GameBreaker Girls Lacrosse Camp Western Connecticut State University
Western Connecticut State University
Danbury, CT
Overview
GameBreaker Girls Lacrosse camp returns to Western Connecticut State University which offers both turf and grass fields for our lacrosse campers. We are offering a full day camp from 9am-3pm and a half day camp for campers ages 6-9 from 9am-12pm. Join us for a great week of lacrosse training and new friends!
About Our Coaches
Coach Vallarelli is a Professional Men’s Box Lacrosse Player, Professional Women’s Lacrosse Player, Youth Club Director and Small Business Owner. Vallarelli has been in the Team USA System since 2010, when she was rostered on the US U19 National Team and was both a men’s and women’s NCAA college coach for 8 years. Vallarelli played at Collegiately at the D1 UMass Amherst, where she holds NCAA, Conference & School Records & holds records at the High School level as well when she played for School of the Holy Child in Rye, NY.
Coach Vallarelli is currently the only woman playing on/in a men’s professional team/league in any sport, globally.
She is the owner of two business’: 1) RV Lacrosse (focuses on In-Person and Virtual Training, College Recruiting Services, Events, Clinics, Camps, and Consulting for those that play box or field in the men’s or women’s game) and 2) Rachel Vallarelli Photography & Media.
Vallarelli brings a wealth of coaching and playing experience with her, as well as many “firsts”.
A 2011 graduate of School of the Holy Child in Rye, N.Y., she starred at goalie for the Gryphons’ lacrosse squad, earning 4 Varsity letters and helping the team to have its first-ever winning record and playoff berths after that. She holds the record for career saves and holds second and third place for Single Season Saves. Her career-high was 24 stops versus Greenwich Academy her Senior Year.
During her time at Holy Child and before she committed to play at UMass, Vallarelli was selected to the US U19 National Team squad and had been in the US System since 2010.
She continued her lacrosse career at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, where she started in goal for three seasons, earning numerous accolades along the way. During her goalie days at UMass, Vallarelli registered 48 victories and had a goals-against-average of 6.77 — both of which ranks second in program history. Her career goals-against-average is eighth in NCAA history, her 2015 GAA is 10th in NCAA History and she was the NCAA save-percentage champion in 2015 (.523). She is also a 2 time NCAA GAA Runner Up (6.26 in 2014 and 5.77 in 2015) UMass won four consecutive Atlantic 10 championships and was undefeated in Conference play (with 4 NCAA Tournament Appearances & 2 First Round Wins) while Vallarelli played goalie, which also saw her be selected as the conference’s Defender of the Week seven times and earn the 2015 Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Year Award.
After playing at UMass, Vallarelli took her lacrosse skills to the professional level, becoming a member of the Baltimore Ride, which is part of the United Women’s Lacrosse League. Coach also plays professionally for the New York Athletic Club.
Vallarelli plays some men's field lacrosse as well and is an alum of the Central California Lacrosse Club. She was also a Free Agent in the MLL and currently plays with the Dead Rabbits Lacrosse Club for Men’s Field Lacrosse.
Vallarelli was a NCAA College Coach for both Men’s and Women’s Lacrosse, from 2015 through 2023, with stops at Wagner College, Villanova University, Fresno State, Purchase College, Manhattanville College and Bard College. She was also the Head Coach for Greenwich HS for the 2019 Season.
Coach Vallarelli now focuses on growing and developing youth lacrosse, so that the sport can truly be for all. Vallarelli is the 91 Tri State Girl’s Club Lacrosse Director, and has held that role since 2019. Vallarelli is also the Head Defensive & Goalie Coach for the 91 Warhogs Box Lacrosse Teams.
In the Box Lacrosse realm, Vallarelli is the first woman ever signed to a contract with the Professional Box Lacrosse Association (2022). She currently is one of the goaltenders for the New England Chowderheads, and is the only woman currently playing on/in a men’s professional team/league in any sport, globally.
Vallarelli was also the first woman ever invited to the NLL US Elite Combine as well as the NLL Toronto Combine in 2019 and is subsequently an NLL Free Agent. She was selected to invite-only tryout camp for the New York Riptide of the National Lacrosse League and was then the first woman drafted into the Canadian Arena Lacrosse League for the Whitby Steelhawks. Vallarelli currently plays for Team Bullseye in the Boston Box Lacrosse League, The Dead Rabbits Lacrosse Club, More Dudes, Lasersharks Lacrosse Club and The WestRock Warhogs of the NABLL.
Coach Vallarelli has been working towards “powering performance and delivering dreams” for all those she coaches and mentors, while continuing to drive innovation and change to optimize performance and results.
Camp Details
Check-in/out: All campers check in daily at 9:00 am. The full-day campers will check out daily at 3:00 pm with our half-day campers checking out at 12:00 pm.
Age & Ability: Our camp is open to girls ages 6-16, Our half-day camp option is open to ages 6-10 and our full-day camp option is open to ages 9-16. All abilities and levels are welcomed.
Meals: Campers are to bring their own lunch to camp.
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)
Dominick T - Parent As soon as we got to camp my daughter could not wait to play. I am pretty sure she did not stop smiling all week. As a parent that is the exact atmosphere you want to see at a summer camp. Very well done camp. See you next year.
Stacy K. - Camper I had such a good time at camp. The coaches were great, and so was the food. We had so much fun staying in the dorms like we were in college.
Kim C. - Parent My daughter came home from camp and could not stop telling me about what a blast she had. Thank you GameBreaker, I will recommend this camp to all of the other moms on the team. See you next year!!
