LaxStamina: The Official Podcast of the NCLL

Today on LaxStamina for our season finale Bobby sits down with Gannon Univeristy Club Lacrosse. This is an upstart program of sorts. They got their start just a couple season before COVID shut us all down and the start of this program was a family affair. Bobby is joined by student leaders Erek Iwankenko, Luke Smallwood and Josh Pavlovich. Erek Iwanenko started the team with his parents Mary and Dr. Walter Iwanenko. Dr. Iwanenko is the school Provost and Vice President of the Student Experience. Mary is a faculty member at Gannon, the Director of the Health Center and an advisor on the club lacrosse team. The guys say these two are Team Mom and Team Dad. Team Mom and Team Dad are also joined by the proud Team Uncle Edwin Voll. Also a staff member at Gannon and a team advisor. With this power team Gannon went from 8 players in year 1 to 25 this season. This season ended in the Elite Eight in Annapolis at the National Tournament. This is one of a kind episode about student leadership, family and what it takes to start a program from the ground up. Please enjoy Bobby's conversation with the Gannon University Men's Club Lacrosse Team.

Today on LaxStamina we recap the National Tournament. This past weekend we had 16 teams descend upon the Naval Academy for our first National Tournament in 2 years. The last time we crowned a champion in the NCLL was in 2019. The last 2 season of course upended by the COVID-19 pandemic. So it was extra special to get back to the tournament. At the Naval Academy, their 2019 Frederick Cup sits in the Student Athlete Center amongst trophies from the best college athletic leagues in the country. That is the  trophy you all compete for year in and year out and the trophy we awarded this weekend. On today's episode Bobby Audley sits down for a final time this season with our National Director Jamie McNealy and our Director of Competition Matt Reilly. Jamie and Matt worked their butts off to make this weekend happen. Getting drenched in the process! The weather was some of the worst Jamie has seen in his time with the league. But our players and fans toughed it out! You will hear about the weather on this episode and a whole lot more. You will also hear from the players. Bobby was on hand for the Final Four and did his best to get post game reactions in the Press Box. These are plugged into this episode with no transitions when they are relative to our conversations. We will announce the final All-Tournament Team selections at the end of the week. Stay tuned for that. We will announce our August meeting dates. Stay tuned for that. And we have one more episode of the show dropping this week. Bobby sat down with Gannon to talk about their journey starting their team. It's a family affair! You are going to want to hear all about their journey and success. Stay tuned for that later this week. For now, enjoy Bobby's National Tournament recap with Jamie and Matt.

Today on LaxStamina let's talk National Tournament! It is here. This is incredibly exciting. Once again we bring on Matt and Jamie to go through the match ups. They talk about the games they saw last weekend. Jamie saw A LOT. He put many many miles on his car going to see you play. He is truly the best National Director this league could ask for. Matt saw some games too. The two of them talk about every last one on this episode. Also on this episode, everything you need to know for this weekend. Arrival. Parking. Schedule. What to expect. You name it. Head over to NCLLAX.com to download the 2022 National Tournament Guide for everything you need to know if you are traveling to playing in Annapolis this weekend.

Today on LaxStamina we talk playoffs. Bobby brings on Matt and Jamie to talk about the DI and DII playoff games happening this weekend. We go through each and every matchup. Matt and Jamie have hit the road and seen a lot of NCLL lacrosse this season and offer fantastic insight into the matchups and games to watch. We also chat a bit some of the aspects of our leagues playoffs that are unique to us. We have said it all season, we are a player led league. Our dues are low. We don't mandate matching helmets and pads and crazy uniforms. Our aim is our teams don't need to charter buses and for the most part stay in hotels. Our main mission is to keep a low barrier to entry. Our great game should be accessible to all. With that flexibility comes some teams who come tournament time for whatever reason, can't make it even when they qualify. Matt and Jamie will speak to this and how we work to ensure the tournament is as exciting, competitive and as fair as we can make it. The playoffs are here this weekend! Let's get into it. Enjoy Bobby's conversation with Matt and Jamie.

