Good afternoon lacrosse fans and welcome to the Utah Lax Report.
Brighton Girls Head Coach Melissa Nash
The latest podcast (available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify or listen above) features an interview with Brighton Girls Head Coach Melissa Nash. Nash hails from Salt Lake City an attended Highland while playing for Olympus. She went on to a great career at BYU and then was an assistant on the 2013 Skyline Girls Championship team. After some time off, Nash has risen through the ranks at Brighton, where she also teaches Health and is the Student Body Officer advisor. Nash is the UHSAA Girls Coaches Rep and US Lacrosse Girls Rep for Utah.
Inside Lacrosse Fall Invitational
Wasatch LC was in Maryland over the weekend to participate at the Inside Lacrosse Fall Invitational. In the High School Elite division, the 2021 team went 3-0 on Saturday, including an 8-7 win over Team 91 Carolina. On Sunday, the team went 0-3. The 2022s were 1-6 on the weekend.
Facility Updates
If you listened to the podcast above, then you’ll know that Brighton teams will have an indoor facility on campus to use in the winter months. Also, Lone Peak High School recently completed a soccer/lacrosse facility. Looks amazing!
Parting Thoughts
A few thoughts to conclude this newsletter:
I spent Saturday in North Logan at the Skyfall tournament. What a venue! For those who haven’t been there, it is two turf fields with bleachers in the middle with a fence around both fields. I had never been there before and was really impressed. The venue reminded me that with a little bit of collaboration and creative thinking, anything can be accomplished. In this case, lacrosse and soccer parents joined forces with North Logan City to create an awesome place for lacrosse and soccer players to play. What are you doing to build collaborations with those around you personally, professionally and within the game of lacrosse? I’d love to know!
In 2019, as Farmington approached the playoffs, we created shirts that had ‘One More’ on the back of them as a reminder to the players to look for one more pass, get one more ground ball, make one more save, etc. I think this concept still applies on the field, but I think it applies off the field as well. A few years ago I remember a friend asking what it would take for our sport to continue to grow. At the time, I felt that if each program in the state just gave ‘one more’ volunteer, referee, coach, etc., then the sport would grow. I remember going to games and seeing 5-6 coaches on the sidelines for Varsity and another 5-6 for JV. If just one of those people became a ref instead of coaching or went to a program with one coach, the sport would continue to grow. I’ve seen this happen to a certain extent, but there is room for improvement! The last list I saw had 5 vacant high school boys head coach positions and 11 vacant high school girls positions. An average program has 40 players so that’s 640 potential players without a program. Maybe it’s time to stop being the ‘goalie warmup coach’ at your alma mater and take your talents to another area that really needs it. (No offense goalies, we love you.)
Take some time this week to thank a Veteran. The military has a unique bond within the lacrosse world and we get to celebrate Veterans one day a year. A simple text message goes a long way.
Please send any questions or comments to tim@timhaslam.com. Don’t be a jerk to refs and thanks again for reading. If you’ve made it this far, please forward to a lacrosse loving friend.
- Tim Haslam
Interview w/ Brighton Girls Head Coach Melissa Nash