Article Contributed on: 6/8/2007 2:54:54 PM
By Gage Crispe
Last year the 8th grade Westside Lacrosse team was formed. The coach
Gary Crispe had been coaching football for 18 years, but had never coached a day of lacrosse in his life. He had only seen it been played for a year. The youth Green Mountain Lacrosse league did not have enough kids to play, so the players had to go to Westside. Gary Crispe offered to coach, not knowing much about the game he brought in college student and lacrosse player
Scott Szymansk to help with the team. Both coaches learned from each other, Gary learned more about lacrosse while Scott learned more about coaching.
Last year they brought a team with some kids who have never played, and kids that have never played together, all the way to the championship of the Colorado Lax Jamboree. They ended up taking second and were thirsty to get first the next year.
When they came back together during the spring, the team was ready to get going. They worked hard, ran a ton, and listened to their coaches during the year. The team came in 2nd in the league with 6 wins 1 tie and 1 loss. During the 2007 Lax Jamboree, the team worked hard and won all the way up into the semi finals then they lost to Steamboat. They dropped down into consolation and beat Washington Park to get into the Championship. The Championship game was won in overtime by Westside Venom.
Alexander Christensen made the winning goal, giving the Westside Venom the Championship the were looking for.
(PHOTO)
Top left: Coach Gary Crispe, Mitchell Jark, Derek Sanchez, Jake Jones, Andrew Rolf, Zach Bohem, David Warnke, Coach Michael Perdue.
Middle left: Tyler Perdue, Colton Pratt, Joshua Williams, Johnny Gonzales, Gage Crispe, Branden Robinson, Coach Scott Szymansk.
Bottom Left; Alexander Christensen, Jeremy DeJong, Justing Frazer, Lawrence Gomez, Michael Halax, Joseph Matous.
Gage Crispe is a member of the Westside Lacrosse Team and his father is the coach.