Today on LaxStamina Bobby sits down with High Point Univeristy club lacrosse. The ORIGINAL lacrosse team at High Point. Representing the Panthers on the podcast is one the Team Captains and the Player Manager Tommy Canby as well as Head Coach Austin Miller. Tommy is a Junior at High Point studying Criminal Justice. Coach Miller was an NCAA DI track and field athlete at HPU. Currently in addition to coaching the Panthers, he is a semi professional track and field athlete and as you will hear on this show, he is a man of many many talents. Quick update on last weeks episode, we apologize for the glitch. We accidentally uploaded the unedited episode. We caught the mistake and have uploaded the right episode.For now, enjoy Bobby's conversation with Tommy Canby and Coach Austin Miller.

Ask and you shall receive! For Episode 8 of LaxStamina Bobby sits down once again with NCLL National Director Jamie McNealy and Director of Competition Matt Reilly. With just a few weeks left in the 2022 season, we thought it would be a good idea to get these guys back on the pod for some updates. We talk about the upcoming National tournament, especially if you are a DII team you will want to listen to this. We hear about great games Matt and Jamie have seen lately. They get into some fun ideas for the future of the league. And Matt talks about the upcoming August meetings for team leaders. We did this via Zoom to ensure we could make it happen. Jamie was actually in his car during this interview. His wife was driving. They were headed to their sons high school lacrosse game. So we lose him a couple of times but for the most part we can hear him just fine. If you want more of these episodes where Jamie and Matt share updates on the league, let us know! Shoot us a DM on Instagram and let us know what you like, don't like and want to see more of on the podcast. Leave us a rating and review! And enjoy this conversation with league leaders Jamie and Matt. 

Today on LaxStamina Bobby sits down with 9X NCLL DI National Champions Navy Club Lacrosse. Specifically with Head Coach Colin Smith and Club President Jack Streeter. Navy won it all in 1994, 1995, 1996, 2003, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2016 and 2019. Today on the podcast we talk about how Navy runs their program, what makes them unique in our league as an Academy and we talk about the upcoming National Tournament. All signs are pointing to Navy being the host school. Just waiting on a few pieces to confirm that. Which would be awesome. That is a one of kind campus in this country. Leave us a rating and review! If every person who is listening RIGHT NOW left a rating and review we would be one of the most legit podcasts in lacrosse! We are getting great engagement, I appreciate you for listening. Now just hit subscribe, leave a rating and review.

Today on the podcast we host THE Millersville Men's Lacrosse Club. This is exactly how they write on their Instagram account. THE Millersville Men's Lacrosse Club. Bobby is joined first by current team President Connor Allen and a little bit into their conversation, they are joined by a special surprise guest that Jamie set up for them. Millersville does a fantastic job keeping their alumni engaged with the current team. Not only does this help the current team, it also ensures they have alumni games where 45 guys show up! Which is just an awesome thing to have with any program. Please leave us a rating and review! If every person who listens to this episode leaves a rating and review we would be one of the most legit podcasts in lacrosse. We are getting great engagement. I appreciate you for listening. Now just hit subscribe, leave a rating and review. 

Today on the show we host the leaders from Union College Jamie Rice, Devon Halliday and Matt Bidgood. Union College, currently 2-0 according to their Instagram, is an upstart team making noise in the Empire East Division II conference. Jamie, Devon and Matt share their first impressions of the NCLL, what's new and different about playing at this level and what they are hoping to accomplish this season. At the top of the show you will hear from the man the myth himself Jamie McNealy. He stopped by to talk about some of the teams he has seen lately, his take on the state of the league at this stage in the season and we ask him the question everyone has been asking us, how does the league come up with those much talked about rankings. If you are enjoying the show and want to help us out PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE take 2 seconds to rate the show wherever you are listening (5 stars are where its at) and leave us a short review. #1 this is our only way of knowing how you like it! And it is how we grow. Shout out to the President of the University of Toledo for leaving us our first rating and review on Apple Podcasts! If you had feedback, thoughts, ideas or want to be on the show shoot us a DM on Instagram or email us at ncll@ncllax.com. 

