Eleven Top NCAA Men’s and Women’s Lacrosse Teams to Compete in Third Annual Play for Parkinson’s Fall Tournament
The ProjectSpark Foundation, an Arlington, VA based organization focused on raising funds to battle Parkinson’s disease, is proud to announce the third annual Play for Parkinson’s Lacrosse Series on Saturday and Sunday, October 6th and 7th, 2012. The event will again be held at Episcopal High School in Alexandria, VA and will feature 11 of the country’s most prominent NCAA men’s and women’s programs. Read More…
The ProjectSpark Foundation (www.projectspark.org), an Arlington, VA based organization focused on raising funds to battle Parkinson’s disease, is proud to announce the third annual Play for Parkinson’s Lacrosse Series (www.playforparkinsons.org) on Saturday and Sunday, October 6th and 7th, 2012. The event will again be held at Episcopal High School in Alexandria, VA and will feature 11 of the country’s most prominent NCAA men’s and women’s programs.
This year’s men’s tournament on October 6th will again feature Princeton University, Georgetown University, and the University of Virginia, and has added the United States Air Force Academy and local elite program Towson University to the roundup.
The women’s tournament on October 7th will include Duke University, Northwestern University, Maryland University, Penn State University, the University of Florida and Towson University.
Last year, the tournament hosted over 5,000 sun-soaked fans and raised more than $100,000 for the ProjectSpark Foundation, an organization established by former Princeton lacrosse player Christian Cook and his sister, Lauren Cook, as a means to fight this devastating disease. In the fall of 2008, Christian and Lauren’s mother, Diane Cook, was diagnosed with early stage Parkinson’s. Diane is just one of 1.5 million Americans who currently suffer from Parkinson’s – a group that is growing by more than 60,000 every year.
For the third year in a row, Play for Parkinson’s will highlight young men and women playing what has been called the “fastest game on two feet” to help those whose very ability to move is being compromised by Parkinson’s disease. All proceeds from the Play for Parkinson’s Lacrosse Series will benefit the ProjectSpark Foundation. Each participating institution has donated its time, facilities, and travel expense toward the goal of creating a ‘spark’ to find a cure.
Describing the 2011 tournament, Virginia men’s coach Dom Starsia shared, “We were glad to do a small part to help a great cause – the fight against Parkinson’s disease, it was really, really well-done.” Adds Princeton men’s coach Chris Bates, “We are thrilled to return to the Play for Parkinson’s tournament in October. This will be Princeton’s third year participating and it has gotten better each fall. Not only is the competition excellent, it supports a wonderful cause.”
“We are humbled by the support of so many outstanding institutions as we raise awareness and ‘spark’ new ideas and initiatives that hopefully will lead to an end to this devastating disease,” Christian Cook, co-founder and president of ProjectSpark stated.
More information on ticket prices, location, and volunteer opportunities may be found at www.playforparkinsons.org.
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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.