This is just a podcast of two lacrosse nerds talking about Houston lacrosse at the local public library... until a security guard ran us off. Jeremy grew up in Syracuse, NY. He played his high school lacrosse at West Genesee High School and his college lacrosse at Springfield College in western Massachusetts where he graduated with an undergraduate degree and two masters degrees. He has been coaching in Houston since 2007. He began his local coaching career at The Kinkaid School. He is currently the Head Lacrosse Coach for Kingwood. He has also spent time coaching in Europe. Jeremy has made pretty dramatic progress in his relationship with  Kingwood ISD. The Kingwood program has access to resources most programs  do not enjoy. This podcast includes some really good discussion about his success in Kingwood and the challenges public high school-based teams face in Houston... right up to the point where the night time security guard ran us off...

Tim is a local product. He started playing lacrosse while he was in high school at Strake Jesuit. He played in college at the University of Houston. He started coaching some of the first boys lacrosse in Richmond and followed his first group of players through youth into their high school years. Tim was the first coach for the Richmond Tigers. Last season was his final season coaching high school lacrosse. He is now focusing his efforts on building the local men's lacrosse scene. He is the founder, manager and chief spiritual leader of the St. Arnold's Men's Lacrosse Team. Most importantly Tim is an advocate of pickup lacrosse. For years Tim has been hosting and organizing pickup lacrosse games. Tim recognizes the important role of pickup lacrosse and he walks the walk when it comes to doing the work required to make those games a reality. This episode in another keeper...

Blake Skinner represents a group of coaches and administrators who have put together a proposal to change the way we govern and organize high school lacrosse in Texas. This is a great discussion about the details of their proposal, what they hope to achieve, as well as some of the practical implications of the proposal. Put your thinking cap on and spend some time to listening to this episode...

Mike Donnelly is a local legend  and that is not an overstatement. Mike first arrived on the Houston Lacrosse scene in 1981 when he started playing competative men's club lacrosse. He played competative mens lacrosse for the next 16 years in Houston. Mike is still playing lacrosse now. His passion for the game of lacrosse and his enjoyment of teaching naturally lead him to a career in coaching. I believe he is the only high school coach in Texas to lead both a girls varsity team and a boys varsity team to the state semi-finals. Mike is currently the Boys Head Coach at Episcopal High School in Texas. Mike's passion for our sport is infectious. If you spend any time at all with him it will rub off on you.

A few words from Mike Donnelly:

I failed to mention and would like to add, Drew Webb (Cornell), Jim Weiss (Princeton), Travis Bryan (Syracuse), Steven Gibbs (Dartmouth) were the early recruits from Texas and still arguably the best.

When Drew lost his battle with depression Dr. David Lintner (Cornell great defensive man and current local pro teams doctor ) and his wife Katie founded the 7s for 7  tournament to raise money to help fight depression. David and Katie have inspired so many and raised so much money over the last decade for this cause. Drew’s former teammates, USA TEAM members and so many players of all ages have participated each January.

Mike Donnelly is a local legend  and that is not an overstatement. Mike first arrived on the Houston Lacrosse scene in 1981 when he started playing competative men's club lacrosse. He played competative mens lacrosse for the next 16 years in Houston. Mike is still playing lacrosse now. His passion for the game of lacrosse and his enjoyment of teaching naturally lead him to a career in coaching. I believe he is the only high school coach in Texas to lead both a girls varsity team and a boys varsity team to the state semi-finals. Mike is currently the Boys Head Coach at Episcopal High School in Texas. Mike's passion for our sport is infectious. If you spend any time at all with him it will rub off on you.

A few words from Mike Donnelly:

I failed to mention and would like to add, Drew Webb (Cornell), Jim Weiss (Princeton), Travis Bryan (Syracuse), Steven Gibbs (Dartmouth) were the early recruits from Texas and still arguably the best.

When Drew lost his battle with depression Dr. David Lintner (Cornell great defensive man and current local pro teams doctor ) and his wife Katie founded the 7s for 7  tournament to raise money to help fight depression. David and Katie have inspired so many and raised so much money over the last decade for this cause. Drew’s former teammates, USA TEAM members and so many players of all ages have participated each January.

Kiernan is the Director of 3d Lacrosse in Houston. He is currently the Head Coach at Memorial High School here in Houston. Kiernan started playing in Western Canada when he was growing up. He played at Claremont High School in Victoria, BC Canada and at Mars Hill University. He has coached at the college, high school and youth levels. This episode includes some great discussion around growing up playing lacrosse in Western Canada, the Western Lacrosse Association, the Knights youth lacrosse organization and what’s working in the local lacrosse scene relative to his experience with lacrosse in western Canada. This is another great listen. Thanks to Kiernan for sitting down and talking to me.

Kiernan is the Director of 3d Lacrosse in Houston. He is currently the Head Coach at Memorial High School here in Houston. Kiernan started playing in Western Canada when he was growing up. He played at Claremont High School in Victoria, BC Canada and at Mars Hill University. He has coached at the college, high school and youth levels. This episode includes some great discussion around growing up playing lacrosse in Western Canada, the Western Lacrosse Association, the Knights youth lacrosse organization and what’s working in the local lacrosse scene relative to his experience with lacrosse in western Canada. This is another great listen. Thanks to Kiernan for sitting down and talking to me.

You will have a hard time convincing me there is a better boys lacrosse coach than John Perouty. John has played the game his entire life beginning in Maryland. He played his high school ball in Baltimore and his college ball for Coach Edell at the University of Maryland. He has been coaching locally in Houston since here arrived here in 2005. He recently took on a new role as a high school lacrosse official here in the greater Houston area. This episode is awesome. There are some great personal stories, a lot of really good local history and some perspectives on where the sport stands in the Houston area. This is a long episode... but worth every minute.

You will have a hard time convincing me there is a better boys lacrosse coach than John Perouty. John has played the game his entire life beginning in Maryland. He played his high school ball in Baltimore and his college ball for Coach Edell at the University of Maryland. He has been coaching locally in Houston since here arrived here in 2005. He recently took on a new role as a high school lacrosse official here in the greater Houston area. This episode is awesome. There are some great personal stories, a lot of really good local history and some perspectives on where the sport stands in the Houston area. This is a long episode... but worth every minute.

Taylor Brooks is currently the Head Coach for the Atascocita Lacrosse organization. He is responsible for all aspects of coaching and development from the varsity team all the way down to the little guys. Taylor started playing lacrosse here locally when he was in middle school for the Iron Eagles in Cypress. He played his high school lacrosse for the Cy-Fair Ironmen and went on to a college career at LeMoyne.

After finshing up his college career he came back to Houston to serve the sport in a coaching capacity. Last season was his third season at the coaching helm of Atascocita Lacrosse. His perspective on the game locally spans time as a fresh recruit to the sport, a player and a coach.

This is a great discussion to kick off this podcast. I am grateful for Taylor stepping up to be the first interview and help me learn how to conduct these podcasts.