By Neil Goulding (English Lacrosse Press Officer, 07813 859986)
ENGLAND'S men (pictured above) have returned from their American tour having learnt plenty of 'hard lessons'.
The national side had a gruelling US schedule with seven games in seven days to mirror the format of a World Championship.
And although there were no wins on tour, head coach Dave Elwood is absolutely sure the experience has benefited his side
'We've learnt so much, it's [the tour] been absolutely brilliant,' said Elwood.
'Physically I'm amazed how we stayed injury-free for so long because it was an incredibly tough schedule.
'But we wanted to be tested - and we were. The standard has improved so much since the last time [2005] when we toured America.
'Unfortunately all the games were the same story, we didn't win any matches but victories were a bonus. The coaching clinics we had before all of our matches were priceless, that was the main reason for going to America.'
England had two-hour coaching clinics before all of their matches and 'benefited hugely' from sessions with top coaches including Charlie Toomey, Dave Pietramala, Kevin Cassesse, Chris Bates, Brian Voelker and Seth Terney.
'We've learnt from some of the best coaches in the world, the players, the coaching and management staff have all benefit from the experience,' added Elwood.
'We've all brought a lot back, hopefully that information will filter down when the players go back to their clubs.
'We did a lot of technical work on shooting and improving our speed on the ground ball, the team worked really hard on lots of different things to improve.
'There were some outstanding players we came up against, but it's their discipline and attitude which really impressed us.
'It really was an amazing experience and I know the team has come back doubly determined to improve and work even harder before next year's World Championship [in Manchester, 10-24 July].'
During the eight-day tour every player from the England 31-man squad was given the chance to impress, while five American-based players were also trialed.
Long-stick midfielder Tommy Barnett (Gettysburg), defender Luke Nichols (Roanoke), midfielder Mike Richardson (Roanoke), attacker Todd Baxter (Denver Pioneers) and defender Joe Duncan (no club) all played for England at some point during the tour.
American-based British passport holders, both former England Under-19 players Sam Russell (Whitier), formerly of Poynton, and Jordan Levack (no club) also teamed up with the team on the East Coast, while England will also be looking at both Sam Payton (Duke) and Dan Kallaugher, formerly of Yale, going forward.
Both players were due to join up with the squad 'Across the Pond', but Payton - a midfielder and face-off specialist - missed out with a wrist ligament injury, while Kallaugher, a midfielder who has also played England Under-19s was unavailable because of work commitments.
'We've said that any overseas players we pick have to be outstanding to get in the side, if they're not then it's not fair on the English-based players who are trying to make the team,' added Elwood.
'We looked at a few American players on the tour and they fitted in well. Luke Nichols did well, but we're not going to continue looking at him any more. However, we will keep looking at the other American players as we continue our preparations for Manchester.
'We've got four [overseas] slots to fill so we'll keep looking at this situation and see if we can improve the squad as much as we can.'
And what now for the England team?
'We'll be having a de-brief of the tour in the next week or so and we've asked all the players for total honesty,' said Elwood. 'We want to know what they enjoyed and benefited from and if there was anything we did wrong, how we can improve and learn even more from this experience.
'We knew we have got a massive hill to climb before next year [Manchester], everyone can see the standard we have to reach.'
International Results - American tour (in match order):
Loyola Greyhounds 11 England 8
Johns Hopkins 14 England 1
Lehigh 12 England 2
Princeton Tigers 14 England 6
Drexel 18 England 3
Hofstra Pride 18 England 4
New York Athletic Club 13 England 7
**Anyone wanting to watch highlights of the opening twos matches can do so by clicking on this link - http://www.e-lacrosse.com/content/videos/2009/2009hopeng.php
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