For me, the lacrosse season never ends, but just after the NCAA tournament I suffer from lacrosse burnout and usually don’t think about the game for at least two weeks. Something usually kicks me back into gear like a great summer league game or tournament. This year it was a visit to Ocean City, Md.

After a week of catching up on work after the tournament, I headed for the beach. We swam, played golf, flew a kite and did a lot of nothing at all – perfect. One lazy afternoon I sat at a restaurant eating lunch and from my position in the patio seating, through the huge Big Pecker’s sign next door, I could just make out the words on a small theater-like marquis -- "Beach Lax Shak" -- or that's what I thought it read. I did a double take at first, but that is what it said, and I committed myself to checking it out after the meal.

After eating, I walked just past 73rd Street and for the first time, saw the whole marquis -- Beach Lax Shack -- with the brands STX, Gait and Harrow written below. This was a lax retailer at the beach. It was obviously a surf, dive and skate shop too as there was a surf mural painted on the side of the store.

I ventured inside to see what was up and found a pretty good selection of sticks and women’s stuff too. It’s a full service specialty store. They string sticks there and have for years. In fact, the shop has been selling lax gear since 1976. They still have some of the oldest accounts at both Brine and STX, according to owner Dave Quilter, who bought the place in 1992. Quilter admits that the store was selling lacrosse gear before most people at the beach knew what lacrosse was.

But many big Baltimore lacrosse folks spend some time “dyownashore,” so the store enjoys the patronage of a random smattering of lacrosse greats every summer. Quilter told us Kyle Harrison’s family had a condo in the area for many years and he saw Kyle grow up as a regular summer customer.

When I’m not looking for lacrosse or even avoiding it intentionally, it seems to find me. Quilter mentioned that the summer pick-up game was the next day in Berlin, just over the bridge through West Ocean City, where all the good restaurants are anyway (let me add a shout out to Bill’s Breakfast, an amazing breakfast spot in the unlikeliest of strip plazas). I had my video camera in the car so, of course, I was there the next day. It was the first day of the summer pick-up games so only one keeper was available. Fortunately, Hector the Rejecter was on hand to help out (see video).

I used to play in this league (a long time ago), or its predecessor, which had like six fixed teams in a summer league, each sponsored by local bars and surf shops. That was back in the day when a Baltimore teen would actually work at the beach for the summer, stay with like 20 other people in a beach condo and play in the league when it didn’t interfere with their waiting tables at Phillips or some other restaurant. A solid crop of great lacrosse players ended up down in Ocean City each year and the league was quite competitive, with college helmets from everywhere. But the American teen stopped working summer jobs at some point and the numbers died down.

But pick-up is alive at the beach! The O.C. pick-up games mix a good crowd of locals, summer renters and vacationers. Each week a new group of visiting players join the regulars. You never know who will be there. In fact, you too can join in. Just bring your gear to the beach with you. Every Wednesday the action begins at 6:30 p.m. at the Berlin Intermediate School on Franklin Avenue. You can call Bill O’Donnell at 410-250-1490 for more information.

They’d love to have you join them, especially if you are a goalie!

In the second photo above, Beach Lax Shack owner Dave Quilter and two of his children.