Over 120 teams and roughly 2,500 athletes arrive in Eagle County for 31st-annual Vail Lacrosse Tournament

Of course Erik Krum still remembers winning the eighth-grade title at the Vail Lacrosse Tournament back in 2003. But his favorite memories with Team Colorado that year came off the field.

“I mainly remember hanging out with my teammates,” he said. “Going down to the river to hang out and enjoying time with them.”

The former DIII player at Salisbury and current Silverbacks Lacrosse club coach is trying to provide similar opportunities for his 10-year-old son’s team this week.

“We’ve taken the gondola up, we’ve done some whitewater rafting and then we’ve hung out in some cabins,” he continued. “Our Southern California kids don’t get to hang out in a log cabin, so that’s cool.”

Established in 1995, the Vail Lacrosse Tournament annually draws some of the top youth teams from across the country — not just for the top-tier competition.

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“It’s interesting because it’s such an amazing destination, so a lot of amazing teams want to come here. It’s fun to be in places where there’s other things to do, too,” said Steve Sepata, president of Adrenaline Lacrosse — which took over tournament hosting duties from Mark and Kristen Foster a few years ago. “We’re really cognizant of how we schedule so people have time to go do other things. … For a lot of families, this becomes a family vacation.”

Sepata said there are over 120 boys and girls teams and roughly 2,500 players from more than 20 states in town for the three-day tournament.

“That’s about a 40-50% growth from four years ago,” he stated.

Divisions for both boys and girls grades four to eight — plus varsity and junior varsity for boys only — have been taking place at Ford Field, the Vail Athletic Field, Eagle County Fairgrounds, Homestake Peak School, Freedom Park and Battle Mountain High School in the morning and early afternoons. Each team received two set games on each of the first two days of the tournament with semifinals and finals slated for Thursday.

Locally, the 10th Mountain varsity boys outscored opponents 32-7 en route to a 4-0 standing while the club’s junior varsity went 2-2. Meanwhile, Vail Lax went 1-3 in the girls 2034 bracket, taking down South Coast, a Houston-based program, 12-4 on Tuesday. The 10th Mountain squad lost all four matchups in the 2030 bracket, but showed noticeable improvement in its final game on Wednesday afternoon.

“It was our best game thus far and definitely they built some chemistry,” said coach Jenna Randall after a 10-9 loss to South Coast — which may have in fact been a 10-9 win due to an alleged scoring error in the middle of the game.

“Not much we can do now,” said Randall, who was a good sport through it all. “Happy to see them improve.”

Randall’s squad brings in a mix of mostly rising seventh and eighth graders from Eagle and Summit County, Grand Junction, Durango and Telluride. The Eagle Valley varsity coach said tournaments like this provide players — who don’t always get to practice together — opportunities for growth, cohesion and “exposure to different styles.”

“It’s awesome,” Randall continued. “It’s a good opportunity for them to see different levels of play in their backyard and they don’t have to fly or drive or book any hotels.”

That’s not the case for Krum’s crew. The Silverbacks are based out of Southern California but pull talent from Washington, Colorado and Florida as well.

“A lot of our group are some of the top players from their local clubs,” Krum said. “What brings us to Vail is the beautiful weather. You can’t beat Ford Field.”

On Wednesday afternoon, the Silverbacks put their 3-0 record up to the test against fellow undefeated squad TXN, ultimately coming away with a 6-5 win over the Texas national team. In the increasingly hyper-intense and competitive world of youth sports, Krum said his goals are to foster camaraderie and focus on work ethic in his players.

“Working with the parents, we have to work together and have the understanding that this is a national team and if you’re not going to work your hardest, your playing time is going to diminish,” he said before elaborating on what he hopes the boys get out of athletics in general. “Learning life skills and life lessons through sports: being a good teammate, showing up on time and having each other’s backs. Just the brotherhood of it all.”

While not all of the 10th Mountain players will end up in her prep program, Randall is optimistic about the Devils’ future.

“We have a really good goalie coming into Eagle Valley and a good amount of eighth grade interest from last fall going back to some showcases we did,” she said. “We had the best season last year we’ve had in a few years. So I think we’re definitely growing.”

Like Krum, Randall remembers playing at the Vail Lacrosse Tournament with a Front Range youth club. In fact, she still shows up on the pitch at the Vail Lacrosse Shootout, which begins at the end of the month.

“This has kind of been my Fourth of July plans for many, many years,” she said.

Sepata has been coming to Vail for the tournament as a player, coach and now organizer. He first arrived with Team Under Armour in the summer of 1999, right after his playing days at Notre Dame came to an end.

“It was a lot of fun,” he recalled. “Vail is a unique and special place.”