FIL ALL-WORLD TEAM Attack
Curtis Dickson, Canada Rob Pannell, United States
Lyle Thompson, Iroquois Nationals Midfield
David Lawson, United States Paul Rabil, United States
Jeremy Thompson, Iroquois Nationals Defense
Tucker Durkin, United States Brodie Merrill, Canada Kyle Rubisch, Canada
Goalie Dillon Ward, Canada
Outstanding Attackman: Rob Pannell, United States Outstanding Midfielder: Paul Rabil, United States Outstanding Defenseman: Tucker Durkin, United States Outstanding Goalie: Dillon Ward, Canada
Most Valuable Player: Dillon Ward, Canada
discovered by LRA soldiers and scattered in the jungle to hide. Only in recent years did he reunite with his mother.
Before the team boards a 32
POINTS SCORED BY FIRST-TIME TEAM USA MEMBER ROB PANNELL, TIED WITH MIKEY POWELL (2006) FOR SECOND ALL-TIME FOR A U.S. TEAM MEMBER IN A TOURNAMENT, NINE BEHIND MARK MILLON’S RECORD OF 41 SET IN 1994.
chartered bus for its first game, Lubes, the dreadlocked DJ with an infectious smile, turns to Onen with a bold prediction. “You are going to be the first to score the goal,” Lubes says, “because I trust you.”
*** The 16-mile bus ride to Dick’s
Sporting Goods Park feels longer with traffic. The players marvel at the infrastructure, compared to the dusty, pot-holed roads neglected for decades in Uganda. Dixon talks about new
experiences for the players, like boarding a plane for the first time, drinking from a fountain (typhoid is prevalent in Uganda) and shopping at Old Navy to buy khakis for opening ceremonies.
The bus driver plays country music on the speakers overhead.
36 LACROSSE MAGAZINE September 2014>>
It’s “Free,” by Zac Brown Band. Just as free
Free as we’ll ever be... No we don’t have a lot of money All we need is love
The lyrics are lost on the guys. They’re on sensory overload.
***
Each player is outfitted completely with equipment and apparel by Warrior Sports. They’re in awe. Just three years ago, when the first shipment of lacrosse equipment arrived in Kampala at the Fields of Growth compound, some players did not know what went where. They grabbed girls’ sticks and put elbow pads on their knees. Dixon says Team Uganda has enjoyed “a different cultural experience of humanity” in the U.S. “These guys don’t have national pride. They have village and tribal
pride. For the first time, they’re proud to be Ugandan. They are the ambassadors,” she says. The players stir as the stadium comes within sight. “Wakey wakey!” one shouts. For the next nine days, what
started as a simple wakeup call for the Cranes (a nickname adopted from Uganda’s soccer team) during training camp becomes a universally beloved phrase. Other countries repeat it when they walk by Uganda. Stephanie Weber, the woman who never saw lacrosse before, puts it on a poster and uses it to cheer on the team with her son, Bryton. Uganda suits up in a makeshift locker room under a tent. Gravel crunches beneath their feet. Faisal Nsubuga loses a ball trying to cradle it across his body. An announcement breaks his concentration. “Short call!”
Boston calls it “Ugandlish,”
Lubes, the dreadlocked DJ with an infectious smile, turns to Onen with a bold prediction “You are going to be the first to score the goal,” Lubes says, “because I trust you.”
A Publication of US Lacrosse
©TREVOR BROWN (KL, DO)
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