Morgan travels to Japan with USA Starz Lacrosse Club

Fallbrook High School boys lacrosse coach Paul Morgan spent two weeks in Japan with the USA Starz Lacrosse Club.

Morgan’s team spent a week in Fukuoka and a week in Tokyo to play college teams and the Japanese national team.

“The level of lacrosse that I saw, I’ll probably never play against players that good,” Morgan said. “It was just a great experience for me.”

Morgan, who graduated from Fallbrook High School in 2006 and spent two years as a player on the Warriors’ lacrosse team, applied to play for USA Starz through the club’s Website. He was selected based on his skill level.

USA Starz played a college team June 18 in Fukuoka and won 11-7. The two Tokyo games saw USA Starz defeat a college team on June 25 while losing to the Japanese national team June 27. “The experience was way worth it, even though we lost,” Morgan said.

Morgan was impressed by the Japanese national team’s level of skill despite that nation’s relatively late start taking up the sport. “It was definitely an eye-opener for a lot of the players,” he said.

Organized lacrosse began in Japan about ten years ago. That progression is encouraging to Morgan as Fallbrook High School’s coach. “It kind of put everything in perspective,” he said.

Morgan, who also played football for four years at Fallbrook High School, spent the 2007 and 2008 high school lacrosse seasons as an assistant coach at Fallbrook. He was the junior varsity head coach in 2009 and took over as the varsity head coach in 2010. “We’re turning the corner at Fallbrook High,” he said. “I think the program’s going to make some huge leaps and bounds within the next couple of years.”

Fallbrook had a 6-8 record in 2010 despite only having two seniors on the team.

The 22-year-old Morgan currently attends Palomar College, and 2011 might be his last season coaching the Fallbrook team as he plans to play lacrosse at Cal State Fullerton when he transitions to a four-year college. “It’s just been an honor coaching them,” he said.

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