Lax Dinner Harkens Back to Earlier Era
Last Friday night's Huntington boys' lacrosse team dinner at the Halesite Fire Department was a throwback to an earlier era. It harkened back memories of small town America when such get-togethers were the norm.
During the 1930s and 1940's such affairs were commonplace for Blue Devil teams, but as the district and town grew and people's lives became more complicated, the community's close knit fabric frayed a little bit. So it proved to be an enjoyable experience for Huntington players, their parents and their siblings to sit down for two hours and eat, laugh and socialize with one another.
The event came about when parents Pam Reilly, Karen Dwyer and Christina Plant approached Blue Devil head coach Paul McDermott and asked if he could use a few extra hands coordinating this year's dinner. "All he had to do was say 'sure' and we ran with it," Mrs. Plant said.
After a date was selected, the group enlisted the help of parent Cindy Saputo and got down to work. Longtime Huntington lacrosse parent Bob Kocis secured the Halesite Fire Department's second floor community room for the dinner and organizers pulled together a nice evening with just two weeks of planning.
The coordinating group put out a call to varsity and junior varsity team parents for donations of homemade pasta, pizza and desserts and assorted other items. "Within minutes, the e-mails started pouring in," Mrs. Plant said. "We had about 20 trays of hot food donated, as well as trays of garlic knots, 25 pizzas and tons of cookies, fruit platters and more."
Stacey Colwin and Joanne Whitcher worked hard to decorate the room at the fire department and many other parents stepped up to work as food servers. When all was said and done, a crowd of about 175 turned out and participated in what essentially was a "team-building" night and official kick-off for the season.
Parent Richard McGrath served as the evening's emcee and Coach McDermott addressed the crowd with a preview of the season and the policies he plans to employ to help guide the team. There were several raffles, all donated by team parents, and door prizes. 2011 lacrosse t-shirts were also on sale.
"The boys loved it," Mrs. Plant said. "It was casual and fun and truly had a 'community' feeling. Everyone says Huntington is 'lacrosse crazy,' but with this group of parents and kids, who wouldn't be?"