Youngsters attending Lambert’s lacrosse camp this week got more than instruction in the fundamentals of the sport.
They were also exposed to an All-Star cast of lacrosse legends.

The camp was led by Mike Pressler, who is coaching Team USA at the World Lacrosse Championships in Manchester, England, this summer and currently coaches at Division I Bryant University in Rhode Island.

The staff for the three-day camp also included Jack Emmer, the winningest coach in NCAA lacrosse history; Zack Greer, the NCAA’s all-time goal scoring leader; and Chris Schiller, a member of this year’s Team USA.

Pressler, the camp leader, spent 16 years as the men’s lacrosse coach at Duke before that program was engulfed in 2006 by a highly publicized rape accusation against three players.

Although the men were later cleared, the scandal ended Pressler’s career at Duke. He eventually reached unpublicized settlements with the university after claiming he had been wrongfully terminated and subsequently slandered. He also co-authored a book on the case, entitled “It’s Not About the Truth: The Untold Story of the Duke Lacrosse Case and the Lives It Shattered.”

During an interview at the Lambert camp Wednesday, Pressler made it clear that he considers the whole sordid Duke saga to be a thing of the past.

“I really don’t talk about it much. It’s four years behind us. We’ve moved on, moved forward. ... That situation is definitely in the rearview mirror,” Pressler said.

What’s in front of Pressler now is his first ever trip to Europe as head coach of Team USA. The Americans have won eight of the previous 10 tournaments, but Canada currently holds the gold medal after beating the USA in the 2006 final.

Joining Pressler in England will be Schiller, who played at Penn State and will try to help the American team reclaim the top spot.

“There’s one goal as there always is. It’s to take that gold medal away from the Canadians. Right now you’ve got to call them the best team in the world because they hold the title. ... We’re going to work hard for our country and hopefully bring home the gold,” Schiller said.

Greer, who played for Pressler at Duke and Bryant, will be lining up for the Canadian side this summer.

He said working with Pressler and Schiller, who will be competing against him in the world tournament, leads to its share of good natured trash talk.

“We’re giving each other a hard time for sure, but in the end we’re all friends here. That’s what’s nice about the game of lacrosse. It’s a small community. Everybody gets along and has a good time,” Greer said.

The lacrosse community might be small, but it’s grown immensely in recent years.

Emmer coached at Army for 22 years before retiring in 2005. He recruited Pressler to play at Washington and Lee University (Va.) in the 1970s, and has seen the sport take off from a distinctly regional game to something with a truly national flavor.

Emmer remembers when lacrosse was limited to hotbeds on Long Island and in Baltimore, with some traction in other Northeast enclaves. Now, he says, the game is everywhere, penetrating the American south and west in a way it never has before.

“The game, particularly on the youth level, has absolutely exploded and there are good players everywhere. Atlanta is certainly no exception. ... It’s a great game to begin with, and I think once it gets exposed, kids really enjoy playing it,” said Emmer, who helps that exposure as a lacrosse analyst for ESPN.

Lambert’s camp attracted about 110 boys between ages 8-18, but Pressler said he hopes to make it a regular occurrence and continue to improve and grow it. He said his personal relationships with the Lambert lacrosse staff were the key in making the camp happen this year.

“[Lambert coach] Rich Wehman and I go back to high school and we kind of reconnected through lacrosse,” said Pressler, a Connecticut native.

“I’m very impressed by the talent level here, especially in the older guys. They’ve got some quality players that can play in college. ... From our point of view, just looking at Atlanta, this sport is exploding here because of guys like Rich Wehman and [Lambert assistant] Bruce Wharton ... Lacrosse is alive and well in the Peach State.”
Schiller echoed those comments.

“We’re really impressed with the talent down here. ... A lot of camps we go to, the kids aren’t interested [in working on fundamentals]. They just want to play scrimmage. These kids are eager to learn. They want to play at the next level. They want to play in college,” Schiller said.