Please join us on this journey over the next five days when 44 players and 4 highly respected lacrosse coaches’ head to Lake Placid, NY, the site of the 1980 Winter Olympics, to play in the 2012 Lake Placid Lacrosse Classic Tournament.

My name is Jake Gavin, a senior at South River High School, and I am writing about 2 local Anne Arundel County lacrosse team’s, sponsored by Bill Sohan at Academy Mortgage, with 44 players from the local area, going to Lake Placid, NY to compete in a great lacrosse tournament that offers much more than a normal lacrosse tournament. This is the 4th annual trip to the New York Adirondack's to compete in the Lake Placid Lacrosse Classic.

The two teams making this trip are my team, the U18 Team Academy Mortgage, and the U15 Team Academy Mortgage, with both teams expecting to compete for the tournament championship.

The teams are comprised of Anne Arundel County high school public and private school players, with schools such as South River, Southern, Severna Park, Broadneck, Chesapeake, Arundel, St Mary’s, Dematha, Severn, AACS, and Archbishop Spalding being represented on both teams. In the past years, we competed at a very high level, winning the championship in 2010 and making the semi-finals or finals in the other years we have competed.

But lacrosse is just one part of this great trip that makes this tournament very special for each player. With so many schools represented, we get the opportunity to meet other players from different schools, which has allowed each player to make some lifelong friends and form a very special bond that lacrosse players share. Other highlights are a day of white water rafting on the Hudson Gorge and a trip to a local river that has numerous cliff jumping challenges, cliffs from as high as 10 feet all the way to 40 feet into a beautiful and refreshing fresh water river.

Each player gets to spend hours away from the lacrosse fields to enjoy the scenic town of Lake Placid, mountain hiking at White Face Mountain, a chance to try some bobsledding and watching skiers try ski jumping, and an opportunity to see the ice hockey rink that the 1980 Miracle on Ice occurred. Some players spend time on Lake Placid trying their hand at fishing and using the paddle boats to tour the lake and relax.

This year our goal is for both teams to bring home the Championship to Anne Arundel County! This tournament is a nice relief for everyone, as we get away from the heat of Maryland, we enjoy the pure joy of playing lacrosse in an incredible setting, without the pressure of playing in front of college coach’s, and spending time with a special group of local lacrosse players. Go Team Academy Mortgage!!