Star-Studded Lacrosse Coaching Staff Brings Experience to Mercer Island

For three days last week, young lacrosse players from all over Western Washington had a chance to learn from some of the best in the business, as the USC coaching staff, along with a handful of other decorated lacrosse players and coaches hosted an instructional camp for girls on Mercer Island.

The camp was focused on providing prospective athletes with the opportunity to learn from a group that approaches girls lacrosse loyalty. Picture John Calipari, Roy Williams and Mike Krzyzewski coaching a basketball clinic in Washington. Now add several more national championships and you get the picture of what the field at looked like.

The camp was headed up by Lindsey Munday, the girls lacrosse coach at USC. Munday herself has played on or coached five national championship teams at the collegiate level. Her fellow coaches boasted resumes just as impressive, as the staff comprised of no less than a combined 15 national championship winners. Despite the vast experience of the coaching staff, Munday said the group was excited to be in the northwest because of the games relatively new popularity here.

"To be out here on the west coast, where it's just so exciting still and be people are so into it and so excited about it, it's really fun to be a part of, because you have that enthusiasm and energy from little kids to kids that have picked it up a little later," Munday said. 

Also helping to coach the camp was Alex Foreman, a 2011 graduate of Eastside Catholic High School in Sammamish who will attend USC on a lacrosse scholarship starting in the fall. Foreman volunteered to help with the camp and said she was excited about what she sees as the rise in interest in girls lacrosse in the northwest over the last ten years.

“It’s awesome, we’re starting to see all of these third and fourth grade teams start to show up and it’s just really exciting," Foreman said. "It opens up a lot of coaching jobs so now a whole bunch of parents are trying to get involved so they can coach their [kids teams]. It’s starting to turn into baseball and soccer where they’re starting really, really early.”

The three-day camp was designed to teach the attending lacrosse players and advanced skill set that may not be in the repertoire of less-experienced coaches and to help explain the psychology behind certain strategies.

"This is to just help grow the sport out here," Foreman said. "We're doing a lot of stick work, stick tricks, just to fine tune everything that not necessarily new coaches could figure out, because they've never played themselves. So all the experience [of the coaching staff] is really helpful

The rise of girls lacrosse has . Hosting some of the best coaches girls lacrosse has to offer is just another sign of the games rising importance in the Northwest