Multi-sport athletes

HS Boys Lacrosse
Laxxal22
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Multi-sport athletes

Post by Laxxal22 »

Everyone preaches the importance of lacrosse players being multi-sport athletes. What varsity sports are most popular for lacrosse players in the fall & spring in the region/state/league that you follow?

In the ISL football is the most popular. Due to roster size, and because it's still mostly just a late summer-fall commitment in New England, you see a lot of really good lacrosse players also having an impact on the gridiron. For the guys who focused on football, not many of the league's D1prospects play lacrosse but loads of NESCAC guys do. 

Second is hockey. The league has some very strong programs, and a good number of college hockey prospects play lacrosse as their second sport - though D1 guys are historically about 50/50on playing senior year. On the flip side of that, some of the league's best lacrosse players are contributors to their hockey teams. I think hockey players see value in cross-training between the two sports, and spring is the season when players are encouraged to be off skates for a bit.

Apart from a few schools, there isn't much crossover from soccer to lacrosse, and perhaps even less from basketball. It's pretty rare to see All-League players from either sport on the lacrosse field. My guess is that at the private/prep level in these sports a lot of the kids are specialists and play club/AAU outside of the high school season. 

For individual sports you definitely see wrestling, skiing, and squash represented. Obviously the second two are niche offerings, but squash players can be deadly off ball/inside finishers, and skiers not surprisingly often have a great change of direction and dodging ability.

Like everywhere, three-sport varsity athletes are pretty rare. Soccer, hockey, lacrosse seems to be the most common involving team sports. A few football, wrestling, lacrosse animals out there as well.
PrimeTime21
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Re: Multi-sport athletes

Post by PrimeTime21 »

If you can pick sport to be really good at it would never be lacrosse.

The best lax players are hockey players. If you got weak bendy ankles but nice mitts you can play Attack. If you got stone hands but a high compete level you can crush as a DMid.

Best thing about hockey. If you’re really good at it you’re a millionaire by 19. Try to make 30k maybe playing lax.
Oldbarndog
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Re: Multi-sport athletes

Post by Oldbarndog »

Not so sure. My son was a three sport NE WEST 1 athlete. Soccer, hoops, lax. Transfer of training, skills wise, was pretty big, especially off ball both offensively and defensively. Basketball most of all.
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DeepPocket
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Re: Multi-sport athletes

Post by DeepPocket »

The biggest factor in most cases is the playing season. You won’t see too many players in both baseball & lacrosse simply because at the high school varsity level it is extremely difficult to devote the amount of time and practice needed to be COMPETITIVE at both during the spring season.

Nationally speaking, many schools just flat out don’t have hockey (as with lacrosse). So while this maybe the closest comparable sport in playing surface lay out and skill set, you may not see the crossover as frequently among lacrosse players on the national scale. (I know that there are regions where this is strongly represented however)

Truth be told in most cases a natural athlete will be, at the very least, serviceable at any sport they are exposed to and devote enough time to understand. They will also most certainly be in better shape and have a better “body sense” as they enter the lacrosse season, regardless of what the other sport they played was.

Another hurdle is that in some sports, body types factor in as the level of play increases (see football and basketball). This becomes an even bigger issue, regardless of the athlete’s skill level, the more competitive the school is at the particular sport.
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Typical Lax Dad
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Re: Multi-sport athletes

Post by Typical Lax Dad »

Laxxal22 wrote: Fri Oct 18, 2019 8:14 am Everyone preaches the importance of lacrosse players being multi-sport athletes. What varsity sports are most popular for lacrosse players in the fall & spring in the region/state/league that you follow?

In the ISL football is the most popular. Due to roster size, and because it's still mostly just a late summer-fall commitment in New England, you see a lot of really good lacrosse players also having an impact on the gridiron. For the guys who focused on football, not many of the league's D1prospects play lacrosse but loads of NESCAC guys do. 

Second is hockey. The league has some very strong programs, and a good number of college hockey prospects play lacrosse as their second sport - though D1 guys are historically about 50/50on playing senior year. On the flip side of that, some of the league's best lacrosse players are contributors to their hockey teams. I think hockey players see value in cross-training between the two sports, and spring is the season when players are encouraged to be off skates for a bit.

