Long Island: The Most Dominant Lacrosse Hotbed
Nassau News Staff Writer
Why does Long Island continually produce the top lacrosse talent in the world? Nassau News explores.
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When it comes to finding the best lacrosse talent in the world, look no further than Long Island. This region continually produces the most talent of anywhere and turns out the best men’s college players, year in and year out. All you have to do is look at any stat sheet or a list of past All-Americans and you will see a flood of student-athletes from Long Island.
Of the 57 NCAA Division I men’s lacrosse teams with some 2,333 total players in 2007, 14 percent of those players were Long Island natives. Out of those 57 teams, only 76 players were named All-Americans. Of that number, 16 of those players coming from Long Island for a stunning 21 percent contribution.
Not only were one out of every five players on the All-American list from Long Island, but “Strong Island’s” Matt Danowski, out of Duke University and a local product from Farmingdale, took home the Tewaaraton Trophy, given annually to the collegiate game’s best player.
Getting an Early Push
Starting at age three, the future stars of the game learn the skills necessary to become successful lacrosse players in the local Nassau and Suffolk county Police Athletic League competition.
According to U.S. Lacrosse, not only is the sport dominating the Long Island athletic scene, but lacrosse is the fastest growing sport in America. The number of youth leagues and teams has grown over 500 percent since 1999 with over 200,000 high school players and over 250,000 youth players.
Transcripts and Complete Interviews
Click on the embedded players below to view the complete interviews with Coach DiPietro of South Side High School and Coach Purdie of Adelphi University. Click here to read the transcripts.
Related Links
- For more information about the sport of lacrosse, its history and everything else you would ever want to know, check out this link to US Lacrosse.
- Inside Lacrosse provides the latest news.
- Laxpower.com will keep you updated on akk the latest scores, live in-game blogs, stories, schedules, and rankings in the lacrosse world.
- College All-Americans from the past eight seasons.
Here also is a Production Memo recounting my experience doing this project and my struggles and what I have learned while working on my first online project.