On this week's episode Bobby interviews 4 players from 3 different programs. Up first you will hear from Jon Blankopf and Jack Sokolowski of Hofstra lacrosse. Both Seniors, Jon is the President of Hofstra Club Lacrosse and Jack is the Senior Vice President. After Jon and Jack you will hear from Ryan McNair the President of Niagara lacrosse and Noah Minton one of the co-captains for St. Bonaventure. For this episode Bobby asked each player a series of questions about their lacrosse journey. How they came to the NCLL and what they are looking forward to this season. To keep this episode within our 45-60 minute timeframe, Bobby edited these conversations together to get the best of each of them.At the top of the show you will hear from league National Director Jamie McNealy on an issue that several teams are facing right now. Independent Teams cancelling. Jamie stopped by to make an appeal to you, our paying and registered NCLL members to be careful and do your due diligence when scheduling games with teams not affiliated with the NCLL. ALSO REALLY REALYY QUICK AND SUPER IMPORTANT! If you are enjoying the show and want to see it continue, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE leave us a 5 star rating and short review wherever you chose to listen. Ratings and reviews are how podcasts grow. Help us continue to create great content for you and grow our league, 5 star rating and short review.Enjoy Bobby's conversations from across the league with some of the best our league has to offer.  

What does the role of a great coach look like in a player lead league? Great question! You are about to find out on this episode. Today on the podcast Bobby sits down virtually with University of Pennsylvania Head Coach Dominick Catapano. Coach Catapano played lacrosse at the University of Pittsburgh before coaching at the high school level. In 2009 he became the Head Coach at Penn. During his tenure Penn has 4X been the Liberty Conference Champions and has been consistently ranked in the Top 25 for Division I. Coach Catapano is a fantastic example of an NCLL coach because he has seen this consistent success while creating an environment where all players who want to play get to play. If you listened to our last episode, this is a definite contrast to the way the Lehigh team operates AND we as a league are showcasing both teams on this podcast because we believe there is not one way to go about competing in the NCLL. As in life, there is not just one way to be successful. Penn does not host a try-out, every player who commits and shows up to practice will play, their student-athletes are quite active and busy off the field and they still succeed on the field. Please enjoy Bobby's conversation with Penn Club Lacrosse Coach Dom Catapano.

For Episode 2 of our podcast, Jamie and Bobby sit down with 2 current NCLL athletes from Lehigh University Ege Zeybek and John Hillmer. Ege a Junior at Lehigh hails from Glen Ridge NJ and John, also in his Junior year, comes Wellesley, Massachusetts. Lehigh competes in the Division I Liberty Conference and as you are about to hear in detail, these two young men have built a national contender of a program. If you are new to the NCLL and trying to understand what we are all about, this episode is a perfect place to start.  If you are a club president who is looking for specific steps to take your team to the next level, this episode will give you those steps. If you are a parent whose son plays in the NCLL, this episode will make you proud to hear what it takes to be a part of this unique lacrosse league. The episode starts with Jamie explaining our Laxstamina name, what it means and why it represents the league. We then we welcome in Ege and John via Zoom to talk about they built Lehigh to the program it is today. We recorded this episode in mid-December 2021 as kind of a trial run and to have an episode to launch the show with. Our plan moving forward is to drop a new episode every Thursday. Future guests include Coaches from Kentucky and Penn, players from Hofstra and many more. For now, please enjoy our conversation with Jamie, Ege and John.

Welcome to LaxStamina: The Official Podcast of the National College Lacrosse League. The NCLL is a student centered league. Since 1990 the league's purpose has been to assist student-athletes with establishing leadership positions within their programs and keep the sport of lacrosse inclusive for all. We accomplish this by keeping costs as low as possible and giving the power to the players. As you are about to hear in this episode, our student-athletes are the founders, the General Managers, the Coaches and of course the players in our league. On our first episode we introduce you to some of the people behind the NCLL. I am sure you know our league National Director Jamie McNealy, but you may not know Matt Reilly who is well, either our Director of Conferences or Director of Competition. It honestly depends on if you ask him or Jamie. How about this, after listening to this episode how about you let us know! Shoot us a message on Instagram on which title you like better for Matt. Director of Conferences or Director of Competition. Either way, you are going to enjoy hearing from Matt what he loves about the league, why he is still involved today and what his plans are for the future of the NCLL. Matt played for 4 years at Penn State, went to the National Tournament all 4 years and was a 2 time National Champion serving as the team President in his senior year. To be updated on when we will begin dropping episodes regularly, subscribe to the show wherever you are listening and go follow us on Instagram @NationalCollegeLacrosseLeague