This past weekend, 96 of the nation’s best lacrosse players gathered in Sparks, MD to put on the USA Lacrosse uniform and compete for their country. These 96 were chosen to represent the red, white and blue after an extensive tryout process over the summer that started with over 1,600 high school athletes from across the country; after the regional tryouts, current and past U.S National Team players and coaches selectively cut the pool down to the 300 most competitive athletes. In August, those chosen few were brought to USA Lacrosse Headquarters in Sparks, MD for a three day combine, consisting of individual and team skill development, conditioning tests and mental performance training. Finally, on August 21, 2024, USA Lacrosse announced the 48 girls and 48 boys who would be representing their country. 

Throughout this process, the players’ common goal was to make the U16 or U18 USA Lacrosse National Team Development Program. The National Team Development Program is a top tier pipeline to U.S National Teams for the best of the best high school athletes to experience lacrosse on an international stage. This pipeline was proved as recently as this past summer when 17 out of the 22 players who won gold for the USA in the Women's U20 World Championship, as well as seven members of the Men’s U20 training team, had previously participated in the program. 

While the tryout process was rigorous and required peak physical performance from the athletes who participated in it, their efforts accumulated this past weekend at the Brogden Cup - a tournament founded in 1988 to honor former U.S. 1932 Olympian and Johns Hopkins Men’s Lacrosse goalie Mac Brogden. The Brogden Cup was originally created to have post-collegiate club players from the United States be able to compete against Canadian players. Since 2019, the U.S., Team Ontario and the Haudenosaunee have competed for not only the bragging rights associated with the victory of the cup but also to grow international competition at the youth and high school levels. This year, Sekai Youth Lacrosse from Japan attended the tournament to compete in friendly exhibition matches against the girls' teams competing for the Brogden Cup. 

The three-day tournament is one of the most revered events of the year not only for the chance to compete for your country but also for the chance to win for your country. Since the advent of the National Team Development Program in 2019, the U.S. has a 70-2 record across all teams with the two losses coming from one-goal upsets of the USA Men’s U18 vs. Team Ontario. This year, the USA Select U16 and U18 boys and girls teams played a perfect tournament with an overall record of 16-0. While the USA girls had some incredibly convincing wins, Team Ontario proved to be the next best team going 4-7-1 and  4-1-1 against the Haudenosaunee teams.

This historic tournament not only serves as the best development program in the nation for future stars and a pipeline to the international stage but also as a chance to spread the love and light of lacrosse around the country, continent, and globe. The Brogden Cup will be held next year from October 24-26 in Sparks, MD at USA Lacrosse Headquarters and it will be yet another opportunity for the greatest high school talent in the nation to excel for the first time on the international stage. 

Thea Salem