The Checkmate Sharks 2006 junior year officially began for the players March 25 against the elite North Shore Maverick, a select team of players combined from teams in Cold Spring Harbor and Manhasset. The teams had scrimmaged a week prior and the Maverick fans came out in droves expecting a big win for the Gold Coast.

They were disappointed. That was because the unofficial season began for Sharks' coaches Peter Coleman and Bob Jahelka shortly after they traded in their cleats for reef sandals and began checking the daily tide tables last June. In the off-season, they tweaked each of the systems and made adjustments in strategy to capitalize on strengths. They worked with the boys during the fall and winter to hone the revised game plans with fun "war ball" games and fast moving indoor league games.

As winter came to a close, all of the Sharks were encouraged to work on their conditioning. To help any players not engaged in wrestling or other conditioning sports, arrangements were made for a conditioning program with Adelphi Athletic Trainer John Weigand. He created a challenging, but fun, speed and conditioning program tailored for the individual needs of players. Weigand observed that "the boys are very competitive and really pushed themselves- I had fun working with them." One of the exercises was an elimination round of musical chairs. But instead of chairs, Weigand had them running for various cardio machines. "It's never too early to prepare for Doc Dougherty's fun run at the start of spring," Coach Coleman said, referring to the traditional Garden City High School cut for anyone who cannot make the timed mile run. Coleman added, "these boys are going to need every bit of speed and endurance to execute our game plans this spring."

On March 25 the stage was set for the execution of all of the off-season planning, training and conditioning. The players executed well in the season-opener against the NS Maverick, responding automatically to play calls. Although the first period was tight with the Sharks holding a 3-1 margin, the Sharks pulled away as the game ground on to win 9-5. Their conditioning was evident.

The next day, March 26, the Sharks faced off against a larger Bronxville team and bested them by a score of 16-9, demonstrating that speed, conditioning, good ball control and proper execution of the Coleman-Jahelka plan can win out over size.

After a week of intensive middle school lacrosse spring tryouts, the Sharks played their third game of the season April 1 at Waldorf School. The cold spring north wind was winning the battle against a warm southerly summer breeze in the skies above. But on the turf, the north-south battle was all one-sided, with the Sharks controlling the air and the ground in a 12-1 trouncing of the LI Express.

April 2 was the first day of the season on the field turf at the "Tomb"- Tomb Field at US Merchant Marine Academy. The league play was set up with the assistance of USMMA Coach Doug Dwyer.

The football and lacrosse game field is set inside the Academy's track and is named for the first superintendent of the US Merchant Marine Academy, Captain James Harvey Tomb, not for an unfortunate event or burial location. Tomb's experience as a marine educator and administrator made him the Academy's choice as the first superintendent in 1942.

In the summer of 2000, Tomb Field received a "face-lift" with the installation of FieldTurf's state-of-the-art synthetic system, similar to that recently installed at the high school. While most turf systems are simply a carpet with an under padding, FieldTurf is a synthetic turf designed to create an artificial surface that duplicates the conditions of real grass. This surface looks like grass, feels like grass and plays like grass. The turf is nonabrasive and allows athletes to slide, pivot and twist their cleats in the surface. Recently, more and more towns and schools have also installed FieldTurf.

On Tomb Field, the Sharks faced off against an all-star team from Ridgewood, NJ. Ridgewood drew first blood, but after a strong defensive effort, the Sharks bounced back and ground out a 3-1 lead after the first period. The Sharks held on and widened the lead with a 6-3 win.

In the first four games of the season, played over the course of nine days, the Sharks have outscored their opponents by 43-18. Only six of those Sharks' goals were unassisted. "I like that stat... the key is that we're executing as a team... we have no ball hogs on this team...our boys are seeing the field and finding each other," Coach Coleman said, adding, "We face a rigorous schedule this season with challenging lacrosse ahead of us-we're facing some teams that have bigger players and we are not going to beat these teams unless we beat them to the ground balls and move the ball as a team."

Coach Jahelka added, "I also like the fact that our new team members, middie John Tarzian and attackmen Liam Kennedy and Rob Savage, have worked into the lineup as well as they have. The veteran middies and attackmen are finding and feeding the rookie attackmen, who have been a factor, chalking up 10 goals in the first four games."

Returning players for the 2006 Sharks are attackmen Kyle Johnson, Devin Dwyer and Brian Coleman; midfielders Tom Gordon, Sean Mahon, Matt Clarkson, Shane Thornton, Matt Confort, Brian Porter, Charlie Garcia and Michael LoFrese; defensemen Steven Jahelka, Austin Kufs, Tom Adams and J.P Burnside. Each player has and can play any position on the field as needed. In the cage for the Sharks: John Bock and Alex Castronova.

For more information, details, field locations and great lacrosse photos visit www.GCSharks.com.