Summer Lacrosse
I may be suffering from 'ye olde' writers block, or am I just trying to find anything to fill the gap between my last piece, which was definitely more personal, and the next one which could be a more inspired endeavor. Or maybe I am just tired from watching my toddler all weekend while my wife was away for a 3 day bachelorette party, and am trying to throw something on paper quickly so I can get some sleep tonight. That is just a sliver of what she goes through being married to a lacrosse coach. I guess that's another good point, as it is a nice segue into this lazy topic of summer lacrosse. It is not lost on me that though I was a solo parent for three days, she will now do the same for the next three days. My alarm is set to hit the road early tomorrow am, and I will be back in 3 days time, only to spend another 2 days at home. That will give me enough time to stop in the office for a day, mow the lawn, and tuck my daughter in before I have to hop on a plane and do it all over again. Welcome to summer lacrosse.
I didn't even mean to allude that this piece is about summer recruiting, which it might turn out to be. I just meant in general. I feel like the gap between spring and summer lacrosse is getting smaller and smaller. When does the spring end and summer begin? Let's start at bottom. Youth and HS sports are bleeding into one another. I always find this time of year to be absolute chaos, especially at the state level. So I am attending my first summer tournament tomorrow, where a bunch of HS and clubs teams will faceoff in Chicago, at the most aptly named, 'Chicago Lacrosse Cup.' I'll say it again, but this is my first event that I am attending this summer, June 10th. Some events began last weekend. Some even before that (T99 in Texas was always famous it seemed for being the first event of the summer, usually starting in Late May). So you could say I am late to the party. We'll get back to that. Let's stay with the young guys for the time being. So recruiting events are held June 10th. Funny enough for Minnesota, the state HS tournament actually STARTS this week. Wisconsin just wrapped up their state finals just yesterday. Wisconsin shares a border with Illinois. It wouldn't altogether shock me if I learned that someone that just finished their HS season (win or lose) on June 8th, was also turning around and playing in the Chicago Lacrosse Cup on June 10th for their club team, on one day's rest. Now if i were a HS player today, I probably wouldn't have thought anything of it, if something like this was even offered back when I played. I would've likely been like, "more lacrosse? does the pope sh*t in the woods? um yes please." But that was back when playing sports didn't affect my body in the same way. It all just felt fun and we didn't seem to get tired. If you asked me this in college, I would have told you something completely different. Once our season ended in late April/early May I needed at least a week just to walk without hurting. That was a much longer recovery from mid spring until the time I was ready to play in men's league around mid June. I just feel like we are not even letting the bodies get cool of, so to speak before we are throwing our kids right back into the fire. And I get the obvious. Everyone's team ends at different times. Some HS teams didn't make it very far and have been done for a while. Minnesota ends late because they have to start late because of how frigging cold it is up there most of the year. Florida and California could have been done with their state playoffs awhile ago, because they can start earlier in the calendar year. I get all that. That's not all lost on me. And maybe its a good thing, that Lacrosse is more popular now than when I was a kid. But part of me feels like we are all holding our breath until memorial day weekend ends, and before you can even think about putting the stick down, or actually resting for a change, the flood gates open once again. I know I can be a little conspiracy theory-ish, but I don't believe that these event companies are also not trying to make money. There are only so many weekends in the summer, and heaven forbid if there isn't an event happening on every single one of them.
