48 Hours with the TOUGHEST D1 Lacrosse Team! | Chasing Championship Weekend

in the middle and then you have MacArthur Barracks on the right. It's a really cool history point here at West Point is actually the statue of Washington that is right in front of Washington Hall, uh, Washington Hall is the dining hall where about 4,400 cadets will eat from breakfast, lunch to dinner, breakfast and lunch will be the two mandatory meals that you actually attend and then towards dinner there will be a few mandatory meals that you attend throughout the week, but a lot. A lot of the guys have different options: order an outing to go to Grant Hall or have dinner with a

team

in the locker room, so here, the statue of Washington, one of the most famous statues here at West Point, a super cool statue that dominates everything and then We'll see later throughout the day that the formations, which are essentially responsible for all the cadets here at West Point, will be right in front of the statue of Washington and they will all basically be facing the plane, which is cool . tall and tight at West Point, from the clothes to the haircuts, I'll take you inside, access to the Lacross Barber Shop for Army Men, welcome to the barbershop, here we have the man Saint, he's going to give me a cut of a year and a half. the middle side fade and cut the top off a little bit, okay, let's see, let's do them right, so what's the inspection like to have your hair here in the military?

The reality is you can't have your hair touching your ears and you just have to have a clean F and what's the tradition when guys come here and shave their heads on the first day our day, they'll shave your head all day before our day. Coach will have all the recruits at his house and you will shave your head on Coach A, all the guys you are referring to for the first time. I think there has always been one key guy who took on the role of barber when I was a freshman. The main guy was a senior named Le Davenport, can you teach me how to do it?

I feel bad for you, it also seems kind of interesting because you know you also get advice in the process, here we go, this is the determination show, we're here in the bathroom. If you are doing it successfully or yes, you will definitely receive the 10 dollars today, we will say really 10 dollars, okay. I'll take you from a skin fade to state-of-the-art facilities. The army is not lacking in any area. I'll take you to the men's

lacrosse

facility at West Point, what's up guys? Jackson, number three on the army men's

lacrosse

team

, welcome to the nathy lacrosse center, also known as af, no, that's the name, welcome to the exclusive lacrosse equipment room, starting here.

We have all our new Maverick heads, Maverick shafts and then all our game jerseys, white tops and black bottoms, pretty clean. It's a lie, this is our entire game, just all the combos we need to travel, so each player has their own cubby. Here and then getting into this, we have our game shoes here, we also have our travel shoes and we also have all of our practice equipment, basically everything you could ever need. Our locker room filled with uh 65 custom lockers, the open environment just goes back to one of our core values ​​of family and basically you know you come here every day and you get to see all the guys and it's probably the best part of the day, the PA system, so before practice we're here playing music, getting ready.

It depends on the day, sometimes you have country, sometimes you have EDM, a little bit of surround action, you know, these lockers are awesome just because you can fit all your gear in them, like I said, hey, we have the helmet here, you put the gloves on . you have both elbow pads, your ribs, your chest pads, you have the jersey and then these lockers are also unique because each one of them can fit, whether it's for deep hles or shorties, there is a cutout here that allows the tank to be you . I know, putting them in the locker and not having to put them in a different place, so we're here on the second floor and we're going into the multipurpose room, so this is where we have all of our pregame meals. our traditional family toughness dinners are basically team building dinners that we have most weeks in the fall last week we had pizza and then you'll also see a lot of guys here on the

weekend

s doing homework watching football just hanging out.

Great area for team building but also spending time with the guys, this is the team room, one of the largest and most influential rooms, here in the F, so we have food here, families come to bring food On

weekend

s, we all spend time. up here watching football watching movies just hanging out this is a great place for us to spend time together as a team not only on the weekends but also before practice and just enjoy each other's company. We have the egg chair here, some say. If you sit there for 15 minutes, it feels like you've slept for 2

hours

.

I don't know, but some people say that, so you go out on the balcony that overlooks the lacrosse field and basically this is just another place where we can come here when the weather is nice, enjoy the time we spend together. In fact, we have captain Jake Moren shooting on the field right now. One of the best measures in the country. He also one of the best leaders. This is our place. It's our gathering area and it doesn't get any better than that, so you take 50 steps from the beautiful Fen and we're here at Mikey Stadium, one of the most historic venues in college athletics, filled with stadiums at the end of the season with a Army game that seats 10 to 15,000 fans and I mean, it's just one of the best atmospheres in college lacrosse and college athletics in general, how big the Army Navy lacrosse game is, it's all, I mean, Beat Navy, it's on every door.

On every jersey you know it's one of those games where not a day goes by that you don't think about playing that game at Mikey Stadium in front of everyone who is important to you and the opportunity to represent this institution on stage. larger. You get goosebumps, you go out on the field and everything that game represents there's a lot of respect on both sides and it's a heated rivalry and I think that's something to be said, we're a part of this and in any capacity it's special, it's incredible. . because the fans are two steps above you, everyone's families are there, parents, grandparents, it's something that is an incredible experience, it's like nothing I've ever been a part of, there are guys who graduated in the years 70s and 60s who will write letters and I still talk about it to this day and I think for me that's the biggest example of how it affects your life that you've lived for 60 years.

