Trojan Youth Lacrosse

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USA Today, April 26, 2008: NEW YORK —  John Fernandez should not have been playing lacrosse in the Army-Navy alumni game at Madison Square Garden.

By all rights, the former U.S. Army first lieutenant should be dead. But luck intervened.

"It was just a matter of chance — pure luck," said Fernandez of Shoreham, Long Island, who was severely wounded in Iraq after a U.S. plane dropped a 500-pound bomb on his Humvee in a case of friendly fire on April 3, 2003. Shrapnel from the explosion shredded his legs.

"I crawled," Fernandez recalled. "I couldn't walk."

More than five years later, the soldier can do more than just walk. He can play lacrosse thanks to prosthetic limbs as he demonstrated during the Heroes Cup, which preceded the New York Titans professional game Saturday night.

"Change of direction is a little bit more difficult just because I don't have ankles," Fernandez said. "I get around. I'm not necessarily the guy who's going to be taking the ball and driving from behind the cage. I'm out there and playing. Running around, setting picks and scoring goals."

The first few years were a learning process, but over time he adapted to his new legs. His latest set are made mostly of carbon fiber. He's been able to play sports for about four years.

"I put on my legs in the morning like you put on your shoes," said Fernandez, now alumni director of the Wounded Warrior Project in New York dedicated to veterans injured in Iraq andAfghanistan.

And he never limited himself.

"I wanted to be able to do everything I could do prior to the injury," said Fernandez, who has two children and a third on the way.

One of those things was lacrosse. Fernandez played at Rocky Point High School on Long Island. He was also captain of his team at West Point.

Fernandez wasn't quickest player. He wasn't a star. But he had other skills.

"My saving grace was that I hard shot," he said.

When he takes the field with his prosthetic limbs, changing direction can be difficult though he was able to bound up and down the artificial turf at the Garden with little problem. His wife says he gets better each time he plays, and he scored in a previous alumni game.  "I try my hardest," he said. "I try to put the ball in the back of the net."

BALTIMORE – Lacrosse participation increased 12.8 percent in 2007, up from 11.7 percent in 2006, according to research by US Lacrosse for its annual participation report. There were 480,627 lacrosse players that were members of organized teams across the country in 2007, from the youth level all the way through the professional ranks.

High school participation saw the largest percentage of increase in participation over the past year, at 18.6 percent, with 201,250 total players in 2007. The youth participation, however, continues to make up the largest part of the lacrosse community with 241,581 players in 2007.

"It’s obviously very important to understand how and where the sport is growing so we can evaluate the success of our development initiatives and more effectively market the sport," said Steve Stenersen, President and CEO of US Lacrosse. "Over the past decade, US Lacrosse has invested millions of dollars in human and programmatic resources to support the sport’s continued national expansion, and we’re pleased to see these positive results."

Trojan Youth Lacrosse, Vice President and JTL Head Coach Mark Rowley was named 2006 Youth Coach of The Year by the Georgia Youth Lacrosse Association.  Congratulations Mark!