lacrosse | Six With Sticks

September 2, 2013
by davekenn Leave a comment

Chip on my shoulder

I have developed a chip on my shoulder about my kids, and I don’t like it. I coach sports and I coach my daughters and my son on a lot of teams.

I think they all have potential to be very successful in sports. They have the talent. At this point in their maturity, Elizabeth has already displayed the desire, work ethic, and love of the game that are necessary. Eden is getting there, and I think she will get there if she continues on the right path.

There is a lot of negativity in our community though directed at our daughters. Not going into specifics, there are many parents that go to many lengths to exclude my daughters from activities and to prop up other kids as more talented than my daughters.

These sorts of things should just naturally work themselves out on fields. Parents and coaches should be supportive of all of the kids in the community, and the cream should naturally rise to the top. It is sad when your own kids are continually denied access to the fields to even try to prove themselves. I often have to fight even to have my kids allowed to participate, and by that point, the negativity towards my kids has even grown greater by those that wish to keep them down.

It is very sad, and not how I had hoped we would raise our children.

July 15, 2013
by davekenn Leave a comment

Club Nationals

This weekend, the girls competed in the Club National Championship. It is a 3-day tournament with teams from all over the country. Eden’s team was playing way over their ahead against older competition. They went 0-4 but they held their own in most games. Elizabeth’s team dominated. They earned the #1 seed in the playoffs. They rolled through the 1st round, 16-2. Then played some stiff competition in Fort Hunt 2019 in the quarterfinals and won in dramatic fashion in overtime. Next, they beat Motion 2019 Purple in the semis to set up a matchup vs TLC 2020 Red.

We dominated most of the game, outshooting the other team 10-2 and had a 2-goal lead heading into the last 3:30 of the game. At that point, the wheels came off, or rather the referees whistles got busy. TLC ended up in the final minutes with 3 free position shots and a bunch of turnovers by the referees, and was able to take the lead with 30 seconds remaining. It was a dramatic comeback victory for TLC, but leaves me and the team feeling empty. I personally feel like the team was cheated, even 2 days later.

What is worse, my daughter feels like she failed. She was a finalist in the Club National Championship and should be very proud of that. But, she is having a hard time getting over the fact that they should have won the game and did not. Their tournament record for the summer was darn impressive, going 18-2 in 3 major tournaments, winning one of them and runner-up in the other two. They outscored their opponents 210-54 in those 3 tournaments. But the sting of the last loss will hang with me and them for a while.

Small solace, but after the game, John Harbaugh, who was watching, came over and talked with the team. He told them that they had big huge hearts. And he said some other stuff to comfort them. And then he told me that he likes what I’ve done with this team. It was good to hear the praise.

Elizabeth told me though, on the ride home, and again yesterday, that she is determined to come back and win this tournament next year. I am glad to know the drive that inside that little body. Love you Liz!

July 5, 2013
by davekenn Leave a comment

Great Day to be a Redshirt

Rock the Fields. Two days of lax. Two Redshirt teams crowned champions. 1 Team won spirit award. 1 Team won dance competition. The story lines were different, but equally impressive.

The 2019/20 team dominated the playing field. In pool play, they beat each of their competitors by more than 10 goals, and some by more than 20. And in the playoffs, none of their games were close. Goalie play was outstanding. Defense was stellar. Ball movement was great. The girls dominated. And they won a championship.

2020 Rock the Fields Champions

The 2021 team dominated their age group in pool play as well, except for one opponent that was evenly matched. MD United East was a pretty good competitor. The Redshirts tied them in pool play, 8-8. And then in the championship, they played the same team. They got down 3-0 at half. Then were down 4-1 with only about 6 minutes left. That is when they mounted an awesome comeback. 4 straight goals, and they won 5-4.

2021 Rock the Fields Champions

June 16, 2013
by edenkennedy Leave a comment

my team is crowned tyker champions

me and my team with the trophy

Yesterday my team played in a tournament; we played four games and we won all of them. Then, we played in the championship game and won 16-2. Then we got medals and a pic with the team

Me and Winnie

After my team won the championship game, me and winnie took a picture together with our medals and the team trophy

Eden – Champ!

June 16, 2013
by davekenn Leave a comment

Eden at Beach Lax

It was such an interesting weekend at Beach Lax this past weekend. Not sure where to begin. But, the best takeaway from the weekend was Eden’s play on the lacrosse fields. She finally got back what was taken from her this time last year, confidence. She played hard; she played tough; and as a 3rd grader playing against 5th graders, she hung in there and made a lot of really good plays, including the assist to the tying goal against the Tornados. Her team missed the playoffs because of a tie in a completely bogus game where 4 of our team’s goals were called back.