Apart from a few schools, there isn't much crossover from soccer to lacrosse, and perhaps even less from basketball. It's pretty rare to see All-League players from either sport on the lacrosse field. My guess is that at the private/prep level in these sports a lot of the kids are specialists and play club/AAU outside of the high school season. 

For individual sports you definitely see wrestling, skiing, and squash represented. Obviously the second two are niche offerings, but squash players can be deadly off ball/inside finishers, and skiers not surprisingly often have a great change of direction and dodging ability.

Like everywhere, three-sport varsity athletes are pretty rare. Soccer, hockey, lacrosse seems to be the most common involving team sports. A few football, wrestling, lacrosse animals out there as well.
It's difficult to play high level soccer and high level lacrosse, largely due to the commitment needed to excel at soccer. My son was an ACC soccer recruit but decided on lacrosse. His last two years of high school his focus was lacrosse but up until Spring of his sophomore year in high school, he played far more soccer than lacrosse. The amount of time needed to excel at lacrosse is exaggerated. You can find time to improve as a player without playing a ton of club lacrosse in the fall. In any sport, it's what you do with your free time outside of structured practice/training that determines success.
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whodatsay
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Re: Multi-sport athletes

Post by whodatsay »

Honestly, any athlete from a non-spring sport brings some value to lacrosse.

Football and soccer are great for the fall, what stinks is here in Virginia, public HS soccer is played in the spring so athletes are lost that way. The overall toughness and athleticism for football players equates to great lacrosse players. Soccer players and their agility make for great offense lacrosse players with excellent footwork.

Basketball, wrestling and hockey are great in the winter. Basketball players add in that athleticism and overall IQ concept that translates perfectly to how lacrosse defense is played. Wrestling is great for faceoff men and guys who just want the best conditioning possible to get in shape for lacrosse. Wrestling also develops your mental toughness as it really breaks you down or builds you up as an athlete, it erases a lot of doubts about yourself. Hockey guys are my favorite lacrosse players as they are always the toughest grunt work guys and make excellent DMids. Never complain and just the right kind of chippiness on the field. Game concepts translate well also to lacrosse.

I personally also think a sport like golf helps your concentration and mental game, plus it's just awesome to play golf even if you are bad at it. Track can be great for working on running form and such, but I personally think because lacrosse is never played in a straight line, track can be devious in prepping you properly for lacrosse.

Biggest thing is making sure kids do another sport somewhere and playing to be competitive. Competing in other areas is always wanted and it gets rid of the burnout of always playing lacrosse. Kids, parents and lacrosse coaches also need to get rid of the injury fear. Injuries can happen everywhere and at anytime, not just in sports. Most injuries I have seen occur come from football and skiing on a weekend trip. The constant grind and wear and tear of football causes it, and skiing injures kids because they think they are invincible and they will try anything on the slopes.

A great point was made about playing at a high level of multiple sports. If you athlete is high level at both, then you shouldn't need to worry as much as you are. The colleges will find you and ultimately the player will make a decision on which sport they want to play and ultimately the players has to sacrifice some sport in the offseason if they want to play for their school. Any good coach will steer them in the right direction and give them an honest opinion of their skill set and where they belong on the college level. The player needs to honest with themselves as well and understand that if they are 5'10" they probably aren't getting a bball scholarship, if they are 160 lbs. they aren't going to be recruited heavily in football, etc. etc. etc. Lacrosse is one of those sports where many size sets fits the game. If you are an athlete, a good lacrosse coach will put you somewhere of value on the field.
Typical Lax Dad
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Re: Multi-sport athletes

Post by Typical Lax Dad »

whodatsay wrote: Mon Oct 21, 2019 8:50 am Honestly, any athlete from a non-spring sport brings some value to lacrosse.

Football and soccer are great for the fall, what stinks is here in Virginia, public HS soccer is played in the spring so athletes are lost that way. The overall toughness and athleticism for football players equates to great lacrosse players. Soccer players and their agility make for great offense lacrosse players with excellent footwork.

