It was only a few years ago when Dean Carnival, Nick Ciampoli and Shane Baraldi picked up their lacrosse sticks for the first time as part of Voorhees Lacrosse.
Now, the trio is moving from the local level to the national stage.
Carnival, Ciampoli and Baraldi were all selected to play on the U-15 All-Star Team for the South Jersey Chapter of U.S. Lacrosse. The team will be traveling to Richmond, Va., to play in the U.S. Lacrosse Championship Tournament from July 23 through 26. At the tournament, the team will take on other U15 all-star teams from across the United States.
“I was very excited to hear I made the team,” Carnival said. “I was also a little bit nervous because I’ve never been on such a large team.”
Carnival said being selected for the team is the pinnacle of his lacrosse career so far. Carnival began playing the sport just a few years ago.
“I started playing in fourth grade. I played baseball and I didn’t really like it that much, so I transitioned to lacrosse,” he said.
Ciampoli picked up lacrosse for the first time in fifth grade.
“I played in Voorhees in since fifth grade and then with Tri-State Lacrosse in the summer,” he said.
All three of the players are 14 years old and will be attending Eastern Regional High School in the fall. They are also all products of the Voorhees Lacrosse program and play on other club teams. Trying out for this all-star team, however, was going to be a different experience.
Carnival said the tryout was like a normal practice, with warm-ups, drills and a full game at the end of the day. What made the tryouts different was the level of competition on the field.
“I knew it was going to be a South Jersey team, but I didn’t know how good the players were going to be,” Carnival said. “I didn’t really know anyone there.”
“We have good players on our spring team,” Ciampoli said. “There was just a lot more good players at this tryout.”
The all-star team was selected earlier in July and has been practicing the last few weeks in preparation. Ciampoli said practicing with the team has been a beneficial experience so far.
“It’s definitely exciting,” he said. “It is different playing with some kids who are a year older than us.”
Some of the members of the all-star team are players who just completed their first year of high school. Carnival, who plans to try out for Eastern’s lacrosse team next year, thinks the experience gained from practice and the tournament will help him when he gets to the high school level.
“It was a faster pace,” he said. “You definitely have a different mindset practicing with an all-star team rather than practicing with our spring team.”
Ciampoli and Carnival both said they haven’t visited Virginia in a long time and are looking forward to not only playing a lot of lacrosse, but also having a lot of fun during the visit.
For more information on the U.S. Lacrosse Championship Tournament and to follow the progress of the South Jersey team, visit www.uslacrosse.org/events/tournaments/u15-national-championships.aspx.
Shane Baraldi was away on vacation at the time of writing this article and could not be interviewed.
