Josiane Broussard, the director of Lakeshore Lacrosse and a captain of the Chicago Women's Lacrosse Club shares her thoughts on lacrosse after college and the 2006 National Tournament

Thousands of women's lacrosse enthusiasts traveled east this past Memorial Day weekend, but we weren't all headed for Boston. Many of us arrived at our final destination in Bethlehem, PA to attend the Women's Division National Tournament at Lehigh University. The National Tournament has been a showcase of the best women's lacrosse players in the country since its inception in 1933. Currently, it serves as one of the nation's largest lacrosse events, featuring 4 levels of play, including High School, Senior Only, Club and-for the first time this year-Post Collegiate Club divisions. Lehigh University, which will host the tournament again in 2007, boasts 10 fields, including one turf and one stadium field, where the US team beat the Club All-Stars by one goal during an exhibition game on Saturday night. In addition, the tournament is a recruiting haven for DII and DIII coaches, with nearly 70 teams-including approximately 1,400 players-packing the fields all weekend.

Included in those 70 teams were four post-collegiate clubs: Chicago, Philadelphia, New England and Westchester, NY-the inaugural teams of the newly added Post-Collegiate Club (PCC) division. The teams were relatively well matched, with Philly pulling out a 10-8 win over Chicago to go on and defeat NE 9-1 on Sunday for the championship. Far removed from the days of high school recruiting and college play, we adult players were just happy to be out in the sun, playing our favorite sport with our teammates! Few post-collegiate women's lacrosse players have the gift of competitive play after college, let alone have the opportunity to compete in one of the largest tournaments in the country.

I moved to Chicago for graduate school two years ago and immediately joined the Chicago Women's Lacrosse Club (CWLC). The team is made up of DI, DIII and college club players living in Chicago and surrounding areas. Many women are in graduate school, including business, medical, law, etc. Most of us are officials and coach local high school teams as well. Thanks to a little help from our friends in Evanston, Chicago is a women's lacrosse hot spot, to say the least! The CWLC allows adult players living in the greater Chicagoland area the opportunity to play with one of the most organized post-collegiate club teams in the country. This year, in addition to the National Tournament, we traveled to the Universities of Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Chicago, and Illinois, as well as Wheaton College and Northwestern for a packed season, hitting almost every big ten campus in the Midwest. For July 4th weekend, we will head to Vail, Colo. for our second appearance at the Vail Shootout.

The inaugural appearance of the Women's Division Post-Collegiate Clubs Council (WDPCC) at the National Tournament this year is a measure of the desire of post-collegiate athletes to continue to compete. Women's adult teams are growing, and the addition of a separate PCC division reflects the national need for more adult programs, including divisions like this one in tournaments nationwide. Luckily, the WDPCC can help interested groups to form organized club teams in their areas. Additionally, the WDPCC website advertises PCC-friendly tournaments throughout the country. Check out http://www.uslacrosse.org/wdpcc/ for more information and a tournament near you.

So, if you are a recent or not-so-recent grad looking to stay in shape, have some fun and still feel the excitement of game-time competition, don't worry, post-collegiate play is out there. Dust off those sticks and cradle to the grave!


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