Basketball, wrestling and hockey are great in the winter. Basketball players add in that athleticism and overall IQ concept that translates perfectly to how lacrosse defense is played. Wrestling is great for faceoff men and guys who just want the best conditioning possible to get in shape for lacrosse. Wrestling also develops your mental toughness as it really breaks you down or builds you up as an athlete, it erases a lot of doubts about yourself. Hockey guys are my favorite lacrosse players as they are always the toughest grunt work guys and make excellent DMids. Never complain and just the right kind of chippiness on the field. Game concepts translate well also to lacrosse.

I personally also think a sport like golf helps your concentration and mental game, plus it's just awesome to play golf even if you are bad at it. Track can be great for working on running form and such, but I personally think because lacrosse is never played in a straight line, track can be devious in prepping you properly for lacrosse.

Biggest thing is making sure kids do another sport somewhere and playing to be competitive. Competing in other areas is always wanted and it gets rid of the burnout of always playing lacrosse. Kids, parents and lacrosse coaches also need to get rid of the injury fear. Injuries can happen everywhere and at anytime, not just in sports. Most injuries I have seen occur come from football and skiing on a weekend trip. The constant grind and wear and tear of football causes it, and skiing injures kids because they think they are invincible and they will try anything on the slopes.

A great point was made about playing at a high level of multiple sports. If you athlete is high level at both, then you shouldn't need to worry as much as you are. The colleges will find you and ultimately the player will make a decision on which sport they want to play and ultimately the players has to sacrifice some sport in the offseason if they want to play for their school. Any good coach will steer them in the right direction and give them an honest opinion of their skill set and where they belong on the college level. The player needs to honest with themselves as well and understand that if they are 5'10" they probably aren't getting a bball scholarship, if they are 160 lbs. they aren't going to be recruited heavily in football, etc. etc. etc. Lacrosse is one of those sports where many size sets fits the game. If you are an athlete, a good lacrosse coach will put you somewhere of value on the field.
Very good insight. The bolded section in particular. Nothing can replace real competition.
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kramerica.inc
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Re: Multi-sport athletes

Post by kramerica.inc »

"Biggest thing is making sure kids do another sport somewhere and playing to be competitive."

This is incredibly true. As a former coach in the MIAA, we saw it all the time. The kids that were just lacrosse players were generally on the back half of our roster. The kids who were multi-sport athletes- the ones who played football, soccer, basketball, wrestling, hockey, volleyball, cross country, golf etc were our top players.

Another reason to take the fall NHSLS results with a grain of salt. Most of the best players on each team are playing soccer, football and volleyball right now.
Typical Lax Dad
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Re: Multi-sport athletes

Post by Typical Lax Dad »

kramerica.inc wrote: Mon Oct 21, 2019 11:20 am "Biggest thing is making sure kids do another sport somewhere and playing to be competitive."

This is incredibly true. As a former coach in the MIAA, we saw it all the time. The kids that were just lacrosse players were generally on the back half of our roster. The kids who were multi-sport athletes- the ones who played football, soccer, basketball, wrestling, hockey, volleyball, cross country, golf etc were our top players.

Another reason to take the fall NHSLS results with a grain of salt. Most of the best players on each team are playing soccer, football and volleyball right now.
So true.......One of my other rules..... unless the player is Canadian, I would never recruit a player based on fall lacrosse tournaments. The other is I would never recruit a kid early if he is 18 months older than the competition. It is fool's gold. People say "he has d-1 size".... you just end up with another average size D-1 player standing on the sidelines.....
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Laxxal22
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Re: Multi-sport athletes

Post by Laxxal22 »

Typical Lax Dad wrote: Mon Oct 21, 2019 3:32 pm One of my other rules..... unless the player is Canadian, I would never recruit a player based on fall lacrosse tournaments. The other is I would never recruit a kid early if he is 18 months older than the competition. It is fool's gold. People say "he has d-1 size".... you just end up with another average size D-1 player standing on the sidelines.....
Fall lacrosse is pretty terrible. Might be better off recruiting an athlete based on film from football than a kid who stands out on a freezing November day against weak competition.

