Fire Lacrosse Club

Welcome to "Ground Zero" of the indoor lacrosse revolution!

We’re sure by now you’ve seen the 5-page feature article in Lacrosse Magazine this month (March)!  As you might imagine, we’re excited about the article for many reasons and, although this isn’t the first time that the Fire Lacrosse Club or its coaches and leaders have been mentioned in national lacrosse periodicals, this article clearly positions our Club as one of the preeminent lacrosse organizations in the country!

There are many other reasons why we’re excited about the Fire and our player development system, and some of these include:

1. We’ve established our lacrosse community and our Fire players as participants at "Ground Zero" of the indoor lacrosse revolution.  The Fire has taken the lead nationally to accelerate the trend to integrate indoor (box) lacrosse training into field lacrosse programs, starting with our Club at the epicenter of the effort;
2. Our U-19/Gold team visited the Onondaga reservation last summer, one of the first and only elite Club’s in the U.S. to visit the birthplace of lacrosse;
3. We’ve led the nation in pursuing the integration of indoor and field lacrosse by realigning our player development system and training our expert coaching staff to apply indoor principles to its program and curriculum;
4. We’re now conducting one-third of all Fire practices (at all levels) in the indoor (box) setting where each player learns the fundamental aspects of the game, and enrolling all premier Fire players in a series of indoor camps, clinics, and leagues where they're being taught and encouraged to reinforce and strengthen their skill set by creatively applying their indoor game knowledge; and
5. We’ve taken the indoor (box) training concept to a whole new level by creating the first elite indoor lacrosse team in the U.S. - the Ice - where players have the opportunity to train and compete at indoor (box) lacrosse games and tournaments.

Just 24 months ago, many field lacrosse coaches still insisted that indoor lacrosse training held little value in developing field lacrosse skills and competencies.  In fact, many continued to overtly discourage their players from participating in any organized indoor lacrosse training whatsoever - even going so far as to restrict their ability to creatively use any learned indoor lacrosse skills.  Now, just a few short years later, many of these same naysayers have begun to reach the unavoidable conclusion that indoor lacrosse training does indeed separate the player who also has box training from those who are singularly trained in field lacrosse.  

Of course, with the advent of a number of developments in college and professional lacrosse (i.e. success of Canadians in NCAA; top college coaches applying indoor principles to their offensive sets; top Americans playing pro indoor, etc.),and the heightened awareness of the Fire’s program, there is now a mad rush to jump on the bandwagon.  But, unfortunately, most clubs, teams, and coaches struggle with the lack of knowledge and expertise available to teach the unique principles, concepts and skills associated with indoor lacrosse.  While some are beginning to pursue the "field inside" model where they bring their players indoors to play lacrosse, they’re quickly disappointed when they realize that merely teaching field principles "inside" (often without all of the requisite features of boards, glass, NLL-sized goals, NLL-approved goalie equipment, shot clocks, etc.) does not equate to exposing them to the skills, strategies and tactics of the box game.  

We’re proud that the Fire Lacrosse Club continues to differentiate itself from the others by its access to the features and resources, experience, knowledge, wisdom, and foresight.  Our Club's expert coaches and leaders have positioned the Club to pursue, implement, and leverage these innovative concepts throughout our elite program, and our players benefit from this developmental approach as college coaches, in increasing numbers, accelerate their recruitment of Fire players because of their tremendous skill set, athleticism, and knowledge, and a real capacity to play lacrosse at the next level.

Try as they might, most clubs cannot easily duplicate or replicate the Fire system and our innovations, so we continue to encourage, embrace, and celebrate all lacrosse players with a passion to play college lacrosse and hope that these student-athletes will join the best lacrosse player development program in the country.  We also ask that you continue your roles as “Ambassadors” and encourage your fellow lacrosse players and families to consider the Fire experience.  Ask them to join the revolution at "Ground Zero" - where it all began – and where they can become their best!!

the headlining photo of this article was taken by Pat Myers when the Fire was training on the Onondaga Reservation.  This photo was also featured in the March article starting on page 40!