Quick Update

We have arrived in Pardubice, a town about 2 hours outside of Prague, for our training camp.

We are training at a local hockey rink. The main rink has a 15,000 capacity and we will be playing a warm-up game there against Australia this Thursday.

We just finished our second two hour practice of the day. Feet are a little sore, but the ankle is holding up well.

First warm up game is tomorrow against Pardubice.

There are posters around town to advertise the games, which is cool. Never seen that before.

Can't wait to get to Prague on Friday.

First game against the Iroquois on Saturday morning. Gonna be a tough game.

Good news for anyone who bought shorts & shirts

Shorts have arrived today! T-shirts will be picked up Thursday. USA orders will be shipped on Friday, May 13th! European orders are still in-line to be shipped after Conor returns following the WILC.


Big news...All of the World Indoor Lacrosse Championship games can be seen here: http://www.wilcprague2011.com/watch-the-wilc-games-live-anywhere-anytime

Ireland Lacrosse - World Indoor Lacrosse Championships Update

It has been a while since I updated this, been busy working on getting my ankle ready to play in Prague next month.

We have had a few unfortunate injuries over the last few weeks.

Chris Brennan had a very serious injury which he incurred while playing a game. He had to ever two surgeries and nearly 200 staples put in his leg. I have seen the pictures and it was not a pleasant sight. Best of luck to Chris and hopefully we see him back for the 2015 WILC.

Kris Prior also got a nasty injury playing a game. He rolled on his right ankle, landed on his left foot and broke it. So I am lucky that my ankle injury wasn't this serious. Hopefully Kris will be back with Ireland Lacrosse next year for the 2012 European Championships.

My injury seems pathetic in comparison. Some ligament damage around my ankle which has kept me from running the past few weeks. I have been fortunate that I can still walk and can still do some training to get ready for Prague next month.

I got my new stick for the tournament. I will be incredibly easy to spot for people who watch online or for the lucky few to be in Prague. I will be using a silver/black RBK 7K stick with a pink Brine X6 head. The thinking behind is that the Dublin Bay Prawns colours are Black/Navy and Pink so I figured I would represent them in Prague.

I found myself a lovely little alley way near my apartment where I can play wall ball and get myself ready for Prague.

The fundraising brigade are out in force. Selling Ireland Indoor Lacrosse t-shirts and shorts. The shorts are probably my favourite piece of Ireland Lacrosse apparel from over the years. I have had a pair of them since 2007. They are very comfortable and have the added bonus of pockets. People (including myself) love lacrosse shorts with pockets.

The t-shirts are nice and simple with the Ireland Indoor Lacrosse logo on the front with the team's motto "I dteannta a chéile" on the back which means "together as one"

If you wish to purchase a t-shirt or shorts or both then please click here -

http://bit.ly/fia7lj

All support is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Cursed Ankle Injury

Over 3 weeks ago, we had a game day. I filled on a team that was short players to get some extra game time. I was on the field 5 minutes when I ended up in a collision that ended game day for me.

I am still unable to run on it. I am going to the physio on Wednesday which will cost me money I don't really have, but will hopefully provide me with some useful information.

We are in the final of the Newtownards Cup this weekend against Dublin so I need to be fit for it. More importantly than that, I need to be trainin for the World Cup.

Very frustrating.

Ireland Indoor Lacrosse - Gloves for WILC 2011

Ireland Indoor Lacrosse Training

We had our first training session as an indoor team since the try outs back in November on Saturday. If there is one thing I am going to take away from the training is that bicep pads are essential.

I should have know that before, but I thought I might get away with it on Saturday. I most certainly did not. My arms are now multi-coloured with bruises and they are so sore, I can barely move them. Lesson well and truly learned.

We had an hour long session of drills, including a one-on-one drill which is where most of the damage to my arms came from. People really enjoyed hitting one spot on my left arm over and over again, which was nice. One-on-one drills are a nice little test of your fitness level. I was absolutely dying after them, as were most people.

We moved on to a 2 hour game. We played 5 on 5 with two subs each. One of our subs left at half time which made a huge difference in the second half. You could tell we were a man down, especially when it came to any sort of transition play. We were solid in the first half, with plenty of talk on defense and some good pick and rolls on attack. I had 4 assists which is unusual, normally I have zero points a game so it was nice to get on the sheet.

One of the assists did not deserve it at all. I made a blind, one-handed, under arm pass across the crease based on the fact I heard someone call for the ball. Bit of a stupid play, but it paid off and would have definitely made the highlight reel, if there was one.

I have put in an order for bicep pads, which I will have for the next day. I also received a RBK 7K shaft courtesy of ProLaxShop.com which was great. I can't wait to play with it, because it seems like a beast of a stick.

95 Days to go...

There are 95 days to go until the start of the World Indoor Lacrosse Championships in Prague. As a member of the Ireland team that competed in 2007, I have a pretty good idea of what to expect from this tournament.

It is going to be fiercely competitive in some games and completely lopsided in others, such is the nature of international lacrosse. Our most competitive game in 2007 was against Australia while the other games were much more convincing defeats. With that in mind, I am coming into this tournament with a chip on my shoulder; with zero wins in 2007, we have a lot to prove in May 2011. In 2003, the Czechs won no games and in 2007 they defeated us in their final game of the tournament to clinch their first WILC victory. There was huge pressure on the Czechs to beat us and they handled the pressue well coming away with a 22 - 5 victory.

Ireland will be under similar pressure to get their first WILC victory this coming May. As a team, we face a number of big challenges. We do not have a domestic box league in Ireland. We will not meet again (we met at trials in Belfast in late October 2010) as a team until a week before the WILC in Prague, with little indoor game experience under our belts. We have not drafted any professional players to our team. Having said all that, we do have some very talented players, all of whom are training hard as individuals across the island of Ireland and parts of North America.

There is no doubt that we can get our first WILC victory in May, however it won't come easy and how we train as individuals over the next 90 days before we meet in Prague for training camp will be the major difference between 0 - 4 and 1 - 3 or even 2 - 2 when we compete in Prague.