MC Bitter shared his passion for lacrosse with his six children, and he saw an opportunity to spread it wider when he moved to Stowe, Vt.

What started out as a two-day camp in the mountain town in 2010 grew rapidly, and with two of his sons – EW and Billy – partnering with him, Bitter Lacrosse has expanded annually to run lacrosse tournaments for boys and girls around the country.

“We got involved in a sport that we love in a place that is very beautiful,” said MC, who was a Hall of Fame player at Boston College. “That defines what Bitter Lacrosse is about. We want to provide the best possible venue and run the best possible event for families. It’s really for the lacrosse family.”

Run for families by one of the First Families of lacrosse. All six Bitter children were recruited to play college lacrosse, but none foresaw working together after graduation. 

“It’s definitely been a lot of fun,” said Billy, the 2010 ACC Player of the Year at North Carolina. “Working with my older brother, EW, and my dad has been a blast. For the past few years, we’ve been traveling around the country together.”

EW left a successful career in real estate private equity to oversee Bitter Lacrosse. What started as a side gig has grown into a full-time profession.

“We started the first year very small,” said EW, who went to Williams College. “The response was overwhelming. By the second year, it had multiplied by four-five times. We realized this is something people want. It’s something they demand and it’s something we feel we can replicate in other markets.”

Their original tournament, the Stowe Lax Festival, hosts sessions July 14-15 and July 21-22 that sold out for the third straight year. Bitter Lacrosse also operates two tournament weekends outside Austin, Texas, two tournaments outside Charleston, S.C., a tournament in West Palm Beach, Fla., and their newest tournament in Middleburg, Va., just outside Washington, D.C. Their tournaments are sanctioned and US Lacrosse Nationals qualifiers.

“We were an early supporter,” EW said. “We believe very strongly in what US Lacrosse is doing. For many years, there wasn’t really a clear set of standards and we think this is a great move toward standard operating procedures for events that allows teams an expectation of what they’ll get at an event and a level of standard at events.

Bitter Lacrosse is focused on building its existing tournaments rather than expanding further in the short term. Participant feedback and their own wealth of experience drives them to continue to pursue providing top value. 

“We did the same thing growing up,” EW said. “It was expensive and our parents made us very aware of that. It has helped us think about what we can do to be efficient. Keeping it all in-house and continuing to focus on ways to move forward effectively and efficiently has allowed us to grow and continue to keep downward pressure on that price.”

All of Bitter’s production is done in-house with a team of family and friends. They relish any improvements.

“This past trip, I was so happy because I was able to put up our field fence and only use one zip-tie on each end to hold it all up,” MC said. “Little things like that seem silly, but it really does matter.”

Bitter Lacrosse has narrowed staff roles through the years while avoiding some of the pitfalls that come with a family business. MC insisted when the company started that he work for his sons, not the other way around.

“It’s been great,” EW said. “All of us bring a lot of humility, a lot of self-deprecating humor which is helpful. None of us thinks we’re better than the other person. We don’t bring a lot of hubris to the operation in our roles. It hasn’t been an issue, and I don’t see it being an issue with the character of people involved.”

Billy balances a full-time job in marketing with Cascade Maverik Lacrosse with marketing Bitter and running its social media. He also directs Bitter’s three weeks of North Country Lax Academy camps which brings more boys and girls to Stowe for lacrosse. 

“We don’t want one parent to drive five kids,” Billy said. “We want each parent to come with their kid and bring their sisters and older brothers or younger brothers and make it a lifestyle adventure for them.”