Prior to 2001, 0% of lacrosse players were playing the game with the aspirations of signing an outdoor professional lacrosse contact. I think it is safe to say that even today, 99% of the youngsters that begin playing lacrosse do not do it with the goal of having a pro lacrosse career in the future.
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They play for the love of the game’s action, excitement and fun. That and baseball is just too boring.
With the creation of Major League Lacrosse (MLL) in 2001, a new opportunity for field lacrosse players presented itself – the possibility of being paid to play a sport they love and more importantly, to extend their playing career. Similar to any sport, as the number of athletes who participate in lacrosse rises, the chances of a player making it to the professional level decreases.
During the inaugural season of the MLL, I was one of twelve players in the league who hailed from Yorktown High School, a perennial lacrosse hotbed in New York’s Hudson Valley. There were only 6 teams in the MLL so every weekend there were Yorktown alums squaring off against one another. We are all relatively close in age (5 year gap in age being the biggest) so it was easy to trace each others’ paths and how we arrived in the MLL. For me, it was intriguing to reflect and analyze how each of us prepared and equipped ourselves to possess the skills required to transition from a small town in New York to playing in a national professional lacrosse league.
This article discusses the transitions players experience as they progress from high school to college, and ultimately professionally.
I have been fortunate to play with three lacrosse powerhouses – Yorktown High School, Syracuse University, and the Philadelphia Barrage. When I reflect on my career and the those of my peers and colleagues that have shared similar journeys, I think about each of our paths and how we’ve been able to attain our levels of success and retain the ability to compete at the highest level.
The transitions from high school to college and college to the pros have some common denominators – the speed of the game, the level of athletic ability each player possesses and their physical size. As you move up the lacrosse ladder the speed of the game dramatically increases. Players, passes, shots, communication, substitutions all take place at a much more frantic pace. Those players who cannot adapt to the speed will not survive. The lacrosse skill set of players also dramatically increases from one level to the next as collegiate and professional players have sharper and crisper skills (i.e. stick work, footwork, etc).
One way to think of it might be as Lacrosse Darwinism – its simply the survival of the fittest and those players who do not adapt and evolve will be left behind at the lower level and not be able to move up the lacrosse ladder. In recent years there has been a greater attention to physical conditioning among lacrosse players. Players who follow a conditioning program will have the competitive edge over those players who do not and as a result will be more likely to move on to the next level.
As you probably already assume, it significantly harder to go from college to the pros than it is from high school to college. Two simple reasons for this are:
1.) The number of pro teams (currently 10) is exponentially lower than the number of college teams (over 200 Division I, II, and III programs)
2.) Roster sizes in the pro (23 roster spots) are much more limited than college (40+ roster spots)
Three identifiable strategies to help lacrosse players be successful in their transitions from the three major levels of competitive lacrosse are:
Identify your role on the team.
In High School, you might be one of the best players on your team. You are able to do many things for your team with ease. As you go into college you will find 10 players or more who can do exactly what you can do from a skill standpoint. You need to find a way to be different or better and you do this by identifying your role --asking your coach for input is a smart thing to do. Are you a scorer, a feeder, a groundball guy, defensive specialist, riding attackman?
How can you be most valuable to your team and contribute productively.
For example, in high school I was an All-American close defenseman. However, upon my arrival at Syracuse, my team and I would be better served by me playing long stick midfield (LSM). LSM was a better position for me at the college level as it catered more to my playing style and abilities. In Major League Lacrosse the LSM position does not exist as a league rule only allows a team three long poles on the field at once. Thus once again I found myself evaluating how I can best serve my team at the professional level and get on the field. Since I had exceptional footwork and understanding of the game, I volunteered to play short stick defensive midfield. I’ve been playing short stick d-middie now for 8 seasons along with having a utility role as a longstick defenseman if we lose a defenseman during the game or on certain man-down situations.
