The pursuit of lacrosse excellence has taken three local lads across the continent, and they’re excited to finally get the chance to improve at home.

Tanner Rennich, Dakota Hollister and Keiffer Hollister agree that next week’s lacrosse camp in Cranbrook is a great opportunity for local athletes.

“Probably the best part is that I’m going to be at home sleeping in my own bed while the camp is here,” said Rennich. “This is the only time that I haven’t had to travel for something like that.”

The local Elev8 camp runs from Aug. 11 to 13, and is being run by professional and national team player Geoff Snider.

There are still spots available and Dakota said he’d like to see more of his local friends filling them.

“Considering last year was my first time playing field lacrosse and Geoff has trained me to be better — and now I’m being offered to go to schools already — it’s clearly really helpful,” said Dakota.

He and Rennich traveled to Philadelphia last fall with Snider’s Calgary-based Elev8 Elite squad, and they continued their development last weekend at West Coast 150 camp in the Lower Mainland — also under Snider’s tutelage.

While performing one-on-one drills there, Dakota was approached by the coach of a Div. I U.S. college who asked him to demonstrate a particular skill.

“He asked me to do something else and I did it. Then he said, ‘I’m going to recruit you.’ He said he was really excited.”

Then he found out Dakota is only 14, and still a couple of years from being recruit-able.

“He didn’t really talk to me that much after that,” noted the teenager. “But in a few years...”

It was Dakota’s second time at WC150, having attended last year.

“All the coaches were asking if I was Dakota, and they were just saying it’s amazing how much better you’ve gotten since last year,” he said.

“I like hearing that kind of stuff because last year it was kind of a joke. It was hard going and I didn’t want to do it, but now it’s fun.”

Rennich is also in his second year of field lacrosse, but first time at the camp on the coast.

He was very impressed by the calibre of coaching there.

“They said it would be the best opportunity that we have here on the west coast, and it definitely was,” said Rennich, who is adjusting to playing long pole or defence.

Just as the name suggests, he plays with a longer pole — six feet long, in fact.

“You’ve really got to adjust to that,” he said. “The toughest part I’d say is probably deking around people and shooting.”

Early last month Dakota had also traveled to the University of Denver to play in front of scouts as part of the Burnaby Mountain Selects sophomore squad.

Keiffer was on their senior team and traveled to Baltimore in mid-July.

Although he tweaked his injured knee at the Champ Camp tournament, Keiffer felt he played well when he got out on the field.

Some of the team stayed at Johns Hopkins University, while the rest (including Keiffer) stayed at Howson University’s dorms. The teams at the camp were of a wide variety of calibres, while the champions were a team filled with 20 players who have already committed to Div. I schools.

Keiffer, who enters Grade 12 in the fall, has been in contact with several NCAA schools since the trip wrapped up July 26, including Johns Hopkins, Denver and Ohio State.

With more choices likely to sift through and a decision still a year away, he feels like he can’t go wrong no matter what school he picks.

“We talked to some of the coaches and they ran us through a typical day. You can’t have a job while you’re going to school if you’re playing on a sports team. It’s a full-time job, so it’ll be a lot of work but it seems like it would keep you really focused,” he said.

Touring some Baltimore-area schools, Keiffer was particularly impressed by the University of Maryland and their athletics facilities, which include an enormous football stadium. Last fall, they had 37,000 students enrolled there.

“It’s just ridiculous, this school. It’s really a city basically. It was pretty amazing,” he said.

The lacrosse tour wrapped up with a day-trip to New York City where the athletes got a tour of Madison Square Gardens, and visited landmarks like Trump Tower and Ground Zero.

It’s heady stuff for a kid who played field lacrosse for the first time last summer. Keiffer’s work with Snider has no doubt helped and although can’t participate because of his knee, he would encourage more athletes to come out to next week’s camp.

“I think any local kid would be silly not to come out and try it,” he said. “(Snider is) an amazing coach and if he likes you, he knows people and can help you get to where you want to go.

“There’s a ton of talent that is not even recognized in this area, in Cranbrook. There are lots of kids that have never tried it but they probably have the skill level to play at a high level but they’ll never do it. If they come out to these camps, it’s the only way they’ll find out.”

Camp registration can be done up until Tuesday by contacting Shellie Hollister at 421-9927, or jdscontracting@telus.net.

Also visit elev8lacrosse.com.