Nease High hosted its annual lacrosse camp July 15 to 18 as elementary and middle school students took part learning various skills from current players on the Nease High team.
“It’s definitely all about fundamentals, skills and the right way to play the game,” said Max Gurowski, Nease High boys’ lacrosse head coach
. “We started camp showing a video about the history of the sport, because it’s so unique being that it’s the creator’s game coming from Native Americans. We want to just go out and try and honor the game every time we go out and play and be grateful for the time that we can play it together.”
The children worked with the giant wall on campus, which is used by Nease lacrosse players to sharpen their passing and catching skills and scrimmaged on the strip of fenced in turf that the Nease athletic program uses.
According to Gurowski, seeing the participants running around out there and smiling brought back memories of when he was being introduced and falling in love with the game.
“I’m from Webster, New York and growing up we had a camp just like this,” Gurowski said. “That produced some of my core memories growing up with my brother going there and working with the counselors that I looked up to. Now I’m just trying to do my part to continue to grow the game.”
Camps like the one hosted by Nease are just another example of how lacrosse continues to grow and become a popular sport in the local area.
“At the highest level, it’s extremely clear that North Florida is right there with anyone,” Gurowski said. “Notre Dame that just won back-to-back national championships had at least three guys locally from here in North Florida on their roster. It’s expanding rapidly, and the players are legit.”
