Above – Team New Zealand and Iroquois Nat’ls spent time together in a very special day for both teams 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

Tuesday July 8^th – Woke up feeling refreshed from the great welcoming reception we had on Monday from the local community, it really showed the team how much support we have here in Denver for our team.  This morning we had to travel to a remote high school to scrimmage against Israel.  The Israelis have had a lot of protesters following them around Denver throughout training so we made a change of venue to facilitate the men from Israel.  I really like playing the Israeli squad, they are solid all over the field and have talent combined with good coaching…It’s always nice catching up with my buddy Jeff Goldberg a Florida Lacrosse legend.  I think that Israel will win their division.  The scrimmage got off to a slow start due to some players and coaches getting lost on the way to the stadium…but we made it work and had solid scrimmage and practice session.  The rest of the day was a full rest day so that the men could get off of their feet for a bit before dinner with the New Zealand national squad.

The New Zealand national team has been one of our biggest supporters and friends at the World games thus far…they have shown great respect to us as the creators of the game and they feel a connection with their native community and ours.  We had a great team dinner at the hotel where reps from New Zealand and the Iroquois spoke of how the game was created in each country…I was able to catch up with my old strength coach from Limestone and athletic trainer as well at dinner, Coach Curt Lamb and Adam Ranns along with fellow alumni Gavin Higgins who is an assistant coach for New Zealand.  This is a part of the world games that people need to understand, it is about cultures coming together along with reconnecting with old friends, teammates, and coaches. Tomorrow we are all anticipating the special Haka that the New Zealand team will present to us…very fired up for this.

HAKA Day with New Zealand , Wednesday July 9^th –  Began the day with a great 15 minute conversation with Chief Oren Lyons, he is such a wise person with deep thought into all of his actions…there are film crews following the team around to every session and basically everything we do…Chief Lyons explained to me why they were with us and that the film would be worth the wait.  We assembled down stairs after breakfast for our walk out to meet with team New Zealand for their Haka dance they will showcase for us…this was a very cool experience walking into a field and meeting with the team…as they lined up and we lined up we stood 15 yds a part, it was kind of like a scene out of the movie Braveheart at the beginning…their captain then spoke in their native language and explained the Haka to us…they greeted us with a  gift and we gave them a wooden Defense stick hand made from our territory.  The Haka they performed was very moving and gave goose bumps to our entire squad, it was powerful.  The passion the New Zealand team showed made us all remember how much this game means to the world and that it is our gift to many people, it was nice to see the respect they showed us by the Haka they performed. Nyawenha New Zealand (thank you) Later in the afternoon we played Ireland in a friendly game.  I always like to play vs. the Irish and it was a good run for us before the tourney begins…the score was not important but us getting reps as a unit definitely helped us in getting ready for the championships.  We ran controlled 6v6 and man up man down, along with a 25 minute full field scrim.  After the game we shook hands and had a team picture taken with Ireland.  A little off the beaten path but The Thompson brothers Miles and Lyle on our team are rock stars out here…I have never seen kids flock to any lacrosse players like this in a very, very long time, if ever…they are true sportsman and great ambassadors of the game for all youth native and not native.  The day wrapped up well and we are all excited for the opening ceremonies tomorrow so I will check back in later!