So Called "Experts" Say You Need to Play Lacrosse All Year Round (and nothing else)... Well, You Actually Don't

There's a Minority of BIG Time Coaches Who Disagree

Nowadays everything is so URGENT.

"Sign up for tryouts today so that you'll have your best shot to make the fall travel team."

I see it all the time.

C'mon, the fall travel team... really??

What if you're playing a fall sport... like football or soccer?

Parents feel the pressure, and they often fall victim to it.

These same parents go on to sign their kids up for every try-out so these "potential" opportunities aren't lost.

What's happening to the three sport athlete??

The New York Times ran an article about this very topic recently.

It was talking about the Clemson vs. Ohio State playoff football game.

... and how both Urban Meyer and Dabo Swinney share a love of the multisport athlete.

(For those non-football fans, these two guys are two of the top coaches in the country.  Both probably make close to $5 million per year.)

Anyway, both Meyer and Swinney "are swimming against the tide of specialization in youth and high school sports."

They're looking for those multi-sport guys...

Coach Swinney was quoted about his own kids playing baseball...

...all my kids are multi-sport guys.  We play, and we then we shut it down so they can play football, they can play basketball, they can go play golf.

 Swinney added,

I just think that crosstraining, the different types of coaching, the different types of locker rooms, the different environments you practice in, the different challenges.  I think it develops a much a much more competitive, well-rounded type of person.

Parents should get out of the way and let kids be kids.  I think it'll all work itself out.  There's enough pressure.  If you're good enough, you're going to be good enough.

Believe me, there's tons of college lacrosse coaches who prefer multi-sport athletes as well.  

Coach Kerwick, the Cornell head coach, flat out says in the Lacrosse Recruitment Roadmap that he's looking for multi-sport guys.  Those players who've been in lots of pressure filled situations... not just on the lacrosse field.

We had several guys on our Gonzaga squad who missed the fall recruiting tournaments becasue they were playing football.

So be it.

What's gonna make you a better long-term athlete?

Playing in a football game, or playing in a shortened fall lacrosse game.

Don't stress about missing that potential "fall look."

As Dabo said, "If you're good enough, you're good enough."

One more thing to add...

How many kids who specialize in just lacrosse actually spend 2+ hours a day (6 days a week) working on it?

Probably 10%.

That's accroding to Coach Jim Berkman anyway.

By the way, Coach Berkman has won 11 National Championships at Salisbury.

It's safe to say he has an idea of what's going on.

I know he said it, becuase he shared it all in the Lacrosse Recruitment Roadmap.

So unless you're in that 10% of lacrosse players, you probably should be out there working by playing mutiple sports.

So there you have it... a little food-for-thought if you're debating whether to specialize on lacrosse only or not.