To your second point, and I think I mentioned this on the reclass thread, kids who mature early physically and also reclass early set themselves uo to be high school heroes and college bench warmers. Beating up on younger kids when you should be challenging yourself against older kids stunts development.
Typical Lax Dad
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Re: Multi-sport athletes

Post by Typical Lax Dad »

Laxxal22 wrote: Tue Oct 22, 2019 8:21 am
Typical Lax Dad wrote: Mon Oct 21, 2019 3:32 pm One of my other rules..... unless the player is Canadian, I would never recruit a player based on fall lacrosse tournaments. The other is I would never recruit a kid early if he is 18 months older than the competition. It is fool's gold. People say "he has d-1 size".... you just end up with another average size D-1 player standing on the sidelines.....
Fall lacrosse is pretty terrible. Might be better off recruiting an athlete based on film from football than a kid who stands out on a freezing November day against weak competition.

To your second point, and I think I mentioned this on the reclass thread, kids who mature early physically and also reclass early set themselves uo to be high school heroes and college bench warmers. Beating up on younger kids when you should be challenging yourself against older kids stunts development.
I don't know why more lacrosse players don't play up. A friends son is doing just that. A full year young for his grade and he is a 2024. Just came back from a NE Prep showcase for 2022s and 2023s. That is what good players should be doing. I am biased as my son was very very young for his grade and always played up. He had a chance to play two years up for club lacrosse but decided to play with his friends. Except for two years of club soccer, he always played up. Played on age for 2 years (U12 & U13) after always playing up because the coach was exceptional. When coach moved on, he skipped U14 and played U15 and level did not drop. The game was actually easier as he had more help. There is nothing like pure competition. Canadian Jr A leagues breed competition. Much better than summer club tournament play.
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ohmilax34
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Re: Multi-sport athletes

Post by ohmilax34 »

Typical Lax Dad wrote: Tue Oct 22, 2019 10:17 am
Laxxal22 wrote: Tue Oct 22, 2019 8:21 am
Typical Lax Dad wrote: Mon Oct 21, 2019 3:32 pm One of my other rules..... unless the player is Canadian, I would never recruit a player based on fall lacrosse tournaments. The other is I would never recruit a kid early if he is 18 months older than the competition. It is fool's gold. People say "he has d-1 size".... you just end up with another average size D-1 player standing on the sidelines.....
Fall lacrosse is pretty terrible. Might be better off recruiting an athlete based on film from football than a kid who stands out on a freezing November day against weak competition.

To your second point, and I think I mentioned this on the reclass thread, kids who mature early physically and also reclass early set themselves uo to be high school heroes and college bench warmers. Beating up on younger kids when you should be challenging yourself against older kids stunts development.
I don't know why more lacrosse players don't play up. A friends son is doing just that. A full year young for his grade and he is a 2024. Just came back from a NE Prep showcase for 2022s and 2023s. That is what good players should be doing. I am biased as my son was very very young for his grade and always played up. He had a chance to play two years up for club lacrosse but decided to play with his friends. Except for two years of club soccer, he always played up. Played on age for 2 years (U12 & U13) after always playing up because the coach was exceptional. When coach moved on, he skipped U14 and played U15 and level did not drop. The game was actually easier as he had more help. There is nothing like pure competition. Canadian Jr A leagues breed competition. Much better than summer club tournament play.
TLD, I like your rules for recruiting. One way I look at it is, how emotionally invested a player is in the outcome of a game or tournament. In Canadian box leagues, when a team wins a tournament, it's a big effing deal to them. When Baltimore Crabs win a summer tournament, I'm guessing they jog to their goalie and dap their teammates. It's a big difference with the level of intensity that the players are playing in.

I wonder which college coaches attend the most spring HS games.
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Dip&Dunk
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Re: Multi-sport athletes

Post by Dip&Dunk »

Just going to put it out there. Son got non-sports related concussion and we stopped football immediately. Lacrosse was/is his sport and we did not want to risk another. I know the first concussion had nothing to do with football and you can just as easily get a concussion in lax but we decided no more football. He just played lax, was recruited, plays DI and has started since being a freshman. (and no other concussions, knock on wood)
whodatsay
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Re: Multi-sport athletes

Post by whodatsay »

Dip&Dunk wrote: Fri Oct 25, 2019 11:19 am Just going to put it out there. Son got non-sports related concussion and we stopped football immediately. Lacrosse was/is his sport and we did not want to risk another. I know the first concussion had nothing to do with football and you can just as easily get a concussion in lax but we decided no more football. He just played lax, was recruited, plays DI and has started since being a freshman. (and no other concussions, knock on wood)
Understandable as I have seen way too many concussions come from football. At least he can say that he tried it and it wasn't the right fit/didn't want to hurt his potential future in another sport. High School is truly the last time a kid can play anything he wants in organized sports because after that it's gone or full devotion to one in college. Would hate for any kid to look back with regrets of not trying a sport they wanted to do.

