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NLL Colorado Mammoth

2024 Mammoth Summer Camp Brings Smiles, Skills to Lakewood

July 25, 2024 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Colorado Mammoth News Release


DENVER - Foothills Fieldhouse once again played host to the 2024 iteration of Colorado Mammoth Summer Camp, presented by Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children, this week as dozens of youth athletes gathered in Lakewood, Colorado July 22-24.

The annual camp represents one of the many community-forward activations the organization leads in continuing to grow the game of lacrosse during the National Lacrosse League's offseason.

Kiddos eventually departed the three-day camp with some new skills and confidence, a custom Colorado Mammoth camp pinnie and a ticket to an upcoming game during Colorado's 2024-25 season (not to mention some new friends and drills to build on ahead of the Fall Ball season!)

While the organization is very much a box-based organization, All-World goaltender Dillon Ward, who doubles as the team's Lacrosse Development Manager, got this year's campers outside to soak in some fresh air and embrace the sunshine.

"It's great to be outside. We've got a great facility here at Foothills, awesome fields and with the weather being reasonable it's been super awesome to be out here and not have to be in a dark arena during the dog days of summer," Ward said.

"We've got a lot of energy from a lot of different guys. The group, overall, has been very positive. We've seen a lot of the older kids be supportive of the younger guys and we've seen people cheer each other on, so it's been a very positive energy throughout camp."

It is summer camp, after all!

And the rolling mountains, themselves, provided quite the beautiful background.

Getting some additional help from Mammoth teammates in defensemen Warren Jeffrey and Brett Craig, Ward may have assembled a defensive-minded coaching staff, but we can confirm the kiddos were fine-tuning all sorts of skills.

"The boys are buzzing, lots of energy. Lots of compete in both the older and younger groups, which is nice. We've been keeping it fun, keeping it light," Craig said.

"It's always nice to be outside. No rain, no cold weather, so it's been a really nice week. We couldn't have asked for much more than that."

From warm-up passing and stretches to ground ball drills and getting some shots on net, this year's attendees weren't skipping the basics by any means.

Fundamentals are a big part of the game at all levels and exactly what the burgundy and black team will begin its 2024 Training Camp sessions with in just a few short months when they return to the very spot campers got some reps in this week.

"We start off summer camp pretty much how we start off practices, right? Getting the sticks going and getting the legs going and then we reinforce those good habits during games. If they're having fun with it and learning those good habits early, it's easier to implement those as they get older and grow with the game," Craig shared Wednesday.

"Just being able to play around with them is awesome. It's always nice having older guys to look up to and these guys have been really receptive when we work on skill-based stuff. But we make sure to mix in a lot of fun drills, fun competition and stuff, so it's nice to be able to play around and have some fun with them."

It's always important to get some reps in at camp, but fun in the sun is always going to come along.

So, Ward and company made sure athletes were staying engaged and entertained via some games. Not just lacrosse games, either, but communication-based, camaraderie-driven goofiness at times.

Productive goofiness, that is!

We're talking sharks and minnows, dealer's choice and 3v3 small net scrimmages. Getting out the radar gun and filling nets. And it wouldn't be a lacrosse camp without a few friendly chirps - The stuff that gets the people going!

Of course, getting to chat with the athletes they look up to most ranks towards the top of the list for some of these youngsters. Player-coaches relationships have all sorts of dynamics: From the basic stages of youth leagues to pro ball and back, it's always been a game of, and for, the community.

Naturally, it feels right to give back to the very sporting community which helped welcome the organization more than 20 years ago.

"Being connected with the youth lacrosse community is huge for us. These are the kids that are going to cheer us on for years to come and we want to grow this sport as much as we possibly can and use our platform to get lacrosse in front of as many people as we can," Ward shared.

"We know that bringing our pro players out to run camp can create a lasting impression and being able to see us face-to-face after watching on TV or cheering us on at Ball Arena is important to them. I know when I was growing up, when I got to do camps and have professional coaches help me out, how much that meant to me, just seeing their faces and being able to talk with them and learn from them was super important and something I valued growing up and something I cherish to this day."

It wasn't so long ago that Ward and teammates were the youngsters themselves learning from the pros. Therefore it's only right to bring their time full circle, giving back to the community which will one day produce the NLL's next level of talent.

"It's cool to be coached by pro guys and kind of pick their brains to see what they have to share. In an environment like this, it's all fun and games but just being able to kind of learn from guys that you look up to, guys that you watch play at Ball Arena, it's a pretty cool experience for them and it's just as cool for us coaches just being able to hang out with them and get to know them."

Regarded by each of the camp coaches as one of the best groups to grace the Foothills Fieldhouse property, it's safe to say both the athletes and coaches enjoyed their time in Lakewood.

Mammoth fans can check out the best photos and beyond from this week's Colorado Mammoth Summer Camp, presented by Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children, via Colorado Mammoth social media channels.

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