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Blue Star is Thrilled to Announce the New Jersey Northmen, our newest Box Lacrosse Offering

By Murf Butler, 10/15/22, 1:15PM EDT

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Blue Star is thrilled to continue to offer the best in box lacrosse training and instruction by expanding our offerings for this Winter with our brand-new New Jersey Northmen program; a box-only travel team with tryouts open to players from any field lacrosse program. The Northmen will be the place for the best players in the region to come to find not only the high level of coaching that Blue Star has become known for, but also the chance to compete in events against the premier programs in Box Lacrosse.

Blue Star is thrilled to continue to offer the best in box lacrosse training and instruction by expanding our offerings for this Winter with our brand-new New Jersey Northmen program; a box-only travel team with tryouts open to players from any field lacrosse program. The Northmen will be the place for the best players in the region to come to find not only the high level of coaching that Blue Star has become known for, but also the chance to compete in events against the premier programs in Box Lacrosse.

Under the guidance of Blue Star's own Murf Butler and Luke Wiles,  and even more of our industry-leading coaches, the Northmen plan to offer teams for players in grades 5-12 from around the area.

Interested in joining the Northmen this Winter? Click here to get registered for tryouts!

Box Players in the PLL

There are a number of the sport's top stars who play in the NLL and PLL throughout the year, but when you look at the players who are named some of the best in the sport...

  • PLL MVP: Trevor Baptiste, plays with the Philadelphia Wings in the NLL
  • Attackman of the Year: Lyle Thompson, plays with the Georgia Swarm in the NLL
  • Midfielder of the Year: Tom Schreiber, plays with the Toronto Rock in the NLL

Position-by-Position Benefits

  • OFFENSE: Next play mentality, no out of bounds keeps the game FAST, learning how to have spacing, improving as a scorer, working together as an offensive unit
  • DEFENSE: Number of touches, learning the defensive 2 man game, more involved in every defensive play, learning to play in transition and be involved on Offense
  • FACEOFFS: Better on contested groundballs, faster decision-making
  • GOALIE: learn to be patient on inside shots, stay balanced in the net

Quotes from Coaches You May Know

  • "Box layers in new skillsets while others sit still during traditional offseason"-Anthony Kelly, 17 year pro player, USA Box player
  • “I believe that box lacrosse gives young people many more opportunities to excel in our game.  If I had my choice, I would have every player under the age of twelve play box lacrosse exclusively or at least a majority of the time.  The number of touches of the ball and the ability to develop better stick skills in a game of box lacrosse, far surpasses what happens to young people on a 110 x 60 yard field.  Learning how to pass and catch in traffic, understanding how to shoot, and developing a sense of physicality are all positive traits developed by the box game.”  – Bill Tierney, US Lacrosse Hall of Fame, Denver University Head Coach, Princeton 6x National Champion, Team USA 1998
  • “American field players would really help themselves if they were exposed to a steady stream of box experience. Box lacrosse is an extremely valuable background for a young player, we need to incorporate more of the indoor skills into the field game. It is almost a requirement to have a top player with indoor experience on your roster right now.” – Former University of Virginia Head Coach, Dom Starsia
  • “If box lacrosse were played by kids in the U.S. In the fall the way it is played in Canada, it would completely change the complexion of the game in terms of the quality of play and the balance of power. The trend of competitive balance at the DI level would be expedited. Now, the game is growing faster than ever, but one doesn’t see improvement in players from certain regions as expected with such large growth. Box Lacrosse would change all of that.” – Jamie Munro, former Head Coach of University of Denver Men’s Lacrosse
  • “I knew that if I wanted to be one of the best players in the world, I would have to dedicate myself to both the indoor and the outdoor game. Playing indoor lacrosse has been a great thing for my career.” - Casey Powell, MLL/NLL All-Star