Ok, I've read through the press, and there is A LOT out there. In the mid-2000s (2005-07?) there are dozens of articles about the Checkmate Sharks, and they were a dominant club team. The Waldorf School and Checkmate are mentioned all the time. It was apparently all Garden City kids, and the coaches names and players' names are mentioned over and over. Nothing wrong with self-promotion, but this is a study in PR. There's even an article written as a poem (?), and it is loooooong. Somebody was investing a lot of time and energy in developing the Checkmate and Sharks names, and promoting themselves. Nothing at all wrong with that!
The Sharks kids were not allowed to play for the Garden City middle school. Wow. How does that happen, and the group still goes on to greatness at Garden City High School? Wouldn't the school coaches look down upon that? Well, at some point in the articles (2007?) the head coach of GCHS makes an appearance as the head coach of the Sharks. Interesting. And all those players are the premier guys at GCHS and go on to great programs afterward. Interesting.
But what is even more interesting is that considering all effort, the PR, the good will, the great success of the team, and the brand name being built ... and the backing of a school (both Waldorf and apparently Garden City HS!), plus the availability of the Waldorf School and Garden City facilities, and the name of a legendary lacrosse director (Gordon Purdie has been at Waldorf for almost 20 years, well before the Sharks were formed, and was there when all this happened) ... considering all of that substantial effort, that people let the program collapse (or at least disappear for a few years). Why?
Why would someone put that kind of time in to promoting themselves and their team just "for the love of the game" and then walk? The Checkmate-fl$ connections, the GCHS connections ... there's a much more interesting back story here, one we'll probably never know!
