Creekside's Jordyn Pelky signs her scholarship to attend division I Presbyterian College. Mindy and Paul McCord, who started coaching Jordyn in Creeks youth league and LaxManiax Middle School help celebrate.
Jordan Cook and Taylor McCord sign their division I scholarships. Jordan will play at San Diego State and Taylor at Florida. Aubrey Asplen (pictured left) visited Converse College and San Diego State and Nicki Caputo (pictured center) is committed to Reinhardt College in Georgia. All were Creeks and LaxManaix alumni.
- It has been six years since lacrosse for girls came to the First Coast. During that time the sport has grown from five high school programs to more than 20, four of which are in Gainesville. Teams have consistently been ranked in the top-10 statewide over the past five years, which is incredible considering that none of them knew what lacrosse was seven years ago.
It shows the youth of the sport statewide.
As the sport has grown, the club system that has supported the growth of the lacrosse player who wanted more than recreational ‘daddy ball’ has grown with it. The LaxManiax Elite program, which emerged from Bartram Trail, and Nease high school’s head coaches in 2006, has been growing each year and each year the local student-athletes have rode the program and experiences to higher levels of play and college lacrosse scholarships. This year, four LaxManiax players have earned scholarships that directly resulted from their club experience. Over the past six years, more than twenty local laxmaniax alums have gone on to play NCAA lacrosse. About twenty more have gone on to local colleges and played college club lacrosse.
“it’s the best buy in terms of club lacrosse in the country. Where else can you find all college coaches with tons of division I experience and former all-American players teaching every level of player anywhere in the country? You have every level of player from beginner to University of Florida signee learning from the same staff with the same care, and for the same price – which is $900 less than the average club cost up north? No where. Just here.” commented former Stanford head coach and JU first assistant Adam Norton, a new addition to the LaxManiax coaching staff in the fall of 2010. “Parents may not realize what they have here because they don’t know any better, but up north, this club would be next to impossible to join or ‘make’ and the price would be $1,200 higher than it is here.”
The Maniax have build a strong foundation to build the sport on and have achieved results. So why change it?
“We want to build north Florida and the other parts of the state as their own clubs now,” says Sarah Gallion, director of the LaxManiax Elite program. “We are strong enough in north, southeast, southwest, and central Florida to do things more locally and in north Florida we have a staff that includes coaches with NCAA coaching experience. They are among the best teachers in the game nationally, and we want them to coach the kids in north Florida. Every part of our system has its areas best teachers of the game, so this new format makes sense for all areas of the LaxManaix system.”
“It’s the reason why the club started: To give kids an alternative to playing for someone’s mom or dad in a recreationally and allow them to step up with their playing level and play teams that they would not normally encounter – much better teams than high school teams from Florida. If you want to improve, you have to play better competition and receive better instruction along with that.”
The LaxManiax will be made up of four teams in 2011. TFG (Team Florida Girls), North Florida ‘A’, North Florida ‘B’, and North Florida Middle School. The TFG format will still exist for those who want to play college lacrosse. It includes a free recruiting system, valued as high as $2,000 at other clubs alone, and a few extra practices each year with the most committed players throughout the state of Florida.
“Our black team has sent more kids to college and had more success (over 75% winning percentage against the top travel clubs nationwide). In fact, our White program has sent more kids to college than all other teams than our own black program. It’s an honor to get on either one of those rosters this year. So, that will still be an option, at no additional charge, for our kids statewide.”
Coaching the north Florida teams this year as head LaxManaix coaches will be some of the most sought after coaches in the country:
Mindy McCord - Original founder and president of Creeks girl’s lacrosse, and former district championship and elite-8 coach of Nease high school (32-17 record), Mindy has extensive experience with coaching middle and high school programs. She practically build several youth leagues from scratch starting when she was 16-years old in her hometown of Westminster, Maryland. Currently, McCord is the head coach at Jacksonville University, where she earned National Lacrosse Conference co-coach of the year honors after leading the Dolphins to a strong third place finish in their first season of division I play. McCord has been named coach of the year in two NCAA sports four times. She has presented at the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association annual meetings, and the US Lacrosse National Convention held annually in Baltimore. She has also served as a head coach and assistant coach for the US Lacrosse-Orlando Chapter U-15 National team and US Lacrosse South Region Women’s Division National Championship teams. Mindy is also a certified US lacrosse official with a rating of L3 and has officiated collegiate and high school games. She volunteers locally as an official for youth lacrosse and has provided hundreds of hours of free coaching clinic experience to local lacrosse coaches.
Mindy was an all-American field hockey and lacrosse player at Lynchburg College in Virginia. She helped found the women’s lacrosse program at Virginia Tech where she earned her masters in Psychology before becoming the head lacrosse and field hockey coach at Oberlin College, and Western Maryland/McDaniel College.
“LaxManiax was founded for kids on the First Coast who want to play lacrosse, be coached by excellent coaches who have proven they know how to step up your game, and now who want to play together locally with their friends. It has changed the lives of our kids. We take great pride in being a championship club, but most important to us is to see our players develop as players and people. We are successful because we are about more than just winning.” says McCord.
Adam Norton - First assistant at Jacksonville University, Adam Norton has a unique track record that is truly unmatched. Norton was an all-American record setting goal keeper for Dickinson College, owning the record for most saves made in a game. He received coach of the year honors for his work at Stanford University, where he worked his way up the ladder from volunteer, to 2nd assistant, to co-head coach from 2006-2009. Under his leadership, Stanford knocked off #2 Penn on their way to claiming the MPSA championship with a 12-4 record. Yes, THE Stanford University! He has also coached at prep powerhouse Episcopal (D.C.), directed WDNT teams, coached with Capital Lacrosse Club, and worked with numerous prep players through his lacrosse instruction company, C4 Lacrosse. He is a frequent speaker at the US Lacrosse National convention where his seminars are normally packed with coaches from across the country.
