Our first Fireside Chat of the summer is Hoosier state based.

We heard a lot of talk about Indiana high school lacrosse this weekend thanks to Coach Corrigan’s son’s team St. Joseph making the Indiana state finals over the weekend. We decided to interview junior attackman Josh Berger of Culver, the state champs, to find out what kind of lacrosse is really occurring in the Hoosier state.

412: What’s lacrosse like in Indiana?

JB: Lacrosse has been growing really fast and more and more schools are adding programs around the state. I know this year Evansville added a few different programs at different schools just in Evansville which is great. In Indianapolis youth and middle school programs improve each year.

As far as the competitive programs go, it varies from year to year. This year St. Joe from South Bend was strong and last year Cathedral from Indianapolis was really good.

412: What’s lacrosse like at Culver?

JB: At Culver we take a lot of pride in our lacrosse program. Coach Posner does a great job in pushing our team to reach its full potential. Practices are very intense and is the foundation for our continued success. When we go on away trips we are expected to do everything together as a team. I think our team is a lot tighter knit then other teams we play because a lot of us live together and are surrounded by each other all the time.

We really care about each other and each player not only worries about improving themselves but also their teammates. Our program also has a lot of traditions. After each home game we sing the Culver Song that every cadet learns during new cadet training. Each year we devote our spring break to traveling with the team to different regions of the country to play better competition in order to prepare us for the state championship each year.

This year we traveled out to Baltimore, Washington D.C., and Charlottesville to play St. Alban’s, Severn, Norfolk Academy and St. Anne’s Belfield. The purpose of our spring break trip each year is to not only play better competition but to also bond and really come together as a team early in the season.

412: How do the out of state games on Culver’s schedule help prepare the team for the state tournament?

JB: The out of state games that we play really help us to prepare us for our in-state schedule. This year we beat St. Alban’s from Washington D.C. 12-7 and we also beat Western Reserve Academy from Ohio for the first time in our program’s history. We lost 9-7 to Severn and 9-8 with less than a second left against Norfolk Academy.

Our 11-4 loss to St. Anne’s Belfield really exploited what we needed to work on in order to be successful back home. Coach Posner puts together a really tough out of state schedule each year to expose our team to the level of lacrosse we would like to consistently play at.

The challenge for our team each year is carrying over the lessons we learned on our spring break trip and applying them for the remainder of our games.

412: How is life at Culver different from an ordinary boarding school?

JB: Life at Culver is different than any other boarding school because of the military part of it. We march to breakfast and have our rooms inspected each morning. We are expected to make our beds a certain way, wear our uniforms a certain way and ultimately conduct ourselves in a manner that exercises extremely high levels of self discipline.

We also have a very strict honor code at our school. It is “I will not lie, cheat or steal and I will discourage others from such actions.” Violations of the honor code will result in a hearing in front of the student led and maintained honor council. We wear military uniforms similar to the United States Air Force Academy’s uniforms and we are expected to polish our shoes and shine our belts.

Although Culver does send cadets to the service academies, the military part is really to teach leadership and is meant to instill life-long values such as self discipline, teamwork and honor. The academic portion of the school is also nationally renowned and it is extremely challenging. We have a 2 hours study period each night known as CQ, or closed quarters.

412: What are your summer plans?

JB: This summer I am attending Top 205 Session 1, Blue Chip 225 Elite, Max Elite 100, Midsummer classic at UMASS with True Lacrosse Michigan’s U-17 A team and I will possibly be attending the Brine Summer Sizzle with The Hill Academy from Canada.

412: Do you plan on playing lacrosse in college if so, do you have a list of schools you are considering so far?

JB: Last fall I visited Dartmouth and Middlebury Colleges.  I have been speaking with several Division I and Division 3 coaches and will be visiting with them and their schools this summer.

412: What are the expectations for Culver in 2011?

JB: Our goal each year is to compete for and win the state championship so that is definitely at the top of our list. Although we graduate a lot of talent with our senior class, we have a very strong group of returning players next year. I would also expect that coach Posner puts together another very challenging out of state schedule in order to prepare us for the playoffs.

412: Will you be motivated by missing the 2010 state final due to injury?

JB: I am very motivated after missing the opportunity to play the last half of the season and missing the state finals this year. I’m hoping to have a strong summer with lacrosse and I am looking forward to competing for the state title again in 2011.

Thanks to Josh for his time. Congratulations on another state title at Culver and good luck this summer.

Tufts Preview

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The Art of Lax Photo Gallery

Art of Lax founder Vinnie Ricasio just posted some great pictures from Baltimore. Here are some of our preferred images.

Fantastic message. Where can we buy those?

We want to know who they are and where they are going and what they are going to do when they get and who they are doing those activities with.

Great crowd for the national championship game. Notre Dame fans may not have any idea what’s going on but at least they showed up. Super disappointed with Baltimore’s effort. They won’t be in the running for future title games for a while.

Drake is on my label.

His album drops in June.

That’s why I can release stuff like this. It’s basically whatever I want to do…while I’m still in jail time.