Today we’d like to introduce you to Ned Kaish.
Ned, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
In 2012 after my freshman year of college, a buddy and myself started LaxRats as a 6 week summer camp as a summer job for ourselves. We ran LaxRats Camp for two summers. After the 2nd summer we both stayed at school for the summer and interned. After graduation I worked for LB3 Lacrosse, an Elite club with some of the best players in the state of Georgia.
After working with them for 2 years, I was hired as the Director of Lacrosse at Northview High School in Johns Creek. Part of my job as the Director of Lacrosse was to provide more lacrosse in the community. So in the fall of 2016 I started LaxRats back up. This time LaxRats included summer teams, camps and clinics, as well as fall training for High School and youth teams.
We just completed our first summer with a High School Summer team, a U13 Summer team who played in 3 tournaments throughout the Southeast. LaxRats also ran 4 camps over the summer as well as Fall and Winter Clinics. Currently we are running a Fall League and putting together teams for the 2018 summer.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Starting a business from the ground up certainly comes with bumps in the road, but I believe that we do a great job of teaching the game of lacrosse which will always lead to success for us.
The biggest challenge has been getting our name and message out to a bigger community. We have a handful of high school such as Northview and Chattahoochee who have a lot of players in our program. We hope to continue to grow and help as many lacrosse players as possible improve their game as well as enjoy what we believe to be the greatest sport in the world.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about LaxRats – what should we know?
LaxRats at its core is a lacrosse training business. But what we want most is for the boys who come play for us to love and enjoy lacrosse. On top of this we hope these kids WANT to come out to a practice or a camp because they have fun every single day they are playing and learning the sport.
We like to say we put the Fun in Fundamentals at LaxRats.
We offer camps, clinics, and summer teams which all apply to players of all skill levels.
Our camps are geared toward younger players as well as players who are looking to pick up the sport for the first time. Camps allow us 4 days in a week to work on all the skills we consider most important in lacrosse. Each day we build on the day before with an end goal of sending each player home with new skill and better understanding of the sport. Our clinics are more skilled based such as a shooting clinic or defensive clinic.
This allows more advanced players to get a bunch of repetition in while being coached closely. Our summer teams allow players to play during the offseason and play with some guys you might not always play with during the spring.
I believe what sets us apart is our coaching staff. We have a young group of coaches who not only know the sport at a high level but love the sport and bring plenty of energy to the field every day.
We consider ourselves “LaxRats” and want to pass our passion on to the next generation of players. This doesn’t always mean being the best player or team but means playing because you love the game of lacrosse.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
My coaching staff is a major key to LaxRats success. Stephen O’Hara as well as Connor and Alex Squires along with myself make up the core of the LaxRats staff. These are all guys who I played Division II lacrosse with at Lenoir-Rhyne University. What makes working with these guys easy is, one, they understand how I’m wired and like to operate, but more importantly I know that if I cannot be around there won’t be any drop off with these guys around.
Another key to helping get LaxRats going was my past experience working with many different coaches over the years. I have learned the game from many different voices throughout my playing career, working camps, and coaching different summer teams and high school teams. Playing for coach Greg Paradine at Lenoir-Rhyne and coaching alongside Scott Ratliff as an assistant were major learning tools for me. From the X and O’s of lacrosse to running practices to knowing how to motivate players, these are all skills that were enhanced working closely with these guys.
Pricing:
- Cost for Summer Camps $150-200
- Cost for Summer Teams $600-850
- Cost for Clinics $50-100
- Cost for Fall League/Winter Clinic (4-6 Weeks) $125-$200
Contact Info:
- Address: 265 Farm Trak Road
- Website: laxratsllc.com
- Phone: 4047180622
- Email: laxratsned@gmail.com
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/LaxRatsLLC
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