Every year on the third night, the tournament hosts a clinic for the local youth players which we always participate in and help run. The kids range from kingdergarten to 5th grade and they all have better stick skills than the majority of American players!!! Connor Wilson (laxallstars.com founder) and I talked about it at length afterwards. These Czech kids strictly play box lacrosse and it's evident in their skill sets. They keep their sticks vertical, they have excellent throwing mechanics and they are able to pick spots and hit them. Their sticks are cut down length wise and they play with ZERO whip in their sticks! US Lacrosse needs to focus on developing stick skills for the youth! It has taken a step in the right direction with their recent player development program (small fields, less players, smaller nets) but there is no substitute for box lacrosse. If you look at Canadian youth and the Czech youth, the benefits of box lacrosse are so obvious, we need to do a better job here in America.