The 2019-20 Tryouts are underway for the NXT LC Boys, the club is gearing up for their most competitive season ever. Part of NXT's ongoing mission is to develop lacrosse players and with that comes shifts in the coaching staff. NXT is committed to adding professional staff that will greatly benefit our players and families.
New to NXT for the upcoming season are two local college coaches, Alec Dambach (Chestnut Hill College) and Eric Kluge (Eastern University). The two bring years of playing and coaching experience to our high school club. Together they will coach our 2023 high school team. “Having college coaches on staff adds professionalism, experience, and greatly aids in the recruiting process for our players,” said Peter Lawrence, President at NXT.
Prior to college coaching, Alec played attack for Chestnut Hill. Dambach led the Griffins with 50 points his senior year (22 goals, 28 assists) and 29 ground balls. He was a three-time ECC Player of the Week (4/17, 4/3, 2/28). At the annual Athletics Award Reception, Dambach was awarded his second straight Most Valuable Player (MVP) honor. He was recently inducted into the Howell, NJ High School HOF.
Eric, a middie from Maryland, attended Salisbury where he racked up 60 points (39 goals, 21 assists), 30 ground balls and 4 caused turnovers. Kluge was a USILA First and Second Team All-American, All-CAC First Team, and USILA Face-Off Specialist of the Year over the course of his college career. Eric's also been a familiar face to NXT programs including NXT Lacrosse Academy where he's helped train players over the winter.
Both men are looking forward to coaching the rising Freshman 2023 team.
"I'm extremely excited to join the NXT family," said Coach Kluge. "Before moving to Philly, I knew of NXT and knew they were a top program in the Philadelphia-area. After spending time with the players and coaches, I saw this was much more than just a club team. NXT is passionate about lacrosse, truly developing players, and giving back to the game. It's a special program and I'm proud to be part of it."
Other notable changes in the coaching lineup include the promotion of two current club coaches. Coach Jake McKeon and Coach Chris Williams will hold new titles as the Directors of Player Development for offense & defense. These promotions will allow two of our very best coaches to work with all of our middle school players during these pivotal years of development. The plan is for these two to establish grade based benchmarks, a system for enhanced player feedback, use of video analysis and to interact with all our middle school families over this three-year span to enhance player development and feedback in our middle school program.
In high school, Jake was a four-year letter winner as an LSM & defenseman at Episcopal, earning All Inter-Ac honors and served as co-captain. In college, Jake went on to play for perennial DIII powerhouse and multi-time NCAA champion Middlebury College, helping the squad to back-to-back NESCAC championships and strong NCAA tournament showings, reaching the national final in 2003 and 2005. Jake assists with directing Play Fast summer camps and training and will be focusing on defensive player development in the upcoming club season.
Chris Williams, also a current NXT 2020 coach, will be focusing on the offense for all grad years. He previously was the head boys lacrosse coach at St. Joseph HS (South Bend, IN), an assistant coach with Team Indiana and Program Director for Michiana Falcons Youth Lacrosse. Since moving to Philadelphia in 2010, he's been an assistant coach with the UPenn NCLL Lacrosse team and has served as an interim coach with Edge Elite (Toronto, Ont.). With NXT, Chris was an assistant coach for the NXT 2017 team, leading the offense for three years and is just finishing up with our 2020 club team.
“I couldn’t be more excited for all four of these great coaches. I look forward to working with them over the coming years on curriculum, strategy, benchmarks and raising the bar on player development,” said Peter Lawrence.
Registration for tryouts is still open with dates being held July 29th and July 31st at the Proving Grounds. To register go to www.nxtsports.com.
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