Top Ten Middies 2008

[Tom_Southampton]

Pikey aka Nick Woodhead, did play for South 2 years ago but not at the nationals I don't think.
Having cheerfully taken the piss out of him for a few days now I'd happily bet (real money) that he's in the top ten most dedicated middies in the country, the boy never gets bored of practicing.

[UKLaxfan]

Dedication goes a long way.

The Americans call it self-actualisation.

The belief that you control your own destiny, and can achieve anything, it's just a case of how hard are you willing to work and what sacrifices are you willing to make to achieve your goals.

All lacrosse skills can be learned and any skill can be improved with practice. Natural athletic ability is the only restraint to how good you can be if you are willing to pay the price to become a good player.

How old is Nick, how tall and how fast?

If he is that dedicated and has athletic ability, good luck to him.

Get in touch with Coach Elwood or Coach Wenham

Quote - "It's amazing what you can achieve when you don't know what you can't do!"

[Whitey]

Pikey played for the South in the last Nationals. He's an athletic lad, very strong, and in his early 20s. He is obsessively dedicated, he took 2 weeks off work before the South trials to prepare for them!

However, top 10 in the country might be a big claim, there are some really good players knocking around. We'll just have to wait and see how he's improved, but i have a feeling some teams might be gunning for him now!

[Raptor_attack]

However, top 10 in the country might be a big claim, there are some really good players knocking around. We'll just have to wait and see how he's improved, but i have a feeling some teams might be gunning for him now!

Sounds like a thinly veiled threat Whitey...

[mandy]

However, top 10 in the country might be a big claim, there are some really good players knocking around. We'll just have to wait and see how he's improved, but i have a feeling some teams might be gunning for him now!

Sounds like a thinly veiled threat Whitey...

I doubt it, he's set himself up on a pedalstal now, and if he can't match his claims then he can expect all the flak that the other teams will no doubt direct his way

[Tom_Southampton]

Dedication goes a long way.

The Americans call it self-actualisation.


Quote - "It's amazing what you can achieve when you don't know what you can't do!"

In general it seems to be an american sports thing, you rarely get British athletes (in any sport) bigging themselves up, talking about how they are the greatest and they're going to dominate, whereas it happens quite a lot with american athletes (the man who comes to mind first is Maurice Greene)
Maybe Pikey has picked up an american 'self confidence' whilest he's been away, and if so maybe its not such a bad thing either, americans are much better than brits at a lot of sports (and i think a lot of that has to do with attitude and belief)

[UKLaxfan]

Tom

I don't think it's just the attitude and beliefs that are different.

It's the behaviour and actions they take that makes them better at sports.

They train a lot harder and at a greater intensity.

When the World U19 Games were at Towson University in 2003, I spent a lot of time on campus. They had a regular sprint training session open to any students whatever their sport. I watched it for about 40 minutes on one day in 90+ degree heat and they had about 30 people men & women running sprint shuttles doing interval training. This wasn't a specific team practice just a running session open for people who wanted to keep fit in summer and run with other people who wanted to do speed training.

It was a tougher session than any we had done with the England U19s Men's Lacrosse Team and they were just doing it for fun, not to play for a representative side.

I think because Pro sports are at such an elite level in terms of speed & fitness in the USA with Football & Basketball players paid millions for being athletic freaks. The depth of knowledge and understanding of what it takes to become an elite athlete is much more widespread, so players expect that they have to train a lot harder than in the UK if they hope to compete.

The thought in lacrosse in England that if you train for one hour a week you can win the League and Flags is because teams have done just that... so why bother training harder if nobody else is.

[Sour37]

In university sport they call it the "Loughborough Arrogance" but as Fran Cotton once said "we call it belief in our own abilities"

[UKLaxfan]

"It's not the will to win but the will to prepare to win that makes the difference" - Bear Bryant

You have to be willing to do whatever it takes to put yourself in a position to be able to win.

England won the Rugby World Cup in 2003 because they were the best prepared Team in the competition, they took care of the details, when the pressure was on they executed perfectly because they had done exactly the same thing hundreds of times before.

[S-t-r-e-t-c-h]

ben mitchell! i think he is the best, although he would have to play LSM.

[UKLaxfan]

Dave Leach aka Wavey Davey goes to No 1 in the Top Ten Middies.

He has been given a contract to play professional lacrosse for the Colorado Mammoth in the NLL.

Congratulations Wavey for taking the risk and playing in the World Indoor Lacrosse
Championships for England in Halifax, Nova Scotia 2007 and giving Box Lacrosse a go.

Dave becomes the first English Professional Lacrosse Player.

Let's hope Eurosport 2 get some Colorado Mammoth games on TV this season.

I believe all the home games are televised locally on Altitude Sports which is the TV Channel owned by the same people who own the Pepsi Centre, The Colorado Mammoth (NLL), The Colorado Avalanche (NHL) and the Denver Nuggets (NBA).

They are reknown as being the best NLL ownership Group and treat all the Mammoth players similar to the NBA & NHL players as professional athletes.

There is a Fan Forum for the Colorado Mammoth:
http://www.coloradomammoth.com/forums/index.php

[davidmcculloch81]

Fair play. That's pretty impressive.

Congratulations.

[Mr.Stanford]

Fair play. That's pretty impressive.

for a southerner!

[Tom_Southampton]

Yep its a great effort, must have just about pushed pikey into 2nd place

[Raptor_attack]

Latest news, Pikey has been back in the UK for a week, and has decided to complete his uni course remotely, and is going back to live in the states. He'll be back for exams in january and may.

He has said he'll fly back for BUSA though.

[blues24ianb]

Is that right about Pikey - if so big loss for reading Wildcats and South.

He may not quite have made that top ten but it wouldn't be for the want of trying and working at his game.

He combined really well with Ed Howarth at the BNC in 2007 to add some real meat and work ethic in to the midfield. Something we were hoping to build upon for 2008.

Good Luck Pikey.