota. My dad even listens to this, which is crazy. He gets all into it. He loves the Discord too. The Discord thing you guys got going on that community is unreal. It's just getting so many more people into know what's going on with high school lacrosse or even guys that are balling out in club committing here, committing there and just bringing the whole sport of lacrosse up. I want to say huge thank you to you guys for having me on. I had a great time. Apologize for being late.
Speaker 2That's all.
Speaker 3And from the messy bed. Army wouldn't have loved that.
Speaker 1No, you're not going to be able to hang out with Gus Bell in college. You'd be running for that bed.
Speaker 3Yeah, that interview was great.
Speaker 1That was a good interview. I've said too much, but no, lately to wait, but they've been good interviews. Gus was good. Gus was good.
Speaker 2Well, hey, it was nice of finally meeting you, but good luck in the start of your season. We'll be tuning in on all the subscriptions that will be logging in here soon to watch you, and we'll probably have to have you on at some point midseason to see how things are going.
Speaker 3Let's do it All right, I appreciate you guys. Have a great night. Thank you, dtnation. See you guys.
High School Season Previews Coming Up
Speaker 1And thank you to Kyle from High Point University, benilde, st Margaret's alum, not a Mr LaCrosse finalist. Thank you for coming down the alley and we will be back. Are we logging off, ted, or you got something?
Speaker 2No, I think I had something, but I don't remember what it was. But yeah, we're getting close. We're getting close to the start of the high school season and I think section previews are coming up in a couple of weeks here, so that's going to be basically lead into high school across. So we're excited for that, yeah.
Speaker 1Section previews will start here soon. I've got a source, a different source, who gave me a nice little fun report. So I think we're going to get to look backwards before we start looking forwards One more. We'll look backwards one more time before we start looking forward to the upcoming season here. I think I'll give the source a name, maybe next week when we dive into that report. Yeah, so thanks for coming down the alley and we'll be back next week.
