AUBURN - The fields behind Auburn High School are a place that Greg Downing certainly feels right at home on.
Downing, an Auburn alumnus who graduated in 2003, spent many years of his life on those fields playing lacrosse.
“I played all the way through,” Downing said. “I played box lacrosse when I was in seventh grade and then I started playing more in eighth grade. It was really great playing here.”
After graduating from Auburn, Downing went on to play four season for Fairfield University, where he distinguished himself with multiple All-American honors. But even while he was there Downing never forgot his roots in Auburn lacrosse.
“I definitely learned a lot here,” Downing said. “We're lucky there is so much knowledge about the game here and we have great coaches that know so much about the game. It really helped me, if I didn't play here I probably wouldn't have been able to go to college and do everything I have.”
Every summer he would make his way back to Auburn to be an assistant coach for the Auburn lacrosse summer camps.
“It is a lot of fun,” Downing said. “I was at the camps since I was getting started and all through high school. So I liked to come back and help coach anytime you can give back to the school and the program that helped you get started.”
In May, Downing added another accomplishment to his lacrosse career - he was drafted to play for the Los Angeles Riptide of Major League Lacrosse.
“That has been great,” Downing said. “We are 7-2 right now. We just need to win one more game to get to the playoffs which will be in Rochester. There is a lot of traveling, but this is an off week so I decided to come home.”
And while he was home he decided to stop in at the lacrosse camp for an afternoon of working with all the young players that came out.
“This is great to be back,” Downing said. “There are some guys that were little when I was first coaching here and now they've grown up. It is cool to see the way everyone has developed and to be able to help out.”
The opportunity for the younger players to see someone that came from the same background as they have and to have the kind of success Downing has is one that Mike Losani, one of Auburn's varsity coaches and a 13-year camp instructor, said was incredibly valuable.
“He is a really great example,” Losani said. “He is a great kid and I think it is great for these kids to be able to see that he came from our program and that he has been able to go on and do the things he has. I think that what he has done is a great motivation for a lot of these kids.”
Downing joined Losani and other alumni coaches working on much of what the camp stresses above all else, the fundamentals.
“We always try to keep it fun,” Losani said. “But we always try to keep a balance. We try to balance between the fundamentals, offense, defense, stick-handling with the more technical side of the game.”
This has proven to be a successful formula as more than 150 players from all age groups joined the camp this summer.
Some like Matt Tehan, 13, have been at the camp for many years.
“I've been coming here for six years,” Tehan said. “My brother played lacrosse and I wanted to learn how to play and you really learn a lot here.”
Year after year players feel that they do pick up more and more valuable experience from the camp.
“It is really good practice,” Brendan King, 13, said. “This is my fourth year and you just keep learning more and more and it is a lot of fun.”
During his session Downing said that he tried to pass some helpful tips that he has picked up along the way.
“I just tried to show them some little things,” Downing said. “Things I've learned and I think are good to know. Things how to shoot on the run and stick handle, things like that that will help them take their playing to the next level.”
After talking to Downing, asking him all kinds of questions about his playing for Auburn as well as his college and now pro career, the kids hit the field and got to work right along side him, an experience they won't soon forget.
“It was pretty cool,” T.J. Baranick, 9, said. “It was a good opportunity to meet him and to learn from him, too.”
“I played all the way through,” Downing said. “I played box lacrosse when I was in seventh grade and then I started playing more in eighth grade. It was really great playing here.”
After graduating from Auburn, Downing went on to play four season for Fairfield University, where he distinguished himself with multiple All-American honors. But even while he was there Downing never forgot his roots in Auburn lacrosse.
“I definitely learned a lot here,” Downing said. “We're lucky there is so much knowledge about the game here and we have great coaches that know so much about the game. It really helped me, if I didn't play here I probably wouldn't have been able to go to college and do everything I have.”
Every summer he would make his way back to Auburn to be an assistant coach for the Auburn lacrosse summer camps.
“It is a lot of fun,” Downing said. “I was at the camps since I was getting started and all through high school. So I liked to come back and help coach anytime you can give back to the school and the program that helped you get started.”
In May, Downing added another accomplishment to his lacrosse career - he was drafted to play for the Los Angeles Riptide of Major League Lacrosse.
“That has been great,” Downing said. “We are 7-2 right now. We just need to win one more game to get to the playoffs which will be in Rochester. There is a lot of traveling, but this is an off week so I decided to come home.”
And while he was home he decided to stop in at the lacrosse camp for an afternoon of working with all the young players that came out.
“This is great to be back,” Downing said. “There are some guys that were little when I was first coaching here and now they've grown up. It is cool to see the way everyone has developed and to be able to help out.”
The opportunity for the younger players to see someone that came from the same background as they have and to have the kind of success Downing has is one that Mike Losani, one of Auburn's varsity coaches and a 13-year camp instructor, said was incredibly valuable.
“He is a really great example,” Losani said. “He is a great kid and I think it is great for these kids to be able to see that he came from our program and that he has been able to go on and do the things he has. I think that what he has done is a great motivation for a lot of these kids.”
Downing joined Losani and other alumni coaches working on much of what the camp stresses above all else, the fundamentals.
“We always try to keep it fun,” Losani said. “But we always try to keep a balance. We try to balance between the fundamentals, offense, defense, stick-handling with the more technical side of the game.”
This has proven to be a successful formula as more than 150 players from all age groups joined the camp this summer.
Some like Matt Tehan, 13, have been at the camp for many years.
“I've been coming here for six years,” Tehan said. “My brother played lacrosse and I wanted to learn how to play and you really learn a lot here.”
Year after year players feel that they do pick up more and more valuable experience from the camp.
“It is really good practice,” Brendan King, 13, said. “This is my fourth year and you just keep learning more and more and it is a lot of fun.”
During his session Downing said that he tried to pass some helpful tips that he has picked up along the way.
“I just tried to show them some little things,” Downing said. “Things I've learned and I think are good to know. Things how to shoot on the run and stick handle, things like that that will help them take their playing to the next level.”
After talking to Downing, asking him all kinds of questions about his playing for Auburn as well as his college and now pro career, the kids hit the field and got to work right along side him, an experience they won't soon forget.
“It was pretty cool,” T.J. Baranick, 9, said. “It was a good opportunity to meet him and to learn from him, too.”
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