Michael Doneger talks Bump & Grind and his team's uniforms

by guest blogger Michael Doneger


Because there are no rules or regulations regarding patterns or colors, tournament lacrosse teams often have the greatest flexibility when it comes to their jersey designs. Hopkins grad Michael Doneger blogged from South Beach about his experience in the Bump & Grind tournament last weekend, specifically taking a look at the uniforms of the tourney-winning Pro Athletics team.



Lacrosse has provided many of us the opportunity to visit some cool places to play in such tournaments as Vail, Lake Placid, Ocean City, Hawaii, Las Vegas and of course - the state that created the infamous FIST PUMP - The Jersey Shore. But what’s better than laxin’ in South Florida in the winter month of January?



We arrived in Miami on Friday, at 5:45 am after taking the red eye. Our first and only game of the day was at 2 pm. I don't know about you guys, but eight hours is not enough time for me to mentally and physically prepare for a lacrosse game. We thought we'd take advantage of the relatively empty airport by doing groundball drills and playing wall ball while we waited for our luggage at baggage claim.



Okay, the above paragraph didn't really happen. But after we checked into our hotel, Brent Robinson - our team organizer and uniform designer - provided us with the highly anticipated uniforms. He did a fantastic job in the design. The jerseys were designed to match the Reebok camouflage gloves. Matching camo decals on the helmet tied the theme together. Of all the tournaments I've played in, these are by far the best and most creative designed uniforms. We each got a helmet, Reebok gloves, shorts, a shooting shirt and jersey. And I think we can all agree that the better one looks on the lax field, the better he feels, the better he plays. See a good shot of the jersey below.







After a rusty start to our first game, the team gelled nicely and won 12-6. Did the uniforms have a direct result in the outcome? I'm not a scientist, but I'd have to say there was a strong correlation between how good we looked and the amount of goals we put in the back of the net.



After winning our first two games, we lost our third, surprisingly pushing us to the last seed in the six team playoff tournament. On the final day of the tournament, we had the potential to play three games including the championship game. Just as Rex Ryan provided the playoff itinerary to his NY Jets football team with a Superbowl victory parade in New York City, our team - Pro Athletics - entered the day with that same mentality with the confidence that we'd be playing in all three games. Unfortunately for my home team Jets, Rex's plan didn't quite work out due to their loss to the Colts. Next year Sanchez! But I digress.



Lucky for our team, our positive mentality won us all three games of the day, including the championship game against team Lacrosse Wear. However, as I stated earlier, I believed we'd be in good shape on the basis that we had the best looking uniforms. Look good. Feel good. Play good. Well, we looked awesome. We felt awesome (okay maybe a little less than awesome due to the Miami night life throughout the weekend). And we played awesome (okay, again, maybe not awesome, but good enough to win).



All in all, it was great weekend, capped off with a championship. There's a rumor Pro Athletics will be designing championship rings.