The LAX RV is GOING TO THE SUNSHINE CLASSIC!

Jacksonville Florida – It was just this past April when Jacksonville University’s director of athletics and I sat down at a local Cracker Barrel for breakfast to discuss a wild idea. Having seen major lacrosse in stadiums across the north during months of the year when the temperature makes the sport tough to enjoy (it is a spring sport in most places), I thought it would be really great to have some big games in a stadium in the southeast.

JU being the new kids on the block for men’s lacrosse in the southeast had a great inaugural season under the leadership of Matt Kerwick. Coach Kerwick is one of the best college coaches at being accessible to the local lacrosse community and building the sport. Having a stadium event would provide access to thousands of lacrosse people to a quality stadium event while exposing the event to thousands in Florida and the south who may have never heard of the event.

Duke and Notre Dame signed on, Georgetown agreed to be a part of the program, and the city of Jacksonville stepped up and embraced the idea and the rest is history. The Moe’s Southwest Grill Sunshine Classic is born! Now there is an exciting lacrosse event in Florida that can take the sport of lacrosse to new heights. As many as 100 high school boys and girls teams are planning on attending the event as a team. Local people who have never seen lacrosse are signing on, with ticket prices starting at just $25.50 (for two games), the price is right.

EVENT PARTICULARS

February 20th may be a bad time to play lacrosse in Detroit, Boston, and Philly, but in Florida, 2.20.2011 is just fine!

Teams will have a chance to tailgate in the parking lots and team bond before the event, sit together inside the stadium and see two great lacrosse games up close and personal, and for some, enjoy a ride home full of memories. What is not to like about that?

Check out this seating map. EverBank Field has never been used for lacrosse before, but the stands are right on top of the field. It’s going to be a great event. For more information on how you can get your team involved, contact the stadium box office for group tickets. Club seats are the way to go for lax fans – they are right behind the benches for the teams and have premium amenities. There are no team discounts for club seats, but the seats are just 20% of the cost of a normal club seat. Unreal.

Gold: $39.50, Orange: $34.50, Green: $25.50 (both games included. ALL ticket fees included)

To buy tickets for a group, call 904-630-3958. If you are bringing a charter bus, parking is $40 for the bus, and a special tailgate lot will be set up for your team!

The event is being sponsored by Moe’s Southwest Grill. Florida lax-buff Brad Chasteen, a Moe’s franchisee, has been spearheading growth of the sport over the past five years. The event will bring together the southern lacrosse community in a venue reflective of the growth and strength of this rapidly expanding sport. It will be great to bring everyone together in fellowship of the sport.

Nice!

AC, Fuses, and Oh yeah, Don’t Forget to Plug it in!

St. Augustine, Florida – Ahh Camping World! Why hast tho forsaken me!? In all seriousness, without the fine techs at Camping World, and a really nice warranty, this pilot of the original (and only) Lax RV, is just that, the pilot and not the chief mechanic. But Kevin at Camping World has been there from day one. In fact, over the past two months the Lax-Mobile has been in and out of the shop due to various problems with the AC. Problems like:

* The AC was not working because of a fuse problem (fixed)

* The AC was not working because the generator was not plugged into the RV…it was unplugged when the guys were fixing the fuse problem and they forgot to plug it back in. And the pilot didn’t know there was a plug!

* The AC worked for the trip to Atlanta after I got it back plugged in this time, until we went to the tournament and the AC didn’t work. The breaker switch went. You mean, the little breaker switch in the back – it just had to be switched back to the ‘on’ position? Oh.

So, thank God for Camping World! And also thank God for college and grad school for making the pilot of the Original Lax RV so smart and handy with machines. All those logic and philosophy classes prepared me well. But, you know, I can drive the thing like a dream! Just ask any of the more than 100 passengers over the past year. Just a few stop signs clipped an antenna smacked, and an awning almost ripped off the side. The other thing they neglected to teach me in school was to make sure to put everything back ‘in’ that I took ‘out’! Oops!

But the pooper is dumped. The carpets are cleaned. The Fabreeze is ready to rock. Soon enough the rig and her eight (8) passengers and a dog will be ready to head to Philly again (third voyage). This time we get to enjoy the $2.50 gas prices! And for the haters out there, the Lax RV is saving the club more than $3,000 in costs on this trip alone, and continues to provide our club the most exposure in the country (priceless!). And hey, you can’t beat the AC either. When the thing is plugged in.

