SPARKS, Md. — Forty-eight of the nation’s top lacrosse players will have one final chance to impress U.S. national team head coach John Danowski and his staff when the Team USA Spring Premiere will be held on Saturday, Jan. 6 at 4:30 p.m. at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla.
This marks the third consecutive year that US Lacrosse will showcase its national teams at IMG Academy with the Team USA Spring Premiere. This year’s event will be a men’s Blue-White game and tickets are available here.
Following the event, Danowski and the coaching staff will be charged with the difficult task of paring the roster down to the 23 players that will represent the United States in the Federation of International Lacrosse Men’s World Championship from July 12-21, 2018 in Netanya, Israel.
Since 1967, the U.S. has won the gold or silver medal at every men’s international world championship in field lacrosse. The U.S. won gold in 1967, 1974, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002 and 2010. The U.S. finished as the runner-up to Canada in 1978, 2006 and 2014.
In addition to the Blue-White game, US Lacrosse will offer clinics for players, coaches and officials in conjunction with the Team USA Spring Premiere, and an opportunity to meet the team through a fundraising dinner.
The player clinic will be held on Jan. 6 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and will feature Team USA head coach John Danowski, Team USA assistant coach Joe Amplo and five U.S. team players — Matt Danowski, Greg Gurenlian, Myles Jones, Jack Kelly and Joel White.
The coaches clinic on Jan. 6 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. is designed for men’s and women’s coaches to help create peak performance players (P3) from their practices. The clinic includes both on-field and classroom instruction for US Lacrosse Athlete Development Model trained coaches.
The officials clinics are US Lacrosse Level 1 Development Clinics for both men’s and women’s lacrosse. The two-day clinics will be held on Jan. 6-7 and meet classroom training requirements for certification for both new and returning officials. Rules interpretation sessions for 2018 are also included.
All clinics will include a ticket to the game as part of the registration fee. To sign up for any of the clinics, please visit https://www.uslacrosse.org/events/national-team-events/spring-premiere.
The fundraising dinner will be held at the IMG Academy Golf Club on Friday, Jan. 5 at 6 p.m. Sit shoulder-to-shoulder with the nation’s best lacrosse players at this private BBQ buffet with limited seating. Proceeds support Team USA and their quest for gold at the 2018 FIL World Lacrosse Championships. Tickets can be purchased at https://shop.uslacrosse.org/collections/event-tickets/products/team-usa-dinner.
The U.S. men’s national team trains and plays using best-in class products provided by Nike (apparel and footwear), Cascade (helmets), STX (equipment), Warrior (equipment), SISU Guard (mouthguards) and The Pearl by Guardian (balls). In addition to these partners, MedStar Sports Medicine, Greenfields, Nationwide, Sports Force Parks and SweatX are official sponsors of the national team. Team training is also aided by products from DJO Global, Motive Pure, NormaTec Recovery and Athletic Republic. For more information on the U.S. men’s national team, visit teamusa.uslacrosse.org. Follow the team on social media @uslacrosse and use #USAMLAX on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and and YouTube.
