Austin Speni

Title: Owner/Director of Operations

Phone: (985) 801-9987

Email: Click Here

Austin Speni starting playing organized lacrosse in his hometown of Summit, New Jersey at the age of 10. First introduced to the sport by some neighborhood kids when he was in kindergarten, he quickly fell in love with the sport. After playing two years at Summit High School he left to attend The Lawrenceville School near Princeton, New Jersey.

At Lawrenceville, Austin was a starter for the lacrosse team as a sophomore and captain elect of the ice hockey team. Getting First Team All State honors his sophomore and junior year in ice hockey he said good bye to The Lawrenceville School. He traveled to play ice hockey for the high school power house Northwood Prep in Lake Placid, New York. Even though he missed his senior year of lacrosse he still earned a starting position his freshman year at St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York. Austin then went overseas to London and played a season with a The Haringay Racers in the English Premier Ice Hockey League.

In 2006 Austin moved to Lafayette, Louisiana for a career in commercial real estate.  He began coaching the Junior Catahoulas “Midget A” ice hockey team and brought them to the Texas regional finals. In January of 2009, Austin relocated to Covington, LA. Upon opening a local magazine Austin found out that lacrosse had migrated to the New Orleans area. He picked up the phone and began volunteering with the St. Paul’s School program late in their inaugural 2008/2009 season. In 2009/2010 Austin took a formal role as head coach for the varsity squad. St. Paul’s went from the bottom of the division in their first year to making the playoffs in their second season under the instruction of their first year head coach. In 2010 the St. Paul's lacrosse program became the second largest participated in sport at the school. A home playoff was clinched and played at Hunter Stadium in April of 2011 and in 2012 they reached the state finals.    

Austin is also the founder and owner of the Quick Stick Lacrosse shop, Team Quick Stick Elite, Team Louisiana Lacrosse, and the Quick Stick Showcase Invitational. "I believe in the fundamentals of the game. I teach players to understand the basics of the game in very simple systems. This game is fast, too fast to not have a solid understanding of scooping, passing, catching, shooting, and foot work."

In the summer of 2010, Team Quick Stick became the first Elite team to pull lacrosse players from all over the state and compete at the national level. The teams are chosen through a one day tryout. The purpose is to travel throughout the southeast to play club teams from all over the country.  These teams also put players in front of college coaches from all over the country.  

Team Quick Stick won two tournaments in the 2012 summer season, the Texas Draw in Dallas and the Chattanooga Challenge in Chattanooga, TN. 

John Meibaum

Title: Defensive Coach & Head Coach U13

Email: Click Here

John Meibaum is the defensive coach for the Team Quick Stick and Team Louisiana Program.  He is also the defensive coach at St. Paul's in Covington, La.  John played his lacrosse at LSU where he was the goaltender for four years.  Meibaum has been coaching at St. Paul's, Team Quick Stick, and Team Louisiana Elite for five years now.  

Tyler Gray

Title: Head Coach - Team Louisiana

Email: Click Here

Tyler moved to New Orleans, Louisiana in 2007 from the Washington, DC area to attend law school at Loyola-New Orleans. During his time in law school, Tyler volunteered many hours playing, developing and coaching lacrosse in Louisiana. He began coaching at KIPP:Believe in 2007 and 2008.

In 2009, Tyler served as the Offensive Coordinator for the Jesuit High School Blue Jays leading them to the state championship game, which they lost to eventual State Champion Loyola Prep of Shreveport.

In 2010, Tyler took a break from coaching to focus on the development of a college game during the Allstate Sugar Bowl Lacrosse Classic. The inaugural game was held at Pan American Stadium in New Orleans, LA between University of Texas and Florida State University. In 2011, Tyler returned to the sideline as an Assistant Coach for Team Quick Stick.

In 2012, Tyler helped lead the Brother Martin Crusaders to a third place finish in the Eastern District of the Louisiana High School Lacrosse League ("LHSLL"). Unfortunately, the team lost a heart breaker in double overtime to rival and #2 seed Jesuit-New Orleans. Tyler earned LHSLL Man of the Year for his work with Brother Martin, LHSLL and the Allstate Sugar Bowl Lacrosse Classic. During the summer of 2012, Tyler coached the Elite Team of Team Quick Stick with Austin Speni and John Meibaum. The Elite Team won the Texas Draw tournament in Dallas, Texas, the Chattanooga Challenge in Chattanooga, Tennessee and were semi-finalists in the Georgia Southern Shoot-Out and the LB3 Invitational in Atlanta. The team finished 18-3 losing 3 games by a total of 4 goals.

Currently, Tyler serves as the Head Coach for the Saint Thomas More Lacrosse Club in Lafayette, LA and an Assistant Coach for Team Quick Stick Elite Team a/k/a Team Louisiana. Additionally, Tyler directs the College and High School exhibition series for the Allstate Sugar Bowl Lacrosse Classic. Right now, he is planning the 2013 event which is expecting 19 high school and college (NCAA and MCLA) programs from Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama and Florida all coming to New Orleans from February 15-17, 2013 to play 14 games.

Tickets/Schedule here: Allstate Sugar Bowl Lacrosse Classic Schedule and Tickets

Press Release can be found here: Allstate Sugar Bowl Lacrosse Press Release

Tyler attended Denison University from 2000 to 2001 and graduated from James Madison University in 2005 with a B.A. in Economics. Tyler received his Juris Doctorate from Loyola-New Orleans College of Law in 2010 and currently works as an Attorney for the Office of Conservation in the Department of Natural Resources for the state of Louisiana.

Scott Avanzio

Title: Head Coach - U15

Email: Click Here

Nick Dugal

Title: Assistant Coach - U15

Spencer Ortis

Title: Assistant Coach - Team Louisiana

Spencer Ortis Junior at Piedmont College. Played high school ball at West Forsyth High School in Georgia and started all 4 years as a midfielder. Played on team Georgia and Brothers of War during the summer. Now I play attack and midfield at Piedmont college.