In May of 2002, I was a wide-eyed freshman at Hopkins preparing to play defending National Champion Princeton in what would turn out to be the last Final Four held in a college stadium. Back then, playing in front of 20,000 die-hard fans at Byrd or Rutgers was every lacrosse player’s dream.

How times have changed…

Despite the exciting growth of professional lacrosse, Memorial Day Saturday will always be the preeminent event fans look forward to each year. In 2002, 23,123 fans snarled the roads around Rutgers to watch Princeton, Hopkins, Virginia and Syracuse battle it out in the D-1 Semi-Finals. The sport’s explosive growth (and the benefits of holding the event in a pro stadium) was seen just one short year later, as nearly 38,000 spectators crowded M&T Bank’s lower levels to watch Virginia capture the National Title. In my Senior year, well over 40,000 fans watched us win the Championship. The attendance bar has since been raised across the board, to just under 50,000 fans in Philadelphia in 2006. Filling pro stadiums was likely beyond the wildest dreams of our sport’s most innovative thinkers just a few years ago, but now these goals are real and achievable.

Lacrosse’s growth is apparent outside of the turn styles as well. Television coverage of our nation’s biggest games has exploded, and is key to our sport’s ongoing spread nationwide. CSTV and ESPNU have been influential in bringing our greatest players and teams to kids in California, Texas, Washington and beyond. The fans have responded; just look at the results. Hopkins has an exclusive contract with ESPNU. Paul Carcaterra and his expert crew bring Syracuse, Princeton and Cornell games to your homes on CSTV each weekend. Gone are the days when my buddies and I would gather at Mr. Murph’s house in Yorktown to watch the “game of the week,” on tape delay. The Internet and satellite TV has brought live lacrosse action to the masses, and our athletes have responded with the entertaining and lively play we have grown accustomed to.

Also gone are the days of D-1 rosters replete with just the who’s who of New York and Maryland. Today’s teams reflect the expansive geographic progress our sport is making, thanks to the work of both US Lacrosse and the missionaries who played in the East and who have since relocated. Coach Pietramala has made nationwide recruiting a key tenet of the Hopkins program, and he is certainly not alone. My house of 5 guys at Hopkins included 3 New Yorkers plus the best of Ohio and Colorado. Steve Brooks (Syracuse) and Brett Hughes (Virginia) are just two of the many success stories nationwide. These Midwest guys are no longer arriving on college campuses as raw athletes. Years of camps and organized play has helped these players compete with the best the East Coast has to offer, and our sport is so much better for it. Look at Matt Drenan, Hopkins’ sophomore defenseman from California. As a freshman he was ready to step right in and take my spot (and my number). Matt’s play has exceeded even our wildest hopes, and he is just another example of stars being groomed across the country.

Long gone are the days of part-time coaches and their volunteer assistants struggling to make it to practice on time. College athletic departments are committing resources to lacrosse in ways few could have ever expected. Increased coaches’ salaries, two full-time assistants, scholarships and increased budgets all demonstrate the growing emphasis on our once casual hobby. With the extra funding comes the requisite scrutiny. Coaches today are under unprecedented pressure to win, and our sport is becoming more like basketball and football than we would like at times. Kids are picking colleges before the first face-off of their junior year as coaches’ fight over the very best.

So what does all of this mean for our sport? I believe that 90% of the recent changes are an incredible positive. More television coverage and attendance records motivate more kids across the country to play. The high school and college games have become increasingly exciting as the players get more athletic, further fueling fan interest. Kids from across the nation now have a realistic dream of playing in front of 50,000 people in the Final Four. Is a prime-time Monday night slot the next step for the D-1 finals? Either way, our sport’s exposure is a sure positive.

The increased spending on lacrosse is generally a positive, but it does carry its pitfalls. Having 3 full-time coaches unquestionably makes a player’s college lacrosse experience better. Sometimes I think I learned more about life than lacrosse at Hopkins, and the presence of 3 phenomenal role models in the office all day was a major reason why. More important than learning any check or dodge are the hours when watching film in coach’s office turned into 10 guys from totally diverse backgrounds talking about what really matters in life. To me, that’s what’s really special and unique about our sport.