Once you identify what role is best suited for you or how best you serve your team, you need to work extremely hard to hone the skills necessary to fill that role (i.e. take extra shots after practice if you’re a finisher on man-up, take more groundballs on your own if you play the wing on f/o, have a teammate or coach shoot on you outside of practice if you are the goalie or back-up, etc.)
Always dedicate time to work on the fundamentals of lacrosse.
A reason we were very successful at Yorktown, Syracuse, and the Barrage is because we always worked on our individual and team fundamentals (i.e. simple catching and throwing, fast breaks, and clearing) in practice. Time spent outside of practice though is where a good player becomes great. You should allocate a couple of hours a week to wall ball to increase your stick skills. Catching and throwing are the primary skills of lacrosse and a player can never have too good of a stick (at any level). Players going on to the next level also need to focus on physical fitness and strength. Attention to weight training, cardiovascular training and flexibility is vital for a lacrosse player to successfully compete against athletes at the higher levels.
Increase your “Lacrosse I.Q.” – Become a student of the game
The most important skill I developed that enabled me to progress from high school to the MLL is that I learned how to become a student of the game and raise me “lacrosse I.Q.”. In high school I would make plenty of “dumb” plays but easily made up for the mental mistakes with athletic ability. As I moved up the competition ladder, those dumb mistakes would expose me and my teammates, and we’d be punished by the opposing team with either a goal, or worse--a loss.
Most athletes are creatures of habits and have tendencies they rely on. You need to learn in advance what your opponent’s tendencies are. I don’t just mean to learn that they like to use the swim dodge or shoot from high to low, or throw an over-the-head check at goal line extended, but instead learn WHEN and WHERE on the field they tend to use certain skills and moves. You need to create your own mental personal scouting report on who you are playing against. Notice whether your opponent relies heavily on his right hand, only roll dodge from “X”, hangs his stick when dodging left to right behind the cage, or doesn’t get his stick low on ground balls. With this intelligence, prepare yourself to respond accordingly.
How does one become a better student of the game? Very simple – WATCH LACROSSE. Watch games, not just yours, but games you did not play in and of all levels. Watch pro games, college games, and if you’re lucky enough to have college or high school games broadcasted in your area, watch them too. Even today, I watch as much lacrosse as possible to see how the game is changing and what new skills are making players successful. Another chance to watch the game is at practice. When you’re not in a practice drill, watch your teammates and take note of what was successful or unsuccessful for them.
Take time to talk to players who play other positions. While in high school, I would spend a lot of time talking to guys who graduated ahead of me and pick their brains of how they became successful or what they like to do on the field and how. You’d be surprised at how willing lacrosse players are to help each other, especially from the same programs. Talk to your coaches, or more importantly, LISTEN to your coaches. There are plenty of people around you who have lacrosse experience – tap into their minds and knowledge so you can better understand the game.
One other idea I use is to learn about the position you go up against every day. If you are a goalie, you might want to spend some time shooting so you can learn about shooting. If you are an attackman, spend some time with a long pole in your hand to learn about it or try playing some goalie so you can learn about shooting.
In conclusion, players need to continually improve their lacrosse fundamentals, find their role, and increase their lacrosse I.Q. to prepare themselves for a successful transition from high school level of lacrosse to college and beyond.
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Joe Ceglia--an All American at both Yorktown High School and Syracuse University--has had an extremely successful and prolific playing career that includes Championships at all levels.
In is senior year at Syracuse, Joe was part of the 2000 NCAA Championship that the Orange won. He then moved on to play professional indoor lacrosse and was on the NLL’s Philadelphia Wings Championship team in 2001. Five years later, Joe was a part of the Philadelphia Barrage's MLL Championship in 2006.
In 2008, Joe sustained an ACL injury. The knee surgery that followed caused him to miss the 2008 MLL season. Over the last few weeks, he has been recovering well and is contemplating a comeback for the 2009 MLL season and/or a try out for Team USA in the summer of 2009.
