Best sport as complement to lacrosse?

[socalref]

Basketball is a great game to pull guys from and a great sport to work on to improve your lacrosse, but I still think football with the long summer grind and the long fall season is the best mental and physical prep getting kids ready for the college lacrosse grind and the juggling of sports and school.

[DMac]

Back in the days of yore many football players were recruited by lacrosse coaches when they stepped on campus, didn't matter that they hadn't ever seen a stick. Football is a different kind of grind than lacrosse, much tougher on the body, extra beef is a big plus, and fleet footedness and agility are not as vital in football as they are in lacrosse. Basketball, without question, requires much more of the same skill set to play than football does.

[Chitown]

James Naismith, the inventor of basketball, was first and foremost a lacrosse player at McGill University and then at the NY Lacrosse Club. The similarities in the two sports is striking. Picks, cutting, man-to-man defense, zone defenses, full "court/field" presses, rides, clears, etc. Moving without the ball. Jump ball at midcourt V. face-offs at midfield, break downfield when the Goalie makes a save v. break down court when one of your team-mates gets a rebound, everyone touches the ball.

Wrestling is good for balance and faceoffs

If I had to prioritize , I would pick basketball

[DU-fan]

Hockey and tennis are good complements too

[SCLaxAttack]

I can't argue against basketball for field strategy and player movement, but I've seen plenty of very good basketball players who couldn't translate their basketball ability to lacrosse. It came down to hand/eye coordination and the skills necessary to catch and throw a small object into a net at the end of a stick.

While only predominantly two dimensional, the most similar sport for needing to "catch" and "throw" a small scoring object with precision to both teammates and past a goalie looking to stop that object's movement is hockey.

Could there be a reason why hockey and lacrosse are Canada's national sports?

[youthathletics]

They all complement, if the player is 'all-in' and willing to take risks to get better.

My .02 cents.

IMO, its hoops, football, soccer/hockey. But how it compliments once in college is often determined by the coach and their system.

Someone like Ryan Conrad The Swiss Army analogy. Played Lax, Soccer, and hoops. and the UVA system under Lars complimented the "let em run' schematic.

By comparison, a Duke system seems predicated on physicality, so Football likely compliments as the one-seed.
Another would be Denver, where possession and precision seems the predicate. so a dedication to lax (indoor/outdoor)and hockey seem to be the focus

[Laxfan#1969]

Basketball

Agree....point guard action...dribble with head up, defenders on you, gotta keep moving, run an offense and move the ball...makes for a great attackman...

[DMac]

Back in the old days a whole lot of HS kids played three sports, I was one of them. Practice started for hoops before football ended and same with lacrosse before hoops ended. Football did little to help you when going from the field to the court, but basketball definitely helped you when going from the court to the lacrosse field. You're pretty much in game playing shape when going from hoops to lacrosse, not so much when going from football to hoops. Aint no stoppin' every 5-6 seconds in hoops like in football. Never played hockey but it's not hard to see where those skills are going to help you on a lacrosse field.

[molo]

The team sports referenced here all relate well to lax strategies, but I like MD's comments about wrestling and cross country, sports that build conditioning and mental toughness even though the specifics are not comparable to ball sports. Wrestling clearly relates to face-offs, and when I coached at a school that didn't have a huge tradition in a lot of sports but consistently excelled in wrestling, I always tried to grab a few wrestlers for my team simply because at that school they knew how to win.
Distance running definitely preserved my physical health and fortified what some who know me may not deem that solid a level of mental health. I can still remember blowing a halftime lead against an archrival in the late 70s and getting up the next morning to run 10 miles to try to alleviate the sting of defeat. It provided a modicum of relief.

[flyerfan17]

Basketball - spacing, picks, teamwork
Hockey - speed of play, spacing, coordination (hands and feet)
Golf - mental, hands
Soccer - spacing, endurance

Hockey helps with handling ground balls in traffic. Too much hockey will screw up your running. Many hockey players shuffle their feet when they run.

I guess the fact lacrosse happens a little slower than hockey but is essentially the same game on grass, albeit with a much bigger space to operate helps make up for that feet shuffle thing...

[Dr. Pretorious]

Basketball takes the most athleticism of any sport. The offensive and defensive patterns are the same for hoops as lacrosse. Pressing and beating the press in basketball are like riding and clearing.

“Basketball takes the most athleticism of any sport.”

Not to detract from basketball in any way (not looking to trigger the hoops aficionados) but ice hockey has to merit serious consideration: playing a full contact, lacrosse-like game while skating 10 to 15 mph down the ice with defenders trying to take you down. And then of course you have to also actually handle the puck, make passes, set up shots on goal, etc. Gotta at least be in the discussion, no?

[Wheels]

Basketball takes the most athleticism of any sport. The offensive and defensive patterns are the same for hoops as lacrosse. Pressing and beating the press in basketball are like riding and clearing.

“Basketball takes the most athleticism of any sport.”

Not to detract from basketball in any way (not looking to trigger the hoops aficionados) but ice hockey has to merit serious consideration: playing a full contact, lacrosse-like game while skating 10 to 15 mph down the ice with defenders trying to take you down. And then of course you have to also actually handle the puck, make passes, set up shots on goal, etc. Gotta at least be in the discussion, no?

