Athletes Unlimited has launched its Futures program for elite middle and high school female lacrosse players across the United States with the goal of cultivating and connecting today’s young female lacrosse players. The program will operate in a similar fashion to the WPLL Futures program, with programming at each Athletes Unlimited Futures event including professional training from top players and coaches.
Athletes Unlimited players confirmed to participate at select local events include Emily Parros, Amanda Johansen, Meg Douty, Haley Warden, and Molly Wolf.
“We are proud to launch Athletes Unlimited Futures Lacrosse as our first youth initiative and hope our programming and experience will help develop the next generation of great players in the United States,” CEO and Co-Founder of Athletes Unlimited Jon Patricof said.
Participants will be evaluated by Athletes Unlimited lacrosse players, Regional Directors and coaches. The top performers from each regional event will be invited to the Athletes Unlimited National Summit which will feature additional advanced training and competition for selected players to be held over three days during the Athletes Unlimited Lacrosse league which will be held from July 19 to August 22.
15 Regions. 1 National Summit. AU Futures, for the next generation. 🥍
“Participating in a program very similar to Athletes Unlimited Futures is what sparked my love for lacrosse and ignited my heart to realize I could potentially play at the collegiate level. It was a chance for me to get the coaching and confidence I needed to take my game to the next level.” Mira Shane, Athletes Unlimited lacrosse player and the winningest goalie in University of Michigan history, said.
“The Athletes Unlimited Futures program plays a very important role in improving player performance and contributing to the growth of lacrosse,” Senior Director of Athletes Unlimited Lacrosse Michele Dejuliis said. “Our players and coaches are among the best in the world and we look forward to connecting them with future stars. Athletes Unlimited and Ultimate Events & Sports have partnered in this great program to benefit all of our participants with safety as our number one priority.”
Local tryouts and events will be held in 15 U.S. cities including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia from March through June. For more information regarding dates, eligibility, cost and tryout information for each event, those interested can visit www.au-futures.com. Athletes Unlimited believes in accessibility for all and will provide a limited number of scholarships for deserving participants on a case by case basis.
Hutton Jackson is a professional video editor, co-founder/host of Pro Lacrosse Talk and editor-in-chief of Lacrosse Playground. He is also an Emmy-winning associate producer with two major sports networks and oversees Lacrosse Playground's video content as the head coordinating producer. Hutton played four years of college lacrosse at DeSales University where his highest lacrosse accolade was being named to Inside Lacrosse's 2014 All-Name Team with current pros Challen Rogers, Deemer Class and Larken Kemp, an honor that didn't require stepping on the field. When he's not writing on lacrosse, he can usually be found diving around the crease in your local men's league and ranting about Baltimore and D.C. professional sports.
Predicting the PLL Protected Player Rosters (Pro Lacrosse Talk Podcast #129)
byPro Lacrosse Talk
On this episode of the Pro Lacrosse Talk Podcast, Hutton Jackson and Adam Moore are joined by Lacrosse Playground contributor Brian Andrews. They discuss the Atlas cutting Scott Rodgers, Jeremy Thompson, Kyle Hartzell and Callum Robinson, the trade that sent Rob Pannell to the Redwoods and Chris Hogan, Dalton Crossan and Garrett Thul joining the PLL. They also discuss the retirement of Matt Danowski and Brett Schmidt, provide their predictions for the protected rosters particularly with Dillon Ward, Connor Fields, Paul Rabil, Joe Walters and Kyle Harrison, and theorize what it would take for Coach Sean Quirk to trade the top pick in the PLL Entry Draft and presumably the chance to draft Lyle Thompson.
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Pro Lacrosse Talk is the flagship lacrosse podcast of the Lacrosse Playground network covering all three professional lacrosse leagues (NLL, PLL, Athletes Unlimited). Each week throughout the season we’ll recap the games, provide analysis on the teams and feature exclusive postgame and off-the-field interviews with professional lacrosse players, coaches and executives. If you’re a fan of lacrosse podcasts like the Unbuckled Chinstrap, The Inside Feed, Lacrosse Classified or The Crease Dive, then give us a listen.