The Great Western Lacrosse Camp day begins with a wake up call at 7:30am. This is done by the Staff with a knock on the door and the legendary wake up whistle (no one sleeps through this). A eye-opening shower and then off to breakfast right at the dorm...
Following breakfast, the campers have time to relax and prepare for the morning session. The trainer is on hand to tape ankles and repair blisters one hour prior to the practice start. Morning practice is usually the toughest of the day and runs from 9:00am to 11:30am. This session usually deals with fundamentals and drills dealing with individual skills. A 7:1 ratio between campers and coaches is attempted during practices involving drills. Water breaks are taken when needed. This session ends with a lecture or demonstration and an outline of the next session's activities. Several coaches stay after practice to lend individual attention to those who care to stay...  Most of the campers head to the showers and then relax in the video lounge watching a lacrosse film, attend camp run tournaments in pool, playstation 2 & ping pong in the game room or rest with friends in their dorm rooms.Then it's lunch at the dorm...
The afternoon session begins with coaches arriving early to give extra assistance to those who care to get it. This session is mainly used to play games or hold feedback scrimmages. Since this is the hottest time of the day, this session is kept relatively short so to keep the campers healthy, usually running from 2:30pm to 4:00pm. Sometimes, this session is used to perform skill contests of the players lacrosse fundamentals. This is big fun and comes complete with prizes...The video lounge and the game room are always open after practice. Many campers spend time meeting new players from around the west. Before you know it, you are off to dinner at the campus cafeteria...
The evening session begins with a demonstration by the staff on a transition or team concept of the game. The beginning portion of the evening practice uses all the fields so to maximize activity time. At nightfall, our two lighted fields are used. Fastbreaks are run, games are played according to division and game schedule. The staff Vs camper all-star game in both Division 1 and Division 2 happens on either Friday or Saturday night...
Following the evening session, campers are allowed free time to go to the camp store, the game room, watch videos in the lounge and to visit friends in the dorm.  Several seminars are optional for those who want to attend. We have a stick maintenance seminar where some coaches take campers step by step those stick maintenance and full stringing. The evening ends with a bed check at 10:30pm or 11:00pm, where the Director and the Staff do a bed check and use this time to talk with campers on how the week is going, give encouragement where needed and fire everyone up for the next day. Lights out a half an hour later and allow them all to dream about how they will rip the nets tomorrow...
At all times during the camp, our staff is available to the campers. We invite all players to come to camp and learn valuable information that will help you become a better player. Most of all, you will meet many great lacrosse players from all around the western United States. We can't wait for August get here!

Here are a few more pictures from last year's camp...

Camp Director, Russ Olsen and Assistant Director, Rick Zoerner organize and tweak the schedule during camp. Our staff is a group of pros who really care how a player is treated and what he takes away from this experience. Every chance they get, they adjust the curriculum to suit the needs of the learning player. They go the extra mile to make sure that all players leave camp feeling good about themselves and more knowledgeable about the great game of lacrosse.

Fastest Shot Contest

Every camper gets a chance to shoot against the radar gun. Each Division awards a prize to the shooter with the fastest shot. This, along with some other events, are all part of the camp skills contests that every camper can enter. Come to camp and try your luck!

Warm Up Exercizes

Our warm up coaches make sure that all players are properly stretched and warm so to minimize the nagging muscle pulls and strains that could keep a player out of the action. We take warm ups seriously!             

Game Teaching

Many drills are run during the first day or two of camp, some of which involve groundball work. Here is a player using the skills worked on in the camp groundball drills within a game. Coach Goodhand looks on giving feedback as he referees the game. Coaches spend a lot of time encouraging players to try new skills learned in previous drills within camp games. You have to test the envelope to make it to the next level and players are encouraged to do so during games.