I think that's the most important part. I would just tell you that the intensity is just different that you have. These young people who are doing it are so interested in their schools and it means a lot to him to have that Victory that is Eternal. My name is Scott. I'm the director of sports performance here in the military. West Point I oversee our lacrosse program and their strength and conditioning in the fall our guys train 3 days a week Monday, Wednesday and Friday here in the weight room we use the entire fall as an off season block so that even while we practice we still do I'm sure we will continue to lift and get stronger throughout the year so when the season comes we will lift twice a week during the season.

Monday is our strength day, we are going to work on our heavier movements. Good quality. reps on our squats and so on, our Wednesday is very dynamic in nature, so we use a perch camera system on all of our racks, they'll give you a demonstration. Our athletes come in, they log in, they just select their name, the workout they want. What we're going to do for that particular day is we're going to stop and then we're also going to track the speed of your bar using the Perge camera system, you're going to squat down, you're going to brace yourself, you're going to breathe deeply and up, that's going to follow. that bar. speed as they perform that movement and we make sure they train in the optimal speed zone day in and day out who is your favorite cross threatening player Evon Murphy he pushes a lot of weight he trains hard he works day in and day out and one day at his craft whether on the field or here in the weight room, what's the weight here? uh 495, is this a Max or not PR, maybe today, but can we get this?

So, welcome to our Sports Nutrition side of the house located right here in our weight room, so we work with our weekly budget to incorporate not only dry goods, jerky, cereals, nuts, different bars, fresh fruit, we use Muscle Milk and even at the other end we have microwaveable meals that come in weekly for us. there's no limit, take what you need, hey guys Lynch, captain number 36, we're getting into advanced constitutional law right now, you can see here, the classes are pretty small, you're Captain 18, a great opportunity to interact with faculty and also build relationships with other members of the class.

Something really cool about West Point is that our instructors' offices are right outside the door. About 80% of the teachers are active duty military and it really allows them to invest in the whole student because we join their pipeline. work so they have a tangible connection to our success and it's just another aspect that makes West Point special and allows us to develop that relationship with the instructor here at West Point the kids have fun the seniors run the Box games Lacrosse every week the guys select the teams names and ultimately get better at the sport, it's the standard, welcome to the Army Box Lacrosse League, okay, what's the name of the team?, how is it described, give us a summary, it started with the dream, it started with the dream of winning another

championship

, okay who. we get here we're the Heroes of Highland Falls we choose the low shorts 'cause our boy will always put the shorts below his knees leaked half shells all we do is fight crime and eat we're the kuners drivers we score we're gonna we're gonna get we're going to win the

championship

here we're going to have a rough start but we're ready to go we're the tusin raiders the backstory is we all love star wars best star wars movie episode 3 revenge on the sith shout out anakin skywalker goen wow love that love that love that swag this swag is unreal oh oh yeah oh yeah legy lace body what's the story behind the Jersey Lenny playoffs man that's the kind of mentality you gotta have Do you gotta be Lenny from the playoffs , oh yeah, Lenny from the playoffs, okay, come on guys, we're here in the army box, it's Tuesday afternoon here, the weather is beautiful and I'll ask some of the guys questions who on the team would be you let out with your dog, probably Trevor Kelly, good religious guy.

I can trust him when I'm with my girlfriend or my children. What is your favorite class here at West Point? It's probably a military move. Oh gosh, who is your favorite player on the Islanders? Matt Barzel. You know, boy. an absolutely petici specimen is in the middle of a game come on, have you ever eaten a plate of garbage? Yes, I have the best place for the garbage plate. Hot fairp. Two cheeseburgers. Macaroni Salad. Homemade fries. A little ketchup on top. That's it, nothing better than that, who are you? favorite team Cal Amber great guy how is he overall a good guy would you let him date your sister?

No, I wouldn't go with that. Who would you let go out with your daughter or sister? I would let Rob Simone date my sister. I'm not sure how I feel about that. one, let's go to Bennett on the big girlfriend guy, here we go, let's go now, it doesn't matter who is the funniest kid in men's lacrosse. Great question, probably Bailey or Conor, who would you let watch your kids in men's lacrosse? I think it has to be Ned L, who is your favorite guy in army lacrosse. I have to say Dirty Doss, Dirty Doss and Clark he's the man he's the man you know why he's the man he fought for in really tough times at the beginning of the season but now he's back and he's ready to start a great answer Dawson Clark Pork Chop, Shout out to the hometown, Shout out, Shout out, Austin Yeah, Austin, Texas, I can't think of anything, what's your favorite place on campus to study?

