Info@EastAveLacrosse.com
(312) 834-7730
Info@EastAveLacrosse.com
(312) 834-7730
contact
Joe Opron
President, Founder, High School Director - East Ave
President, Founder, High School Director - Team Illinois
Playing:
Chicago Outlaws - CILL '14 leading scorer
Oakland Univ. - MCLA D1 national goals leader
Wheeling Jesuit Univ. NCAA D2
Troy Athens HS (MI) - 2x All-State
Getting to know Coach Opron: Coach Opron has an incredible 21-year playing and 13-year coaching background that fuels his passion for helping student-athletes reach their full potential on and off the field! Coach Opron enjoys drawing on his extensive academic and professional backgrounds to help student-athlete make decisions about the next 40 years of their life, not just the next 4 years of lacrosse!
By day, Coach Opron is a financial derivatives attorney and a former adjunct law professor. When not coaching and running East Ave and Team Illinois, Coach Opron enjoys spending time with his wife (Kelly) and three young children (Aubrey 5, Courtney 5, and Joey 2).
Coaching:
Fenwick, Lyons Township, OPRF, Northside College Prep
Head Coach of the 2025 Team Illinois WSYL Team
Playing:
Team Israel, midfielder / transition box player
Israel Premier League
Mars Hill University - NCAA D2 All-Conference
Oak Park-River Forest HS
Getting to know Coach Applebaum : Coach Applebaum co-founded East Ave to increase access to the game he loves and that has provided him with his most formative life experiences. He cherishes the opportunity to forge long-term relationships with the young men who look up to him. Lacrosse has taken Coach Applebaum to play on a professional and international stage, and he is eager to pass that opportunity on to the next generation of Illinois youth lacrosse players.
Coaching:
Head Coach at Lyons Township
East Ave Director
Team Illinois
Coach of the Year, Western Suburban Conference 2017, 2019
2019 IHSA Coach of the Year
Assistant at Fenwick for 4 years
5 All Americans and 8 all State players in 3 Years at LT
Playing:
Fairleigh Dickinson College
Cathage College
All Conference Attack CCIW
Lead the team in Assists and 2nd in Points
Team Illinois / OPRF
Chicago Outlaws 2014 champs
Getting to know Coach Molek : Seth has been coaching since he has been in High School, and climbed the ranks from second assistant offensive coordinator to head varsity coach and IHSA Coach of the Year. One day, Seth aspires to run his own college program. One of the main reason's Seth loves the game of lacrosse so much is that his his high school coaches went above and beyond what they needed to do for him on and off the field, and he wanted to pay it forward to the kids in East Ave and Lyons Township. Coach Molek cherishes his experiences playing abroad in Manchester and Amsterdam at the FIL and the Euro Cup. Coach Molek sums up his feeling on lacrosse by saying, "it is an amazing game that opens up opportunities for you that you would otherwise never have the chance to experience."
Coaching:
Director at New Wave lacrosse for 7 Years
Director of East Ave
East Ave Boxla
Team Illinois
Playing:
Cathage College
Captain At Carthage College
Saint Charles
All Conference, Team Captain
Chicago Outlaws 2014 champs
Getting to know Coach Szmajda : Coach Szmajda (sh-my-da) picked up a stick for the first time in 8th grade and has never looked back. After graduating from Carthage College in 2013, he started coaching full time at New Wave Lacrosse and joined the East Ave staff in the Fall of 2020. Helping young athletes learn to push themselves, compete, improve lacrosse IQ, and have fun are Coach Szmajda's top priorities. His passion for the game is evident and wears off on every athlete he works with.