Voyage time: 12 noon on Wednesday!

The Rig Hauls Home…Finally!

The Original Lax RV is on the final leg of its return trip from the Fall Classic at USTC. This weekend was crazy busy for the Big Rig-o-Lax as we had teams playing all over the Pennsylvania countryside. Unfortunately, we don’t fit down those Sleepy Hollow-esk very well. If one of those measly 12 passenger vans finds the spirally roads tight, than our 33 1/2 feet of Lax-Luv doesn’t stand much of a chance to fare better.

All tolled, we supported three camp sites, and enabled the director and at least one middle school team to rove from field to field bringing a smile and excitement at every turn. A special shout out to the parents and kids from the Carolina Fever 2014 middle school team. It was great to see another southern club at the event! The Lax RV has a lot of enthusiasm for good sports and positive attitudes. We love making new friends on our journeys. Isn’t that a part of it?

I feel bad for the green girls. One looked at the Rig and gave a big thumbs down. There must be a profound sadness, or a negative energy to bring that type of reaction out of a 14-year old! We hope they are feeling better now that the event is over and they do not have to see TLC for a few months. Playing against the best club in the nation can cause any kid to become discouraged! Hang in their greenies…you’ll get a chance again to play them! Smile!

Being positive and being successful are linked. We love being able to bring the joy of lacrosse to new areas and to more established ones as well! Who knows, maybe Sam Matz and his TLC crew will jump on board and get their very own bright red TLC mobile!

This trip has logged 2000 miles and about 30 hours of drive time, but it’s all worth it! We get to do some more local lacrosse events for a while now: Queen of the Crypt 3-v-3 in Jupiter, First Coast Lax Fall Ball Sundays, and a nice trip up to the ‘All-In’ tournament in South Carolina..followed up with the Wishbone. Then it’s off to Maniax tryouts! December 2008 coming to a city near you! HONK! HONK!!!

Packed for 70!

We have provisions, equipment, and camp site accommodations for 70 on this trip north. We’re hauling about 20,000 pounds of stuff and RV on the trip. Roads are clear and the co-pilot is currently at the wheel. He is working off of a Red Bull and some KFC (don’t ask me) and seems to be working just fine. The Original Lax RV is pushing northward, bringing a great attitude and message with it about Florida lacrosse. It is also a great home away from home for the 70 players and coaches on the trip. 

The Original Lax RV Exists to SERVE and build the game and at these events it gets to do both! And hey, the price of gas in North Carolina is only $3 per gallon. Hope you all enjoy the ride with us!

On the Road Again

Coach Paul and I are back on the road! We are currently in South Carolina, cruising our way up I-95 in the Maniax mobile. It’s great to see people checking out the lacrosse themes on the sides and having no choice but to look at our Middle School Atlanta Champs when behind. Girls, we’re gonna make you stars…. no, we’re gonna make you super, duper stars!

The plan is to drive ’til midnight, then get some sleep, and finish the trek in the morning… good times! Always a good time in the Maniax Mobile!

Coach Matt out!

i saw it in the neighborhood….

 

HONK! HONK! Where do you park such a thing?! How about my neighborhood?

 

 

“The reason for my email is that I’ve heard great things about Lax Maniax and one day when we were house searching we even saw the RV with the Team Logo(very impressive).”

The RV is a place of community. It builds community, creates relationships and provides a safe haven to those lax-people who are seeking a safe harbor! Just don’t tell my lawn-perfecting neighbor who most likely reported the RV to the homeowners commission in my hood. The Lax-RV was parked in front of my house for just a couple of days and it caused a great email to come to my home, and several local community members to talk to me about lacrosse! 

So, don’t worry, my lax peeps. The RV is here to stay. No matter how bad the newpaper says things are going, the Amazin’ Lax-RV rolls forward into new, unchartered waters. No matter what happens to the price of oil, or the political debate over Anwar (which is the 2nd such debate over the past 6-years…guess they should have drilled back then, eh?) the Lax-RV will continue to rock and continue to ROLL.