I'm going to go with the Good Old Reliable. roommates a soccer player Leo Loen is a captain you like him yes, he's the man what's the most important thing you missed from home in California? That's a great question. Most importantly I would probably say my dog ​​Rex for an upcoming recruit. Here, how would you sell this place? First, find all the guys. This is why you want to come here. All these boysthey're here. The best children in the world. The best team in the world. The best culture. They wouldn't want to be with anyone else. coach a coach Ward Coach G coach Lewis the best coach in the world cares about his players uh yeah come on yeah family family family family family in three 1 2 3 Hi, I'm Mark Wellman, I teach here at West Point as an assistant professor, so , when?

I came here and taught full time for the first time in 2010. I was a little intrigued by various lacrosse programs that have story numbers so I started researching what's behind the Army numbers and after about 15 years I now have En Approximately 500 pages, I have been able to trace the lineage of the numbers consecutively back to 1946. One of the unique things about Army lacrosse is that the numbers here are not retired, so all the lineages are active, although sometimes obviously with the size of the team, not all. The number is up for grabs every year so the stories behind them are interesting, for example the number 20 in 2011.

Nick turned up and his father suggested the number 20, so Nick wore it for four years, followed by his brother, who dressed for four years, followed by a boy. Named Brendan Nick, I'm sure every college basketball fan recognized him. It turns out that Brendan was his first cousin, so the number stayed in the family for 12 years. I think any lacrosse player anywhere in the country if he knows someone who wears the same number. at the same institution, they instantly have a bond seeing that lineage is actually quite humbling, but it also gives them perspective on the important things in life and creates that instant bond throughout the alumni core;

It is something unique in the Army. Hello, my name is Dr. Rick Black. The last few years I have been working as a civilian at the center to improve achievement by teaching academic skills, so I continue to work with the boys largely in that way. difficult, that's difficult, it's harder than it looks, all these things are incremental, so you can do it just standing on the floor, nothing else happens, nothing else distracts you, if you want to add a physical component, you take one of the balance boards, so now you're moving, so physically you have to balance and do whatever is on the board, if you want to add noise we can do that, so you know, we have the noise of the crew. just normal game noise if you want to add that component of your good practice can I try this?

Yeah, what do you think I get on the first try, first try? I think 23 for most people who are good athletes, I would say probably mid-20s is probably where they start. I give them 22. Seconds Explain real quick again what this is basically, you're going to touch both sides, something's going to light up and basically you're just trying to touch these little green dots, there's about 30 of them and yeah, in about a minute or less or 30 as fast. . As you can, okay, let's do it, oh God, here we go, the boy is getting it now 32 32 32 you're in 22 23 32 the last time the army was in the final four was in 1984, why haven't they come back ?

We talk about being a responsible program and we haven't played LEL lacrosse, we need it and we've executed the level we need to to be in the final four, we're working on it, we're striving for it, it's hard, I mean it's the goal end for There are so many programs out there that we don't talk about it, but it's something we don't shy away from, that's the end goal and what our guys go after and that's why we go in and do what we do every day, I think. It's a testament to how hard it is to get there because there are a lot of really good military lacrosse teams since 1984.

There's a great tradition of winning and winning at a high level, but you know the final four have been some of that very exclusive group. I've been a part of one of the best parts of West Point is that the community feels like you know we're here in what we call CAC coaches so this is right in front of coach Al Bar's house and right next to women's basketball , you have the The men's hockey coach here swims and dives, so what is this? The head coaches get housing on campus and it's a great thing because of the accessibility and a real family feel, so we'll come as a team to the Coach House about five six times a year.

Next year we'll have a Super Bowl party, we'll have the playoffs. college football and just a couple other events. We will bring recruits here. It's a really nice home away from home for our boys. His wife Petra does an incredible job hosting everyone. coming out with bags of food, so it's a really special moment. It's awesome to have all the head coaches share their wealth of knowledge and experiences together and it's really cool to have our guys come and spend time together. Will Army play on championship weekend this year? Yes, it will be, yes, there is no doubt, there is no doubt.

I think the focus of our guys and the humility of how we've approached the fall has laid a good foundation for us to get back to that place and I know that. Our guys have incredible motivation based on last year and an incredible amount of faith and belief that it can be done this year. Our goal is to embrace all the little things, from club work to footwork. All these little things come together in each one. another and it's really what makes you a better team and elevates you to the next level. What I'm excited to see is a group of veterans coming together who have had that taste of success, you know, you, you, again, were on the edge of the precipice. from championship weekend last year.

I'm excited to see what our guys can do and push the limits this season. Our mindset is to ensure that individually everything we do is worthy of emulation by the rest of the team. You know, we have 72 leaders. the team and I believe that the actions I am doing today are worthy of emulation. We're not really focused on anything other than getting better every day. We will work every day to improve ourselves and become better lacrosse players to do each one. other top lacrosse players and teammates and we are hopeful that that formula of the culture, the tradition, the legacy of this program takes us to championship weekend, we know what we have, we know what we have to do to be where we are.

I want to work to get well. I tell you this, that is certainly our goal. Our path here is to improve today. That's clearly our goal, as it is every year when you're at West Point and your goals are anything else. So you're selling that group a little short game. You're in the playoffs. Come on.