Lake Forest Academy Girls Lacrosse Camp
Lake Forest Academy
Lake Forest, IL
Overview
Known as one of the North Shore's favorite sports camps, GameBreaker returns to Lake Forest for this girls lacrosse camp. Campers will stay in the campus dorms and play on the school's varsity fields.
About Our Coaches
Paige Messersmith is in her fourth season as head women's lacrosse coach at Ohio Wesleyan University.
The Battling Bishops compiled a 12-5 mark in 2022, tying the school record for victories in a season. Ohio Wesleyan went 2-5 in the North Coast Athletic Conference, finishing seventh in the final conference standings.
Messersmith made her head coaching debut in 2020, with Ohio Wesleyan winning 2 of its first 6 games before the remainder of the season was canceled.
Messersmith came to Ohio Wesleyan from Dickinson (Pa.) College, where she was an assistant coach for 4 seasons, working with the offense, draw team, and goalkeepers as well as assisting in practice planning, individual player development, recruiting, scouting, and strength and conditioning programming. She helped the Red Devils to a 40-31 record and 3 tournament semifinal appearances in the Centennial Conference, one of the most competitive leagues in NCAA Division III.
Off the field, she has been active in the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association, working with the organization's all-region selection and convention planning committees.
She began her collegiate coaching career as a graduate assistant coach at Catholic (D.C.) University, where in 2 seasons, she helped the Cardinals compile a 28-10 record, win a pair of Landmark Conference tournament championships, and make 2 NCAA Division III tournament appearances, including a run to the national quarterfinals.
Messersmith is a 2013 graduate of McDaniel (Md.) College, where she capped a stellar playing career by receiving Centennial Conference Woman of the Year honors. She was an All-America selection in lacrosse, won 5 all-region citations in lacrosse and field hockey, garnered all-conference laurels 7 times in lacrosse and field hockey, and was a 2-year team captain in both sports. She graduated with a degree in exercise science and continued her education with a master's degree in psychology from Catholic.
Camp Details
Check-in/out: Overnight and Extended Day Campers check-in at 12:00 pm on the first day of camp and check out at 12:00 pm on the last day. On the second and third day of camp, the extended day campers will arrive at 8:45 am and get picked up at 9:00 pm.
Age & Ability: Camp is open to ages 8-16, all ability levels welcome.
Meals Provided: Overnight campers will be provided with all meals: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner. Extended day campers will be provided with Lunch and Dinner
Camp Curriculum:
Fundamental Stick Work- Specialized stick routines and targeted fundamental drills
Position Specific Training-
Defense- including a rotation of midfielders
Footwork - pivoting, recovery and angles
Stickwork - clearing, carrying, grounds balls and stick protection
Field Awareness - man up or man down situations, on and off ball defensive play
Body Positioning - ABCDs of defense (for 1 on 1 defense)
Attack-
Situational Awareness - spacing, vision and offensive flow
Shooting - 8 meters, on the run, shot placement and selection, and faking before shooting
Dodging - from X, face dodge, split dodge, roll dodge
Transitioning- Riding the ball
Midfield-
Situational Awareness - spacing, vision, and offensive flow
Shooting - 8 meters, on the run, shot placement and selection and faking before shooting
Dodging - from X, face dodge, split dodge, roll dodge
Defensive Play - body positioning and field awareness
Transitioning- Riding the ball, fast breaks both offensively and defensively, settling
Goalie-
Communication - ball positioning, dictating the defense’s positions and player positioning
Mechanics - placement in cage, off stick and stick-side movement, reaction time, hand/eye coordination
Clearing - moving the ball quickly, communicating where to go with the ball and stick work
Draw Specialist-
Mechanics - footwork and body positioning
Taking the Draw - pushing , pulling, or self-drawing, ball tracking
Circle - speed work, ground balls, ball tracking, and reaction time
Unsettled Situational Game Play, focused on special awareness specific to game-like situations-
2v1, 3v2- Fast play from the elbows and X
Crossfield 3v2 continuous play
3v4 off ground ball and clears
Full field transitional continuous play
Grouped Position Specific Training- Attack vs. Defense, Midfield vs. Midfield
1v1’s, 2v2’s 3v3’s, 4v4’s– from all positions on the field focusing in
on specific game philosophy’s, techniques and spatial awareness
Specialized Team Building and Leadership Events-
Lacrosse capture the flag, lax baseball, lax water balloons, lax maze runner, ultimate lacrosse, lacrosse tic-tac-toe racing, lacrosse head-shoulders-knees-toes-ball, and other leadership and team building activities
Game Play- 7v7, small sided games, full field scrimmage, situational gameplay, clearing and riding the ball
Chalk Talk- Reviewing techniques and game theories regarding specific positioning and game-like situations
*Curriculum Varies Per Location and Director*
*For Sample Times of Daily Schedule, Visit Highlights Page*
Reviews (3)
Marvin B. - Parent My could not believe how much better she got at camp this summer. The coaching staff was great and got the best out of the campers.
Janelle G. - Camper I learned so much from the coaches as well as other campers. I feel like I learned more this week than ever before. The coaches did a great job teaching.
Caroline K. - Parent The coaches all did a great job teaching different drills emphasizing all aspects of the game. My daughter plans on showing her teammates some of the drills she learned at camp.
