Fort Mill youth lacrosse team qualifies for national tournament

After making it to the finals in the recent Virginia Beach Shore Wars tournament, the Fort Mill Fury U13 lacrosse team qualified to compete in the IMG National Lacrosse Tournament in Bradenton, Fla., Nov. 21-24.

“You have to play in certain tournaments to qualify and then you’ve got to make the finals to qualify,” coach Cory Turner said. “There are a lot of teams that don’t get this opportunity, so we’re very lucky that somehow we did it.”

Turner started the Fury three years ago with kids from the Fort Mill area playing in the recreation league. His goal was to provide young athletes with an opportunity to play at the select level without having to travel to Charlotte.

“We’re not drawing kids from this huge area in Charlotte,” Turner said. “Some of these (Charlotte) teams have kids drive two hours to play for them. We’re local yokels.”

Although the team got off to a rough start, Turner said he has seen the boys on the Fury make “tremendous strides.”

They went from losing their first few games when they started in the B Division to winning tournament championships and qualifying for a national tournament in the A Division.

“Bottom line is, the Fury is a bunch of kids that are raw with tons of potential,” Turner said.

To harness the potential of the team, Turner said he holds more practices than most teams. This summer, the team began with two weeks of preseason practices five times a week, then moved to two weeks of preseason practicing four times a week and then to three practices a week throughout the season.

Turner describes his coaching methods as “old school.” He awards the players who show their talent during practices with game play. He said this strategy makes kids work harder to try to earn a spot on the field.

“You don’t automatically get put in the game,” Turner said. “You have to earn your right to play. We play the strongest kids.”

Aside from building the kids’ lacrosse skills, Turner’s goal is to make the kids who play for the Fury better people as they grow up. While Turner’s coaching strategies can be tough, he said, he does whatever he can to offer support and be there for any kid that plays on his team.

The Fury often hosts fundraisers for those in need. Last year, the team’s fundraising project included raising money to help pay medical bills for two sick children in Fort Mill. To Turner, the extra initiative to help others is fundamental in helping his players grow as athletes and as people.

In the future, Turner hopes to further build the skills of the boys on the team by taking them to larger tournaments up North. Not only will this make them better players, but it will also get them seen by college coaches, he said.

“I could definitely see a lot of those kids one day playing college lacrosse,” Turner said. “As a matter of fact, I expect them to.”

More than anything, Turner believes having the Fury play in the IMG National Tournament will open doors for the players and for lacrosse in Fort Mill and all over South Carolina.

“When the Fury goes down to Bradenton at the end of November, we will compete with teams all across the United States,” Turner said.

“There will be college coaches there. Win or lose, it doesn’t really matter. The experience is what I want to show the kids. Their names are going to be put in databases and that is step one in opening up doors for South Carolina lacrosse.”