Amidst all of the positives resulting from our rapid growth, today’s recruiting calendar stands out to me as a major concern. Kids are being forced to pick their schools too early, and coaches must evaluate kids after just two years of high school. We have all seen too many examples of camp “all-stars” who turn out to be college busts. It’s very difficult to evaluate talent and character in the camp setting. I’d take the high school junior who put his team on his back to win the state championship long before I recruit the kid who scored 8 goals in a camp all-star game. Increasingly, coaches do not have that luxury, and I think it’s troublesome for all involved. There is no easy solution, but I’m in favor of any efforts the NCAA undertakes to push back the timeline.

Somehow, the recruiting calendar must be modified. When I was a high school senior my four official visits were crucial to my ultimate decision to attend Hopkins. Without taking the time to visit each campus and spend 48 hours with team members, I may have fallen victim to the “hype” and made the wrong decision for me. After spending a weekend with the Hopkins players and coaches, I knew it was the perfect place for me. Every kid is different, and it’s impossible to predict what the vibe will be on your visit.

Something needs to give here. Either kids should be able to take official visits in their junior year, or recruits must be forced to wait until the winter of their senior year to commit. Every recruit deserves the opportunity to visit four or five campuses before making the most important decision of his life. Gone are the days when even the best players can hold out until their visits are complete, as competition for spots and scholarships becomes ever more intense. The current timeline simply does not ALLOW recruits to gather all the information they need, and the NCAA must respond accordingly. From a practical matter, I think moving up the official visits timeline makes the most sense.

I am okay with the accelerated recruiting cycle if it’s a necessary by-product of all the other great benefits our sport is enjoying right now. Amidst these positive changes however, we must fervently defend the culture that makes our sport so unique. Lacrosse is one of just a few sports where simply holding the equipment is enough to spark conversation with a fellow athlete no matter where you are. If you see another guy holding a stick on the beach over the summer, or in the airport security line, friendly greetings are natural, if not expected. I can’t think of another sport that’s as tight-knit. A guy throwing a baseball with his kid usually isn’t enough to spark interest from another baseball player.

Lacrosse’s greatest strength has always been its close-knit community and collegial feel. Guys know how to compete ferociously and then tailgate with their opponents as soon as the final whistle blows. Similarly, in the business world, you’re just one or two degrees of separation away from anyone who ever played the sport, and people want to go out of their way to help. The sport builds closer bonds than anything else I have seen in athletics, and everyone benefits from this. In our rush to grow the game we must make sure lacrosse maintains the close knit feel, no matter how “big-time” it gets. Thankfully I’ve seen no signs of this changing despite the recent explosive growth.

I expect the next five years to continue the sport’s tremendous momentum. We are fortunate to have Kyle Harrison as a leading ambassador. Kyle combines the character, discipline, charisma and talent needed to take this game to the next level, and I can’t think of a better guy to lead us there. I have no doubts that our Final Four will soon be filling the upper decks of our country’s largest stadiums, and I can’t wait to see that day. Let’s just make sure we remember it’s the people, and our intimate relationships, that have gotten our great game where it is today. Enjoy the growth but stay focused on the roots!

-------------Editor--------------

Chris Watson is from Yorktown New York and played college lacrosse at Johns Hopkins University.

Chris started all 61 games on close defense in his career at Hopkins. The 61 games he started tied classmate Kyle Harrison for the school record for most games started and most consecutive games started in a career.

Hopkins allowed 10 or more goals just 11 times in the 61 games he played. Chris also helped anchor a Blue Jay defense that finished second in the nation in scoring defense (6.94) and held 14 of 16 opponents to fewer than 10 goals and 10 of those same opponents to fewer than seven goals in 2005.

Chris was also a two time Captain and helped Hopkins to remain unbeaten at home all four years that he was on the team. He played on four Final Four teams and in two National Championship games. Hopkins was the #1 seed in the playoffs all four years he was on the team. Hopkins went a perfect 16-0 his senior year and won the NCAA Championship.

In addition, as a Senior Chris was an Honorable Mention STX/USILA All-American, a Second Team ESPN the Magazine Academic All-American, and a First Team ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District pick.