Just curious how the football coaches reacted to your son quitting? If he is a D1 player starting as a freshman I am going to assume he was talented at football also in some capacity. I see tons of football coaches pushing the "gotta be a multi-sport athlete" quota these days and I think that is only because they are losing out to kids being 1 sport focused and they are now losing kids in droves. I guess all those years of pushing kids to do football only and lift only in the off-season is coming back to bite them. Not trying to rag on football as I love it and used to coach it, but I find a lot of them hypocritical these days based off of past experiences.
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Dip&Dunk
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Re: Multi-sport athletes

Post by Dip&Dunk »

Football coach was not too pissed. He wanted year around commitment too but that was not going to happen.
Surfs_Up
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Re: Multi-sport athletes

Post by Surfs_Up »

Supporting Multi-sport athletes to a football coach means running track in the spring. Otherwise, they are not so supportive. At least what I have seen in TExas. It’s not overly overt, but it is subtle in how it is not supported.
SpinalTap14
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Re: Multi-sport athletes

Post by SpinalTap14 »

D & D, it is too bad your son stopped playing football. Even if he “starts for D1 lax”, he probably would be a better college player by participating in 4 years of HS football. If this “D1” program is legit, you can bet the rent your son is surrounded by former HS football athletes who benefited from the daily grind and competitiveness you can get on the gridiron. And you used the pronoun “WE” regarding the decision to quit football. My advice is to let your kid make his own decisions and just enjoy being his dad and not his Agent.
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Dip&Dunk
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Re: Multi-sport athletes

Post by Dip&Dunk »

SpinalTap14 wrote: Sun Oct 27, 2019 7:02 am D & D, it is too bad your son stopped playing football. Even if he “starts for D1 lax”, he probably would be a better college player by participating in 4 years of HS football. If this “D1” program is legit, you can bet the rent your son is surrounded by former HS football athletes who benefited from the daily grind and competitiveness you can get on the gridiron. And you used the pronoun “WE” regarding the decision to quit football. My advice is to let your kid make his own decisions and just enjoy being his dad and not his Agent.
Your "legit" inference is noted without comment.

On your 4 years of football claim, I cannot prove or disprove a hypothetical. I can however prove he did not have another concussion due to football.

He is not my first child or even my second child. And I have no secret sauce for parenting advice. I do know the "WE" will always stand.
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DeepPocket
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Re: Multi-sport athletes

Post by DeepPocket »

Dip&Dunk wrote: Mon Oct 28, 2019 11:10 am Your "legit" inference is noted without comment.

On your 4 years of football claim, I cannot prove or disprove a hypothetical. I can however prove he did not have another concussion due to football.

He is not my first child or even my second child. And I have no secret sauce for parenting advice. I do know the "WE" will always stand.
Well said. Everyone else always “could’ve done it better” (in their own mind). My father is a former D1 athlete, and when I got a nasty concussion in a D3 lacrosse practice, I trusted his insight. That was that I only have one body and mind, and that’s what was going to pay my bills, not lacrosse. At a time when concussions weren’t really a “big deal,” I’m glad I had an opportunity to play in college, and I’m glad I listened to my father’s suggestion, because WE were right.
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SpinalTap14
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Re: Multi-sport athletes

Post by SpinalTap14 »

Did not intend to diminish the importance of fatherly advice, which is much different than the WE mentality that many parents demonstrate in youth sports these days. In my experiences, the WE TEAMS usually include a dad who was not much of an athlete in high school, but now can relive those dismal days through their child as an advocate with a cross to bear. The dads who were great athletes in the past GET IT and would never steer their kid into a misguided direction.
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