The GCLA Way

When we first started out in forming the GCLA in the summer
of 1995, our opponents in our former league would literally
say anything to discredit us. This is of particular importance,
since by 2001 things would go full-circle. Read through as I
explain.

Initially, the GCLA was to be formed around the Houston-Metro LC
and the New Orleans LC. Metro would focus on building new teams
and resurrecting others around Houston and South Texas, while
New Orleans would do likewise out east.

At first, we got a number of responses from teams ranging from
Pensacola, Memphis, Jackson, Little Rock, and places in 
between. Obviously, formal structured competition between 
teams so far away from each other would have been difficult 
at best, so in 1996 the GCLA teams were all basically 
At-Large teams, as we know them today. It wasn't until 1997 
that formal conferences were featured- only after we rallied 
enough teams in the Houston and New Orleans areas to make 
such formal schedules feasible from a geographical standpoint.

What did our critics from our former league do when they saw
the GCLA lineup in 1996? They sought to confuse the ignorant
with a soon-to-be worn-out mantra "don't play in the GCLA....
you'll have to travel to Florida!" That bull actually sold with
a lot of poeple, and really stuck with some. In no way were
any of our teams required to schedule any other particular team.
Our teams simply got credit for wins over other GCLA teams they
DID schedule. Period. This, we felt, would help grow the league
and make it easy for new teams to form, join, and belong.

Our league has sponsored at least one formal conference each
season since 1997. We have impressed upon our teams that their
schedules are not limited to their conference brethren, but
that they should schedule as many non-conference GCLA games
as possible. They would get playoff credit for their wins
and would not be penalized for their losses. They would have
nothing to lose, and it would encourage the scheduling of more
games!

Some of our teams would schedule such games, as well as some from
other leagues altogether. Metro takes a great deal of pride
in the variety of its schedules, and has traveled virtually every
year of its GCLA existence to places like New Orleans, Lafayette,
Shreveport, and San Antonio. Metro, like a few others, is a 
true travel team.

Now our critics from the former league are trying to sell to
others that the GCLA should be a local league and that our
teams shouldn't travel. Travel should be reserved for only
their teams, the "elite" teams.

First, who are they to try to tell us what to do?

Second, why can't they make up their minds? Either we travel
too much or travel too little. Hey critics- What's your story?
Why can't you keep it straight?

Unlike many in the lacrosse business today, we at the GCLA
actually trust our teams to make decisions for themselves as
to what is best for their teams, and we support them.