Which player would adapt and succeed more easily if they switched sports: a basketball player playing hockey or a hockey player playing basketball? Hockey players keep the stick in their strong hand only. That right there knocks hockey players down a few spots on the list. Hockey players make for great golfers! I love hockey, too. The toughness and flow of hockey definitely add something to a lacrosse player's overall ability. Probably even more so for box.

The best athletes in the world right now are in the NBA. Strength, speed, quickness, jumping, ambidextrous. The game itself in terms of offense and defense are so similar to lacrosse.

[DMac]

Basketball takes the most athleticism of any sport.

Highly debatable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5GW5K0P4iU
I get a kick out of the big to do made of Mahome's ability to throw the ball from so many different positions/angles. Any good athlete should be able to throw the ball like that, and if a QB can't he should be sent to infielders camp to play five hundred DP balls from second, and five hundred DP balls from short. Football minds are so clogged with planted feet and square shoulders they don't much think innovation and creativity. They're lacking in a little creativity in many phases of the game, IMO. Conventional wisdom in the football world is to punt from your own forty on fourth and one. Not me, aint doin' that.

Edit: Yes, the NBA and lacrosse are similar, particularly since cradling has become a part of basketball.

[Carroll81]

Basketball takes the most athleticism of any sport. The offensive and defensive patterns are the same for hoops as lacrosse. Pressing and beating the press in basketball are like riding and clearing.

“Basketball takes the most athleticism of any sport.”

Not to detract from basketball in any way (not looking to trigger the hoops aficionados) but ice hockey has to merit serious consideration: playing a full contact, lacrosse-like game while skating 10 to 15 mph down the ice with defenders trying to take you down. And then of course you have to also actually handle the puck, make passes, set up shots on goal, etc. Gotta at least be in the discussion, no?

Which player would adapt and succeed more easily if they switched sports: a basketball player playing hockey or a hockey player playing basketball? Hockey players keep the stick in their strong hand only. That right there knocks hockey players down a few spots on the list. Hockey players make for great golfers! I love hockey, too. The toughness and flow of hockey definitely add something to a lacrosse player's overall ability. Probably even more so for box.

The best athletes in the world right now are in the NBA. Strength, speed, quickness, jumping, ambidextrous. The game itself in terms of offense and defense are so similar to lacrosse.

Gotta agree with the Dr. here. I'd add toughness (playing while injured). When basketball allows body checking, then I'll give you the string hand only argument

[10 10 2]

Jai alai or Gaelic hurling skills seem like they would transfer over well to lacrosse.

[bearlaxfan]

The team sports referenced here all relate well to lax strategies, but I like MD's comments about wrestling and cross country, sports that build conditioning and mental toughness even though the specifics are not comparable to ball sports. Wrestling clearly relates to face-offs, and when I coached at a school that didn't have a huge tradition in a lot of sports but consistently excelled in wrestling, I always tried to grab a few wrestlers for my team simply because at that school they knew how to win.
Distance running definitely preserved my physical health and fortified what some who know me may not deem that solid a level of mental health. I can still remember blowing a halftime lead against an archrival in the late 70s and getting up the next morning to run 10 miles to try to alleviate the sting of defeat. It provided a modicum of relief.

Wrestling~faceoff link may become less significant if the SNG faceoff rules work as hoped, but wrestling experience can also be helpful for attackmen in the Rambo, Molloy tradition. Physical contact, leverage, power combined with quick reactions.

[Laxxal22]

The closest sport in terms of concepts and strategies is basketball imo. I've never played organized hoop but can hang in a pick up game just knowing concepts like pick and roll, give and go, getting to the hole in transition d, etc.

For athletic traits I think it's position dependent. Wrestlers make good fogos and goalies. A point guard has a lot in common with an x attackmen. I love dmids (especially LSMs) with hockey backgrounds as their physical, killers on GBs, and are used to going hard for two minutes and then sprinting to the box. I played with an attackman/skier who raced moguls competitively and his change of direction made defenders look foolish and he was incredible at finishing in tight spaces.

[runrussellrun]

Rugby !


Gives you that "F-all" domain to abuse the body, giving a lacrosse player, both genders, great confidence to succeed. Especially first in on a Ruck.

pretty positive compliment .

Red....and green....are complimentary colors. Completely different look. Yet, compliment each other.

Unfortunate last name, but one of the best ever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FG6IwlFfLmU

[Slim]

use to be basketball was a good transfer of skills and concepts. still is in many ways.

that being said, personally I think ice hockey is the best transfer to lacrosse these days.

[jersey shore lax]

Basketball - spacing, picks, teamwork
Hockey - speed of play, spacing, coordination (hands and feet)
Golf - mental, hands
Soccer - spacing, endurance

I don't want to start poop here but the question was about sports, golf is an activity not a sport, you can not smoke while playing a sport but you can while playing golf. When Jack Nicholas was the #1 golfer in the world and he chain smoked during play, can you imagine a SSDM with a butt dangling from his mouth on the wing?