 |
|
Hobart Rowland
|
I was about 12 when I bought my first—and last—lacrosse stick. I couldn’t tell you where it is now. Of all the sports I tried as a kid, lax was the one that left me the most befuddled. I couldn’t grasp its nuances—that uncanny balance of aggression and skill.
I’m hardly alone. There are plenty of people around the country who know little to nothing about lacrosse. “When I was a freshman at the University of Michigan, I was watching a lacrosse game on ESPN in my dorm’s lounge, and a guy who’d grown up in the Midwest came in and asked, ‘What’s this?’ I couldn’t believe that someone didn’t know what it was,” says Michael Bradley, who authored this month’s cover story on the enormous cachet the sport enjoys in our area. “And while lacrosse has become more popular all over the nation, it remains a staple of our spring sports scene.”
In fact, its local popularity is growing. “Thanks to great coaching and tremendous youth and club programs, high-school lacrosse is better here than just about anywhere else in America,” Bradley says.
A sports guy by trade who blogs for MLT under the El Hombre pseudonym, Bradley approached the assignment as a learning experience. “It allowed me to see why lacrosse is so popular—and played so well—around here,” he says. “It also allowed me to debunk some of the stereotypes about players that are propagated by people who aren’t serious about the sport, not to mention those who have little to no knowledge about it.”
Indeed, the uninitiated will learn a lot from Bradley’s well-researched piece.
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE: Four years in, I couldn’t be more impressed with the continued success of our annual Healthcare Heroes event and the accompanying feature, written by associate editor Melissa Jacobs. In 2016, we have eight hospital systems participating in the awards—more than ever before.
“Healthcare Heroes takes us inside hospitals and behind the scenes of medical practices, letting healthcare professionals tell us exactly who inspires them and why,” says Jacobs. “It lets us spotlight people who do fascinating work throughout our region—and around the world—who might not otherwise get the recognition they deserve.”
We hope you’ll join us for our annual Healthcare Heroes luncheon on May 12 at Springfield Country Club. For more information, click here.
