I will be the first to admit that I have tended to get lazy when it comes to updating my blogs. Prior to changing everything to "Central Iowa Lacrosse" (I also considered "Des Moines Lacrosse" or "Lax in Des Moines," but thought they were too limiting), I managed a political blog. For weeks I posted every day and raved about topics from the caucuses to education to gas prices. Then I got bored.
Following that boredom, my blog sat unused for quite some time. Then it occurred to me that I should rebuild my blog from the ground up. To do this, I should focus on something that I am passionate about. My first thought was hockey as I love the sport and play it whenever I can (hence my profile photo). However, I currently subscribe to the best hockey blogs ever Icethetics and Alien Hockey. I thought about soccer, but there are so many blogs dedicated to that sport that I figured my words would be pointless. Sure I may write about those sports, and maybe other things, from time to time, but they are not my primary focus.
From the time I first stumbled across Lacrosse on DirectTV years ago, I fell in love with the sport. I have witnessed the birth of MLL and the growth of NLL. I have seen Hopkins win a couple of NCAA championships and learned the tourney outdraws almost every other NCAA sport. Before long I found out that club teams exist at ISU, Iowa, Nebraska, Neb-Omaha, Creighton, and a handful of smaller colleges in the state. In fact, the whole Big 12 and most of the Big 10 play varsity or virtual varsity men's lacrosse.
Drawing from the sport's tremendous growth around the country and the inroads being made at local colleges, I hope to build the sport in Des Moines. This will take a lot of work from myself and from those interested in the game. I have no money to build any sort of program myself and God knows the current economy will prevent me from getting a big enough loan. Still, I know there are interested people out there with the drive, desire, and maybe even the funds to get this puppy going.
My goal is simple yet complex - successfully introduce lacrosse to central Iowa. Step 1 involves getting a group of guys together regularly to toss a ball and maybe scrimmage. Step 2 has us putting a team in the regional men's league (the Great Plains Lacrosse League) and squaring off against teams in Omaha, KC, Tulsa, and Wichita. Step 3 sees a high school club or two forming and hopefully playing against the Omaha HS clubs. Step 4 sees a broader youth program and a girls' program starting up. Step 5 is pure fantasy, but maybe seeing most of the metro schools with their own club teams. Step 6 is an MLL and/or NLL franchise in DM (A pure pipe dream, I know).
Welcome to a man's silly dream and thank you for your support. Hopefully this ball gets rolling the right way. Hopefully this game can begin...