Also this weekend, one of the parents of the Redshirts threw a bonfire for the Redshirts. Or so I thought. Apparently, all of Catonsville decided to show up as well. Not sure if they were invited. But many of the Redshirts parents felt alienated. And I was pretty embarrassed. I appreciate very much the effort of the parents that planned the event. I wish someone had told me that half of Catonsville would also be there, because the Big Sister/Little Sister events that I had planned for the kids, and told the kids about, didn’t get to happen, because the party was essentially crashed. Bummer.

Also, two teams, made up of kids that I have coached (I coached over 90% of the kids on both teams), won Beach Lax. I am very happy for all of the girls that are able to enjoy this success. I really am. But I am also very sad that I was run out of town and my daughters were not allowed to enjoy this same success with kids from their neighborhood. Liz watched her friends play, and I know she found it very painful. It is also a bit disheartening that none of them even realize the effect that my father and I have had on those teams’ successes.

June 4, 2013
by davekenn Leave a comment

Bad News Bears

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So the Bad News Bears did post another undefeated season. Not that we keep score, but they were pretty impressive. Sunday was the last day of lacrosse and the community picnic. Noah’s team played better than the other team, and the other coaches were pretty competitive. They told me after the game that they had rolled every other team in the league until they played us. All of their kids seemed pretty upset afterwards.

Congratulations, Bad News Bears!

Champs!

It was a rough game. Their team was physical, just banging on our kids arms and legs with their sticks, and cross-checking from behind. For the first time, Noah was intimidated. A kid cross checked him in the back while going for a ground ball. It was clearly a penalty, but Noah didn’t want the ball after the play. He let one of the other boys have the ball. When you’re little, it is not fun sometimes to get beat on. So, Noah had an assist in the game and a bunch of ground balls. As the referee, I took away his goal because our team didn’t have enough passes, but it was a pretty one.

I don’t feel very good. It hurts when they cross check me in the back.

The boys had a fun season. And we did as coaches. I am glad that we are able to continually create an environment where they have fun, they are taught well, and they keep wanting more.

I got man! I got man! I got man! Whose got ball?

Noah and Jack with the sideline crew

Buds

Did you see when I did one of these?

See ya!

No, don’t get up

May 23, 2013
by davekenn Leave a comment

Learning to walk

Jack is a happy little guy. He laughs at the dinner table. His older siblings are always paying attention to him and trying to entertain him. And he tries to emulate them. For a while, he has been standing up and walking around furniture. But lately, he has started to stand up in the middle of a room, stand for a minute, and sit back down. I think the boy will be running before we know it.

Waving good bye to Daddy in the morning

The older kids also play a lot of lacrosse in the house. And he goes to a lot of games. It is neat to see him emulate them that way too.

I wanna play too

A lot of times, he grabs a lacrosse stick and crawls around the floor with it. If he finds a ball, he’ll put it in the stick, and sometimes even cradles!

May 22, 2013
by davekenn Leave a comment

Noah back in action

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Noah has missed a few games with freak asthma attacks from severe allergies. He was very upset every time he missed a game. Dr Arshad told us that he should wait until Monday to resume physical activity, but it had been almost a week already. And Noah was very upset. So we let him play.

Man!

Ball!

Noah likes to hit. Especially on ground balls. In the first half, he was fighting for a ground ball against 4 green players. He was the only one from his team. They were hacking at his legs. I heard a muted scream from Noah. And then he started tossing kids from the pile. He scooped up the ball and started running up field. Someone tripped him from behind and he lost the ball. I went over to pick him up and there were tears running down his face. He got up and saw the kid with the ball and bolted after him to lay a big hit on him. He was mad.

Pictured above, Noah is doing a classic Man – Ball with Michael. Of course, Noah took the man.

There were a few kids crying at halftime. 4 of our kids had been taken off of the field crying in the first half because the other team was beating on them. The boys were losing, and it looked like they would have their first loss. In the second half, Noah, Topher and Jack Geist took over. Noah scored 2 goals in the second half, Topher had one, and Jack had one. They won 5-3.

Ian manning the net

We don’t keep score as coaches, but the kids definitely do. And this group of kids likes to win.

I’m gonna set you up for a face dodge

It is fun to watch how much these kids progress on a week to week basis, and from year to year.