According to a sermon I heard this morning from a ‘prosperity preacher’, good times and God’s blessings are present if you look to them and work for them. Believe me, the Lax-RV is an outward reflection of God’s blessings in my family’s life. When Abraham took the desert from Lot in one of the original bad ‘business deals’ of the Bible, nobody thought he was going to do anything worth while. He had inherited a desert afterall! But as the story goes, he turned his desert into a lush, plentiful land while Lot’s great land turned into dust. I bet Abraham did not sit back and wonder of his land would ever turn lush and green. He knew it would. He knew because he had faith in his heart that God was capable of anything, in the lean times, or in the good times. 

But especially in the lean times. That’s when God does his best work and deserves even more credit from you and I!

So with times not being what the news would say as ‘happy’, rejoice, because there are many opportunities for people to be successful when the times are not great…if you have faith. The Lax-RV is a vehicle for bringing lacrosse to people from all over the south. Bring the best sport ever to kids that have never heard of it. Think of the lives that can be changed as a result! How about those who moved here from lacrosse plentiful lands? Won’t they be excited to see the HOPE that is the Lax-RV when they go to a Fall Ball event, or a lax tournament, or a LaxManiax tryout?

Bring on the Lax-RV, and let the good times ROLL!

the amazing Lax-RV

Back in the old days there were these things called infomercials. These infomercials were priceless and they included things like Jack Lalaine’s Amazing Workout Bands, and any number of outstanding products marketed by Ron Popeil (aka: Ronco), besides his obviously bogus tan. Informercials had one goal: get you to be interested enough that you just didn’t want to change the channel. Mom would say “Paul, change it!” and I would sit almost numb waiting for the next time there was a “But wait, there’s more!” coming from the words of Ron himself! Needless to say, mom was not happy about that.

The point 1: Someone was watching those infomercials (which have give way to ‘fake TV shows’ where they interview the ‘business owner’ and try to make his/her business appear remotely entertaining. No, I don’t think so!

It's fun for all ages!

 

 

The point 2: People like things that grasp their attention, but even for a moment!

Enter the Lax-RV! Someone is driving down the street, the interstate, going to Starbucks, hanging out at a little league game (zzzz) or headed to the town center. Guess what they are going to be watching? The Original Lax-RV! Not to mention, their attention is going to be captivated by the most excellent graphics and designs. Talk about grasping their attention. A day does not go by when a gawking passer by nearly swerves across the road as a result of the mezmerizing Lax-RV. When you park it at a tournament, even better. It reaches the level of the brain that never forgets, the unconscious. Coming to a dream near you, the Lax-RV! HONK HONK!!!!! Maybe we can burn a hole into the subconscious minds of college coaches and other club players.

But wait, there’s more!

It's a great place for great teams to hang!

 

 

All marketing value aside, letsmove to the tangible benefits to the Lax-RV. Namely, have you seen what comes out of that thing? Enough equipment for 250 girls to practice. 5 tents (5000 cubic feet of cover), 8 full coolers, 3 5-gallon water jugs, 20 banners, a public address system, 3 agility ladders, 200 cones and 300 balls, 100 pinnies, a gas grill, an outdoor shower, 4 goals, a field painter and two cases of paint, tons of maniax gear, 300 gatorades, cooled food, frozen foods, snacks for a long tournament, and who knows what else all handily fit in the amazing Lax-RV. Can you imagine flying with just one of those things? What do you think the club should ‘haul’ to a tournament?

But wait there’s more!

What about coaches? They are always flying to these tournaments for 2…even 3-hundred bucks a pop! The amazing lax-RV can haul coaches comfortably and in style with a leather couch and a kitchen table. It even has a strobe light. For the larger packer, an you know who you are, there are no baggage limits aboard the Good Ship Lax-RV. You may pay for gas on your trip, but I doubt you will be paying $1,800 in gas!

So, there’s the marketing and club awareness, there’s the practical storage area, there’s the safe and comfortable travel space for up to a half-dozen.

And there’s more!

No way! What could possibly be another benefit of this truly amazing craft from the heavens!?

It’s a great ride. And if you are under 6-foot tall, it’s a great rest too!

The First Post!

You saw it here, the time stamp cannot be changed! The Original Lax RV embarks on its Inaugural Trip. Philadelphia-Downingtown-Wilmington-Baltimore-Germantown here we come!