Beach Lax Fest Descends on Resort

OCEAN CITY- Nearly 200 youth lacrosse teams from all over the country have descended on Ocean City this weekend for the 2008 Beach Lax Festival, which got underway this morning with first round games in the resort and at venues in Berlin.

Hosted by the Ocean City Recreation and Parks Department in conjunction with the local Beach Lacrosse program, the annual festival has grown by leaps and bounds over the years and will this year welcome as many as 114 of the top girls' youth lacrosse programs from all over the east coast and beyond. Most of the girls' tournament action will be held at Northside Park over the weekend with championship games in several divisions set for Sunday. Some early round action in the girls' tournament will take place at make-shift fields on 4^th Street.

About three years ago, a boys' tournament was added to the annual event and as many as 85 of the top boys' youth lacrosse program from all over the region and beyond will also compete in this weekend's tournament. Most of the boys' tournament action will be held at the Northern Worcester Athletic Complex in Berlin and Berlin Intermediate School.

Because of its size and the number of teams, the tournament will be played practically around the clock all weekend with games beginning this evening at 5:30 and going on until about 10 p.m. On Saturday, the games will resume at 7 a.m. and go on until about 10:30 p.m., and on Sunday, the action gets started at 7 a.m. and will culminate in division title games ending around 4 p.m.