What’s the name of the game? Groundballs!

If you mess with Noah, you’ll end up on the ground

Determined

You want to double team me?

Here’s your help, Noah!

He shoots, he scores!

Naturally, I took Noah to 7-11 after the game, and we ran into Topher and Jack, getting Slurpees

May 20, 2013
by davekenn Leave a comment

Polarizing

There are those that love me. And there are those that hate me (at least in Catonsville there are). I don’t think I’ve done anything to justify either end of the spectrum. But I’m living with the realization of how I am perceived by others, and I go out and do the best job that I can. Because I love it. Coaching that is. I love it.

I love helping kids find the joy in the game. To light the fire inside them that helps them compete. To see them light up when they’ve learned something new, mastered a stick trick, or collectively beat an opponent that was supposed to be better than them. I love breaking it down with them, teaching the mechanics and the concepts, and teaching them to analyze and to figure things out on their own. To build confidence. To believe in themselves. I believe I can help them get there.

Shooting on Coach with water balloons

I’ve coached youth sports for a few years now. I work at it all the time, and I think I am still getting better at it. I’ve coached soccer, field hockey and lacrosse in Catonsville and lacrosse across the state of MD. I’ve coached well over 200 kids in the last few years, most of them in rec programs. In the rec programs, my teams tend to dominate because I teach the kids how to play, they enjoy learning, and they go out and compete against the other kids in their community. And they have fun. Over the years, not many kids miss my practices.

Tyker A Champs

In 2011, I coached the “Bang Bang Bulls”. This was the Tyker A team. We won the Tyker A championship. I should mention that this was the first A league championship that a Catonsville team had won in over 2 decades. What made it sweet for me is that we got crushed at the beginning of the season. We had some close games throughout the season. But by the end of the season, we were beating teams by 10 goals or so, and won the championship in dramatic fashion, scoring a goal with 4 seconds left in the game. The other coaches in the league couldn’t believe how far our team had progressed in one season.

After the season, I was told by the Catonsville lacrosse president that I was not the real deal, and that I was not going to be able to coach these kids the next year. My daughter was subsequently placed on a B team, and I was “allowed” to coach her, but not allowed to be a head coach.

In the same year, I started the Redshirts with my father. I coached a group of 4th graders and entered them in the newly formed NPYGLL, the highest level of competition for girls lacrosse. Since they didn’t have our age group, we played against 5th and 6th grade club teams. These were among the best 5th and 6th grade teams in the country. We went .500. These girls now make up the best players in their age group.

Maryland Club Championships

In 2013, our Redshirts club has grown to 3 teams. Our youngest team dominates in every venue they have played. And our older two teams are rocking as well. I am teaching them about sportsmanship, collective responsibility, and how to be a good teammate. From all over town, parents are asking to get associated with our club, or get involved with our developmental programs. I have also taken on a lot of duties as a board member of the NPYGLL, and the league is doing very well this year and running smoothly.

Yet, in 2013, members of the Catonsville lacrosse board told me that I was “banned for life” from coaching in Catonsville. The VP of the program threatened to have me banned from any field in MD, PA and VA. When I challenged them, they withdrew and gave me a warning; they must have withdrawn because they had no real reason to do this in the first place except that they didn’t like me. Maybe they don’t like that parents want their kids on my teams?! I don’t know. I have heard lies that have been told about me. And some parents have repeated some of the names that they have heard me called. Coaches in Catonsville put the girls on my club teams in tough positions and tell them if they miss a practice for club that they will be put on a B or C team. It is unfortunate. In Catonsville, in 2013, there are only 2 girls lacrosse teams with winning records, the Lightning A team and the Tyker A team. I have coached all but a handful of girls across both teams, over 90% of the girls.

Many people in Catonsville are afraid to associate with me. They saw Sean Bell removed from the Catonsville lax board after sticking up for me. It got many of them scared. Again, unfortunate.

I have friends. Friends that have played at the highest level of their sport. They are a few years behind me with the age of their kids and just getting into coaching them. They look at me and say, “if it ever gets like that, I’m going to stop coaching.”

But, I can’t do it. I see the alternatives. I see the coaches that yell at kids. I see the coaches that get frustrated at 7 and 8 year olds, rip their sunglasses off and throw them down the hill. I see the administrators that run their clubs like a business, not caring about what kids get hurt in the process, so long as they dominate, and/or pad their pockets. I know I can do better. I know I am already doing better. So I stay at it.