Pin Oak Boys Lacrosse

The Fall Clinic will conclude this Friday, December 11th. Despite our COVID interruption, we were able to have a solid few weeks of lacrosse practice. We had great turnout and participation.

We are opening up registration for the POBL Spring Lacrosse Season on the website www.pobl.org. There is still quite a lot uncertainty about the schedule. We have started to schedule games. There are some conflicts with other Pin Oak sports that may require us to delay the start of the season to mid-February, but we are still working through that to see if we can pull the start earlier. We will have games in March and April and maybe a tournament in May. We will plan on having two teams. This will either be a 5th & 6th grade team and a 7th & 8th grade team or we might do it based on skill and experience level. Practice is tentatively set for MWF 7-8:30 PM. 

The cost for registration will be $300 if you are returning and using your uniform from last year and $350 if you need a new uniform. This is significantly lower than prior years. The registration is live on the website now. 

Thank you to all the parents for their support and having their kids participate. Thanks also to Coach St. Denis and other parents and coaches who have helped during practice.
Kids can still work on their passing and catching and ground balls over the holidays. 

Go Chargers!
 

Please register for the Fall Clinic that will begin November 9th. We are offering the Fall Clinic at a substantially discounted rate of $50 compared to prior years. If we are unable to hold the Fall Clinic or if the schedule is significantly curtailed, we will apply the registration to the Spring Season (a separate registration) or offer a refund.

Key details:

1. Monday & Friday 7-8:30; Wednesday 4:45-6:15. In person students will be able to store their gear with Mr. St. Denis on Wednesdays.
2. Your son will need a US Lacrosse number valid through May 2021 to register. The registration on our website will guide you to obtain/renew your membership. Parents do not need a membership.
3. You must provide your own equipment for your son: helmet, stick, pads (shoulder/chest, elbow), gloves, mouth guard and cup. Also, cleats are required. Starter pad and glove packs are available at Lacrosse Unlimited and Dick’s Sporting Goods. Those are perfectly fine. You can use a face shield over your helmet grill, but that is optional. Lacrosse equipment can be expensive and it does wear out (particularly gloves). You do not need the fancy stuff if you are just starting out.

Our full COVID protocol is listed in the liability release in the registration, but here are a few key points:

1. Players will wear masks to and from practices and games.
2. Coaches will wear masks during practices and games whenever they are within 6 feet of the players (team meetings/talks/breaks).
3. Parent volunteers will wear masks during practices and games whenever they are within 6 feet of the players (team meetings/talks/breaks).
4. Players will not be permitted to share drinks.  All players must bring their own water to games and practices.
5. Players may wear shields over their facemasks during practices and games, but they are not required

Buffs will be acceptable as masks and will be easier for easy on and off during practice. Whether it is a buff or mask, it must be worn when arriving & leaving practice and during any pause in activity where social distancing is not possible (e.g., stretching, talks, breaks). Players will not be required to wear masks while playing or running drills. Lacrosse is a contact sport and we are not limiting normal lacrosse contact during games or drills.

We do not know yet what the Spring Season will entail, but registration is typically around $450. In addition to the registration fee, you must provide all of your own equipment at your own expense. Equipment includes helmet, mouth guard, pads, cup, stick and cleats. We will provide more information about equipment in an upcoming parents meeting. 

Congratulations to everyone for a successful start to the school year! We are excited to share some updates for Pin Oak Boys Lacrosse (POBL) for the 2020-21 season. There is obviously a lot of uncertainty with how the school year is going to work out, but we are still planning on having our Fall Clinic starting in late-October/November and our season starting in January. POBL is a club sport and we have a close partnership with the school, so we will be coordinating our program with the school opening and the approach the school is taking to extracurricular activities. As soon as we have more certainty, we will share updates.

As most of you know, our head coach for the past three seasons, Huntley Kent, is stepping down. Coach Kent has done an amazing job developing our program and we would like to thank him for all of his tireless contributions—all of which he has done on a voluntary basis.

We are very excited to announce our new head coach is Mr. Austin St. Denis. Mr. St. Denis is the 8B History Teacher at Pin Oak. He is a POBL alumnus and he played lacrosse at Episcopal High School and Oklahoma University. We are very fortunate to have Mr. St. Denis take on the head coaching role. It is great for the program to build a closer relationship with the school and to have a coach who has come out of the POBL program. Welcome, Mr. St. Denis!

Sandy Hellums was formerly heading up the POBL parents group, but she is moving on as well. We want to thank her for her leadership. Edwin Rodriguez has done an amazing job managing all of the finances and uniforms and we are very fortunate to have him for another year. Our current parent group who is organizing the program is as follows:

Seth Tyler

Edwin Rodriguez

Mickie Turner

Dana George

We are looking for some additional parents to help with the management of the program, particularly parents of 6th or 7th graders for succession. There will also be lots of volunteer opportunities for timing and scorekeeping.

Please let us know if you have any questions about the program. We will be sharing more information and arranging a parent meeting on Zoom once we know more about the season. In the meantime, please share this note with anyone who may be interested in joining the team, particularly any 6th graders (or 5th).  Go Chargers!

This April, six of our players tried out for the newly formed Houston Lacrosse Club, a merger of the Houston Hurricanes and Third Coast Lacrosse programs.

All six players have made the team!!!

On  making the 2021 Warrior All-America Texas Team!

http://www.warriorallamerica.com/tryout-results/texas-results/

12/9 Update:  The Fall Clinic will conclude Friday, December 11th. Registration for Spring 2021 is now open. Our season is tentatively scheduled to start mid-February due to conflicts with other Pin Oak sports, but this is still being worked.

11/11 Update: Great first practice on Monday! Registration is still open and we particularly invite 6th graders who have never played before to join. Everyone was new to lacrosse at some point. As a reminder, please bring equipment, masks and water. 

11/3 Update: Good news! We are confirmed to start our Fall Clinic next Monday, November 9th. Practice will be 7-8:30PM Monday and Friday and 4:45-6:15PM on Wednesday. If you haven’t registered yet, please visit www.pobl.org and register your son—you must be registered to participate. We will plan on having a brief parents meeting at the end of the first day of practice.

Look for more details later this week and updates on the website.