Above photo courtesy of LaxMagazine.com – Check out their great gallery featuring photos from Orlando, Florida’s own Scott McCall About the author – Marty Ward has been head coach at Florida Southern College for four seasons.  A graduate of Corcoran High School in Syracuse, N.Y., Ward was a two-time team captain for Limestone and a three-time all-conference selection.  He was the starting goalie for the Iroquois Nationals program that finished fourth at the 2006 World Lacrosse Championship and he was rated second in the nation in saves.  World Lacrosse Championships-Denver, Colorado July 10-19 2014 Thursday July 9th – Opening Ceremony Day The day is here, it is the beginning of the world championships, everything we do from here on out will resonate for four years until the next World Championships. We began the day with a light practice to go over some things before the ceremonies…this was our last practice as a squad before we face off against England. After practice we had some down time before the opening ceremonies began…we had to meet downstairs to get ribbon shirts for the ceremony, which are very nice but just a bit heavy for the 90 degree Denver sun. The gathering of 38 countries was a sight to see and of course we had many countries wander over get pictures with our squad…the team has been great sports about this throughout the week and we appreciate the respect shown. The team of the ceremonies was Uganda, the first African nation with a presence at the World Championships; these guys received a standing ovation from all of the countries at the ceremony…Go get em boys! After the ceremony we watched the USA vs. Canada play in world competition…the pace was great and we got to see what we were up against in this tournament…it was also great to see Cam Holding a former Florida Southern Moccasin suiting up for Team Canada. We left at halftime to grab dinner and get ready for the first game vs. England. Friday July 10th – England vs. Iroquois Woke up excited and ready to go! We have a light throw around in the morning so we can connect the dots on a few things and get a sweat in before our 8pm game vs. England. It was a long wait throughout the day but the arrival of my wife and father in law made the day seem like it went by so much quicker…very happy to have my family here with me for these world championships. As we received our uniforms and black helmets for the game tonight a hail storm hit the park and delayed all events so our game was pushed back to 925pm…no rest for the wicked I guess. The mood in the locker room was loose and excited, when we took the field the squad was jacked up from the get go and the crowd was loud! From the first whistle to the last whistle our squad dominated the night defeating England 15-4, which certainly could have been a more lop-sided score if England’s goalie didn’t play outstanding in the first quarter. When the final whistle sounded the time was around 1130pm so we had to head back quickly to the hotel to eat and get ready to play vs. Japan at 2pm the next day. I have to head to bed so I will check back in after the Japan game! Iroquois 1-0