(March 8, 2017)… The Rochester Knighthawks are proud to announce their partnership with the US Box Lacrosse Association (USBOXLA), whose mission is to develop and promote youth box lacrosse in the United States.

“I am extremely excited for this partnership with USBOXLA,” said Knighthawks Academy Director and Knighthawks defenseman Brad Gillies. “I have been following what they have been doing for a while now and their passion to grow the box game is evident. We share the same passion to grow box lacrosse in Upstate New York and the partnership will only help make our future programming that much stronger.”

The Knighthawks are the third National Lacrosse League team to partner with USBOXLA, which currently boasts 12,000 members across the United States.

“With the great support of the Colorado Mammoth, the Vancouver Stealth and now the Rochester Knighthawks, we look forward to building future professional players with these highly-regarded NLL clubs,” said USBOXLA Co-Founder Shaydon Santos. “For youth players in Rochester looking to become better in box or even field, I strongly suggest joining the Jr. Knighthawks. They already have elite-level instructors teaching the indoor game properly, and I strongly believe this new partnership will allow them to grow the box game even more than they already have.”

The Knighthawks coaching staff includes current players Dan Lomas, Joel Matthews, Luke Laszkiewicz and Gillies. With strong support from the players and management, the Knighthawks will host their inaugural Upstate Box Lacrosse Invitational at Bill Gray’s Regional Iceplex from Saturday, August 12 to Sunday, August 13. The USBOXLA sanctioned event will serve as a primer for the Jr. NLL Tournament.

Kids in the Pee Wee (Grade 5/6), Bantam (7/8 Grade) and Midget (9/10 Grade) divisions will compete for the championship. Teams can register by clicking here.

For Santos, partnering with the Knighthawks has taken his lacrosse career full circle. Santos, who played for 12 NLL seasons, began his pro box career in Rochester.

“I played my first year in the NLL with the Rochester Knighthawks in 1997 and won a championship there with an amazing group of players,” he said. “I have nothing but fond memories of that world-class organization. I could not be more excited to have USBOXLA partner with the organization 20 years later to help develop a new generation of American box lacrosse player.”