USL Regional Chapters Meeting
I’m fresh off the plane from Utah and I’m staying up late tonight trying to get as many thoughts as I can down on paper… the past two days have been very eye-opening…
Friday morning I drove to the airport at 5 AM to catch an early flight to Salt Lake City. The trip was for a USLacrosse Regional Chapters Conference, which is a new initiative from USLacrosse and one that I was really excited to be a part of. I arrived, got a cup of coffee, and tried to get myself a shuttle to Park City ASAP. Luckily I found a ride fairly quickly and only missed the first 20-30 minutes of our conference. Along with myself (representing the Montana Chapter) there were Chapter Representatives from Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Missouri, Colorado, Houston, and our hosts from Utah in attendance. The Conference was directed by USLacrosse staff members Sara Noon, Lindsay Comodore, Billy Hook, and Ann Carpenetti. The Chapters that were represented were diverse in terms of memberships, budgeting, resources, and a number of other elements, but everyone shared similar stories and it ended up being a great environment for sharing ideas and strategies.
On the agenda were a number of topics for discussion, first and foremost being a presentation and discussion about the new national standards for age appropriate youth rules. For the most part, everyone felt that the new standards were well thought out and a good step moving forward. I think it’s safe to say that all of our region’s Chapters will be better off because of this, especially as we see more and more travel and competition between states. Once we got through our discussion on the new youth standards, we moved onto the Chapter Toolkit and broke out into several small group brainstorming sessions. I think it worked out great to have a general direction to the meeting, but also plenty of time to dive into specific issues for individual chapters… it was really awesome to hear so many ideas bouncing around, with everyone taking each other’s suggestions seriously and with appreciation. Everyone who was there works hard and it’s great to be around people who have a common interest and can work together to make this sport thrive.
We wrapped for the day on Friday around 5 PM. I headed to my room to try and nap for a minute as my early morning was starting to catch up with me. 40 minutes later it was out the door to a group dinner at the Wasatch Brewery. In addition to the great food and good beers (I actually tried a Jalapeno beer…), we also enjoyed more conversation… and so the meeting continued… after dinner the group splintered a bit, but a number of us continued the “meeting” down the road, exploring some of the Park City nightlife. We made it back around midnight and I was thankful to have a comfy hotel mattress… it was a long day and morning was coming quickly.
8 AM Saturday was breakfast back in the Conference room. We began the day by reviewing and comparing our projected business plans for the next few years. We went around the room and each Chapter presented our plan for the next few years, which we then all discussed. Again, this was a good way to present valuable information and idea sharing… I know that Montana will be implementing a lot of the good ideas that have come out of Colorado, Utah, Idaho, and others in the near future. It was also very reassuring to have the National Organization representatives there and I think the dialogue between them and the local Chapters is more open then ever… I also think that the Chapter leadership went away with great tools to help grow the game in each of their areas. We can be more confident now that we are more united in our strategic visions, missions, successes, and failures.
I’ve been a supporter and member of USLacrosse for many years and attended numerous National Conventions, Coaches Clinics, and Officials Clinics and I can honestly say that I’ve never been happier with a service provided by USLacrosse. This was a really great idea, especially for our region, and I’m really looking forward to a much stronger bond between our regional Chapters in the future.
After the conference ended I had a few hours to kill, so Lindsay Comodore and I joined our Utah hosts for some lunch. I had a delicious sweet potato pasta dish, sooo good… After lunch Lisa Schmidt (the Utah Chapter Executive Director) took Lindsay and I on a tour of Salt Lake City. We hit all the good sites – Lisa was a great tour guide – and we wrapped up the tour at the Utah Chapter Headquarters. This warehouse reminded me a lot of what my garage looks like, only more awesome.
I was really impressed by the Utah Chapter organization and I’m looking forward to picking their brains in the future… very cool stuff…
After the office tour I was able to hop in with coach Bryan Frates (another ULA staffer) for a middle school and high school boys practice. Since I had to catch a flight I was only able to stay for a little over an hour, but I had a good time with the Utah kids, they were working hard.
About 10 seconds after Lisa dropped me off at the airport I realized I left my cell phone in the passenger seat… one unsuccessful sprint later, I was printing off my boarding pass and getting ready for the flight home… and now it’s time for bed…
There’s more lacrosse today at Meadow Hill. Girls are from 1-3, middle school boys from 3-5, high school boys from 5-7. Come check us out!
Big thanks to all involved this weekend in Utah! Let’s keep growing this game!
Thanks for sharing Kevin! I had a wonderful weekend as well – was able to share some insight as well as gain some! Can’t ask for better than that
Kevin-great recap of a great weekend!