To all Brandywine Lacrosse Club members:
I would like to update all members and potential members of our club about what is happening in the "off-season" with youth lacrosse in our area. 

1-DYLA, the Delaware Youth Lacrosse Association, is considering an attempt to reconfigure and become the Delmarva Youth Lacrosse Association.  This move was brought up at the last meeting held in May and there has been no further meetings since that meeting.  At that meeting it was suggested that DYLA would "reach out" to clubs on the entire Eastern Shore of the Delmarva Peninsula, including those from Dover who had left DYLA a couple of years ago.  If everything went according to the suggested plan there would be a northern division, to which Brandywine would be assigned, and a southern division.  The plan was to have teams in their own division play each other once or twice and that there would be limited play between teams from the other division.  A playoff would be held at the end of the season.  This is all contingent on enough teams coming back into DYLA.  Hopefully more information will be forthcoming when a meeting is held later in November. 

2-Contact has been made with CCLA, Chester County Lacrosse Association, and they are interested in entertaining an application from Brandywine to join their league.  One stumbling block to this move is that they require each club to give exclusive scheduling commitment to their league.  This would mean that we would make a break with DYLA in order to receive a full schedule from CCLA.  This is still under consideration as an option for the upcoming season. 

3-Another issue that has arisen involves our volunteer coaches.  Delaware Lacrosse Foundation, as an agency related to US Lacrosse, has found out that we are to initiate a policy of having all individuals associated with direct contact with players undergo background checks prior to working with any of our teams.  Not that we feel this is a problem with any of our volunteers, but we already are concerned about having enough coaches, unfortunately this may deter some individuals from working with our club. 

4-Delaware Lacrosse Foundation is also exploring the option of providing an opportunity for coaches to become certified through the US Lacrosse training program.  This would be an excellent opportunity for any individual who intends to coach anywhere in the state.  More details should be available prior to the holidays. 

5-We would like to plan a large scale recruitment campaign following the holidays to give us ample time to plan for the upcoming season.  With this in mind you can expect to hear about a club wide meeting prior to the Christmas break in order to plan for the spring season and the needs of the club.

Thank you for taking the time to read this rather lengthy update.  I am hoping to have another update around Thanksgiving with more information about league and club issues.

Thanks again,
Frank Fry
President, Brandywine Youth Lacrosse Club
302-475-9710