Let's move into the next middle tier, the college players. Well like I previously stated, most college guys are resting up a bit. Some might play some summer league games or a couple men's league tournaments. Some might not have that opportunity. How bout the top level guys? Some of these guys got finished playing memorial day weekend and went right into playing professional lacrosse. Talk about not letting the bodies get cold. I understand that this doesn't apply to all college players, but I would like to research what other sports have like zero lag time between college and professional seasons. College to NBA, and NFL have some time off to prepare for. That actually makes sense, because there seasons are the same. Caitlin Clark didn't seem like she had much time off before jumping head first into the WNBA. I'm curious to know what other sports are scheduled out this way from college to pro seasons. If anyone has some good examples, feel free to comment. And I won't get into the obvious fact that like the WNBA, the PLL doesn't want to compete with college for Air Time. I guess I just did, but I'm sure there are other reasons why both associations share the same season. But to me it just seems crazy to play like 17-19ish college games and go right into a professional lacrosse season. Talk about a shell shock. These guys are truly world class athletes to be able to do that. It's not even just the fatigue but the wear and tear, and the muscular break down that takes place over the course of a college season. These guys are absolute freaks for being able to do that. And the last thing I want to do is bring any bad juju into the universe, but sometimes it's not a matter if these guys can handle it mentally, because obviously they can. But just physically, the risk for injury has to be high from playing that many contact days in a row. I mean it's rare to see an NFL player make it through an entire season without missing a game, and they play once a week. Even LeBron has to take like 2 weeks off a year minimum just to make it through an NBA season. I think it's even part of his contract (im jk). In all seriousness though you just asked a player to stay healthy for a whole college season, make it as far as he possibly can, demand the very best from him right up to the end, and now basically asking him to do that back to back with no break inbetween. When you put it into words, it actually does sound kind of ridiculous. But hey, that's why these guys make the bucks. These guys obviously are great a taking care of their bodies. I hope nothing but the best from all the notable rookies, especially Liam Entenmann, who I believe is the best goalie in the world. And by the way, I wrote an article a few weeks ago about why I thought Shellenberger should've been the first pick. This is a side note, but after week 1, Shelly had like 8 points and Brennan O'Neil had like 0 or 1. For the first time in my life, I actually felt somewhat legitimized in this silly thing that I write every week, like I may actually know a thing or two and am not a total shmoe that has nothing better to do on Sunday nights. Then right on cue, as if he read the article himself, Brennan O'Neil had to show me and the rest of the world why he is, in fact, the most dominant lacrosse player on earth at the moment, and send me right back to humbletown, USA. But hey, it's a long season. As the famous Chris Berman said, 'That's why they play the game,' at least I think it was him...
Ok, back to the coaches. And yes the coaches. We are the last piece of this season bleeding. It's like a never ending spring. You start preparing in January to make a run and have a great season. If you stink and lose, you actually get rewarded with a little bit of time off. If you are successful, however and make a deep run, you get rewarded with less time off between the grind of a season and summer recruiting. And the more successful you are, the less time off you get. I find it amazing that guys on Notre Dame's staff go out and win a national championship, which words can hardly comprehend that level of achievement. Then like a week later, they are at some high level high school combine, coaching their heart out. These guys are built different. I mean, like literally bags packed, and hitting the road because they know part of their job as a coach of a high achieving team, is to be visable. That is the price that comes with being the best. You can't win a national championship and not be first on the recruiting trail, it doesn't work that way. And so begins another viscious cycle, the divine comedy that is college recruiting. So many proverbs come to mind when describing this time of year. I point out the incessant and gluttonous summer event circuit in the first paragraph, but will ultimately and inevitably give in to their demands by showing up each year that their events. It is our professions prisoner's dilemma. We feel the need to constantly be on the road and see kids or we won't be good and our program's will suffer. We get one week off until August and that is the week of July 4th (thanks forefathers). And we are only given pause in August because it is a dead period (for division 1 and 2 who drive most of these events). But I guarantee if they ever amended that rule, we'd still be going all the way through til fall ball.
This is the price you pay for trying to do what everyone else is trying to do, be good. You work hard to get good but once your good you have to work even harder to stay good. It's like that guy Sisyphus, that is destined to push the boulder up a hill forever and always. That's how it feels at times. I'm being dramatic of course. At the end of the day, this goes for all parents, players, and coaches; don't be afraid to take some time off for a change. Let that body heal, go on a vacation, spend time with family. I promise you will not miss out on an opportunity to go to college and play Lacrosse at a school because you took one weekend off for yourself. In fact you'll probably be better for it. I need to remind myself that as well. Sometimes it's enticing to get a stipend and go work an event across the county. But sometimes you have to say no. Sometimes you have to say, my time is more valuable right now because I can't get that back. Sometimes you need to work hard and other times you need to take a break. Unless you're Caitlin Clark, Brennan O'Neil, or Kevin Corrigan, in which case they're no breaks for you.
KASEY BURST
The HC at the University of Dubuque, Kasey brings all things college lacrosse to your inbox.