“With LaxManiax right here in north Florida, there is no need to play for any other club program. Why would you? Having seen dozens of other programs nationwide, one of the finest club programs is right here. Where else can you be coached by coaches with this much experience and compete in a club with such a strong national reputation? It’s really quite amazing that the Maniax are where they are today. It’s a tribute to the work and smarts that Sarah Gallion, Mindy and Paul have put into the club. I can’t wait to coach in 2011.” commented Norton.
Sarah Gallion, the club’s director, will also be coaching a north Florida team this year. In addition to coaching in the LaxManiax state-wide program ‘TFG’, Gallion will oversee one of the four north Florida LaxManiax teams. A former captain at division I Johns Hopkins University and a US National team invitee, ‘G’ has established herself as one of the top coaches in the southeast. Last year her LaxManiax TFG team earned an outstanding 12-2 record while competing in the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches tournaments against the top competition in the nation. There is no better example of the sport in the state of Florida than Coach G. G started playing competitive lacrosse in the NEMS (North East Maryland Select) program in 8th grade before earning a scholarship to Johns Hopkins. She still plays competitively in tournaments across the country.
G has also coached Bartram Trail high school to a 13-5 record and a district championship in her first season as head coach. Her team has yet to be defeated by another First Coast high school during this time. Prior to being the head coach of the Bears, G led the Bears to a 15-5 record and the state regional finals. She also volunteers to help coach the local recreational leagues and provides guidance to the moms and dads who coach locally.
“LaxManiax coaches have always been instrumental in growing the sport from the rec leagues up in all areas of the state. I love helping kids learn how to play and supporting the parents who are just learning the game for the first time. This year, I am fired up to coach a local north Florida team. We have a lot of young players who could help advance the area beyond where it is today (three or four north Florida division I signees in this year’s senior class).” says Gallion. “We have a chance to keep the lacrosse community together in north Florida and make something special through the Maniax program.”
Paul McCord - Coach Paul began his women’s lacrosse coaching career as an assistant at Western Maryland in 1999. After spending three years on staff with the Green Terror, a top-25 division III program, Paul followed his full-time football coaching career to Jacksonville with the NFL’s Jaguars. He re-kindled his love with lacrosse in 2006 when he founded the Bartram Trail high school program, a program that has developed into a perennial top-10 program in Florida over the past five seasons and has built an impressive 68-20 record with three district titles. He also coached the US Lacrosse ‘Team Florida’ U-15 team at the 2006 national tournament at Disney, finishing with a 6-1 record. Paul, who once graced the sidelines for the Baltimore Ravens, in addition to the Jaguars, has seven football championships and has coached numerous track and field, field hockey, and lacrosse collegiate all Americans. His nickname given to him by radio personality David Lamm is ‘The coach’.
Paul co-founded the LaxManiax to provide local kids with a chance to play lacrosse. “When we started the programs at Bartram and Creeks and Mindy took over the fledgling program at Nease and was helping start the Ponte Vedra program, there was nothing for kids who wanted to play more lacrosse. So as former college coaches at the time, we started the LaxManiax program for kids who wanted to play lacrosse at a higher level, receive more precise instruction, and be around professional coaches who were not recreational-level.” said McCord. “My life has been coaching, be it in the Super Bowl, or the YMCA, I have been a coach since I was 16-years old. It’s my life’s passion to help kids take their game to the next level. The LaxManiax program is the perfect program for kids in our area to accomplish their goals in lacrosse. And only David Lamm calls me the coach. Everyone else just calls me Paul. Some of the kids call me Coach Paul.”
“Coaching is all about the ability to help kids get better and develop. We have done that and will continue to do this, now on an even more concentrated level. Some players want to play in college and others just want to play better and truly learn the sport. Most kids in our area do not know how to play lacrosse. They have some skills, but they cannot really play the sport of lacrosse. We teach the sport and the skills while we build confidence and that is what truly good coaches do: they mentor.”
McCord is now the assistant coach at Jacksonville University, where he will coordinate the midfield and assist the head coach. The job reunites Paul with Mindy, whom he coached under at Western Maryland. The staff at JU has more than 50 years of combined lacrosse playing, and coaching experience.
Now they are all coaching with LaxManiax north Florida. No other club program anywhere can say that they have the level of depth and breadth of experience that the north Florida LaxManiax in north Florida has for the 2011 season!
“Not only do we have the head coaches in place, but we have some of the best division I players working with our LaxManiax program as well. Best thing about that is, they all came through the program as players! They can relate to the girls on so many levels, from social, to the game, and even about life’s little issues that teenagers face. Our coaching staff has been through it themselves! We have high school players of the year, current all-conference players in college – it’s just great. And for the cost of a year-round club program, it’s a great deal. I don’t know any national lacrosse caliber program that is less expensive than ours. Yet you are receiving such a great level of coaching. It’s a honor to coach in this program and direct it.” added Gallion.
Playing spots on LaxManiax Elite are limited. When the rosters for the teams are completed, the club will close its membership for north Florida. Currently there are just twenty spots available for the entire program. If you would like to join this amazing lacrosse club and be coached during the summer and fall by these awesome coaches, contact Sarah Gallion the club director at Sarah.Gallion@laxmaniax.com. More information on the program is available HERE.
. We hope to raise a significant amount of funds from the tournament.
