Grades 5-6

Youth & MS boys practice begins in late February.  Youth games start first Sunday in March and end by Mother's Day. MS games start mid-March and end mid-May.

Common Terms Used in Lacrosse

Offense

Find Space means get to an open patch of field, away from other players.

Meet the Pass means run toward the man passing you the ball.

Get the Ball to “X”  means pass/run the ball to the spot directly behind the goal you are shooting at.

Adjacent  means the offensive players on either side of the man with the ball. Those players are Adjacent.

I’m your Help!  means  I’m open!

Be the Help   means the coaches are telling you to go over and get yourself open so your teammate can pass you the ball because he’s in trouble.

Who’s the Help?  means the coaches are asking the players on the field who can get themselves open so they can get the ball passed to them.

Defense

Information about our middle head coach and program director

Middle School Head Coach Tad George is the former head coach of Mariemont HS, where from 2002-2011 he lead the Warriors to 4 state final fours, 3 state finals appearances, and a state championship in 2007.  Selected as the Ohio High School Coach of the Year in 2003, he amassed a record of 116-62 (.652) and had multiple players selected as All-Americans during his tenure at Mariemont.  As a player, Coach George played 10 years of post-high school men’s club lacrosse for the Cincinnati men’s team.  He was an integral part of the men’s squad that won the Midwest league title in 2004, notable for the fact it was the first time a non-Columbus or non-Chicago team has ever won the championship (before or since)Coach George was a stand-out player at Moeller High for Hall of Fame coach Tom Kennedy, playing in three state title games.  Selected captain his senior year, he helped lead his team to a state title and a Midwest tournament championship in 1992. Coach George joined the middle school boys program as head coach in 2019.  Prior to that, he had been assisting our boys program at the youth level.

Michael Cotsonas is the executive head coach/director of the Loveland Youth & MS Boys Lacrosse program.  Coach Cotsonas launched the Loveland youth feeder program in 2005 which has helped drive player awards at our HS level to include All-Region/All-State/All-American, Regional Player of the Year,  as well as multiple top 10 Div I Ohio HS lacrosse rankings for Loveland High. Since 2014, Loveland HS has been recognized with more All-American awards than any other DI public high school in Southern Ohio.  In 2006, he founded the Cincinnati Outdoor Summer Box Lacrosse League, which now spans 20 teams, 175+ youth thru college/post-college players, and is the largest and oldest outdoor box lacrosse league in the Midwest.  In 2008, Coach Cotsonas launched the FastStart Lacrosse program designed specifically for never played before players.  In 2009, he founded the Southern Ohio Speaker Series, a program nationally recognized for bringing to Loveland high profile figures in the world of lacrosse to speak to players, parents and coaches, including Dom Starsia, John Danowski (Duke), Dave Pietramala (JHU), Joe Breschi (UNC), Lars Tiffany (Virginia), Brian Shanahan (NLL), and Chief Brad Powless (Onondaga Nation). He is an OHSAA-certified field lacrosse official and a USBOXLA Level 1 box lacrosse referee.  He is the founder/general manager of the Cincinnati Flying Pigs Men’s Sr. A/B Box Lacrosse team of the nationwide Interstate Box Lacrosse Association.  He has presented at Major League Lacrosse sponsored coaching events in the Midwest.  Coach Cotsonas played high school ball at national power Lafayette (NY) HS where he is founder/managing director for the non-profit LaFayette HS Lacrosse Alumni Association, and played collegiately at Division III Oswego State University NY. Post-college he has stayed active playing in various national/international box and field leagues and tournaments in LaFayette, Syracuse, Minnesota, Cincinnati, Louisville, Indy, and Columbus.