Being the Colorado Beat Writer for In Lacrosse We Trust, Denver Outlaws GM Tony Seaman invited me to attend their practices. It was a pleasure getting to finally meet Tony in person. I also got to meet Outlaws Head Coach B.J. O’Hara. I have seen many high school and college lacrosse practices, but to get the opportunity to watch an MLL practice was amazing. On Sunday May 4th the Denver Outlaws have their home-opener against the Ohio Machine, and I’ll be there representing In Lacrosse We Trust as well.
The Outlaws hold an aggressive, but fun practice. The players communicate constantly during practice, are great on covering crease, fantastic at X, and their close defense is on the mark. Practice starts with shooting drills, then they move on to running their attack-lines, and finish up running plays. While this is going on, Anthony Kelly, FOGO does his own drills.
When Jesse Schwartzman wasn’t playing goalie, he and Anthony Kelly did a few face-offs. Dr. Shapiro jokingly said “That’s all we need is our starting goalie throwing out his back taking face-offs!” After Kelly was done with his face-off drills, he started playing catch with Dr. Shapiro’s son, and showed him how to throw, catch, and scoop ground balls. It was fun to watch.
After practice was over, I had the opportunity to interview Chris Bocklet, #10, Attack.
I asked Chris how he thought the season was starting out, and about his game against the Launch. He said:
“It’s going well. We started off the season on the road against Florida. We came out really strong, we had a great first half, and we were up 11-1. Then in the third quarter they switched goalies, and put in Adam Fullerton. He used to be the Denver Outlaws goalie last year. He made some really good saves, and I think he had seven saves in the third quarter and shut us down. Then we came back in the fourth quarter, scored and got a big win there. Now we’re looking forward to our home-opener and that’s always the fun part playing at home in front of our fans. We’ve got so many great fans and we’re really looking forward to it.”
Then I asked Chris how it felt being the 2013 Top Scorer in Major League Lacrosse. Chris was very humble, and said:
“It was a great honor. I’m blessed to play with so many teammates that a lot of my goals are always assisted which means that there’s guys on the team doing a lot of work to create some space, and create the slide to get me open. They’re playing very unselfish feeding it to me, and I’m looking forward to this season and getting back out there. It is my favorite time, summer, and playing. I think we have great chemistry, and we’ve got a young attack right now with Eric Law and Matt Gibson, it’s very fun to play with a lot of speed flying around to make plays, so it should be a good game.”
My final question to Chris was how he likes playing on the same team with his brother. Chris got a huge smile on his face and said:
“That’s definitely my favorite part about being a Denver Outlaw is being able to play on the same team as my brother Matt. I have a lot of fun practicing with him, and we’re actually training together with Chris Spangler and Ken Clausen too. Some of the local guys get together, it’s a blast and I look forward to it. He kinda gets me pumped up, and keeps me motivated. I see how hard he works, and I just want to try and do the same.”
I will be attending the Outlaws practices this season here in Denver, and will have more interviews as well.
