(Inside Lacrosse Archive Photo)

As we enter the summer camp/tournament season, I thought I might offer some hints to young players with aspirations.

It will be hot and it may be taxing. Fair enough, but still, show some enthusiasm, engage your teammates, be supportive of their success, listen to your coaches. Do the little things like hustle after groundballs and ride… Communicate on defense (everyone can do that!)… Don’t be afraid to stand out from your other very cool club buddies. And, most importantly, demonstrate (or develop) an ability to pass the ball.

One of the few positive memories that remain with me following the 2016 U.S. Presidential election and accompanying political experience was hearing someone say, “You are not only responsible for what you say, you are also responsible for what people hear.” Unexpectedly, I was struck in a profound way on both a personal and professional level.

I loved my father dearly, but I grew up listening to him use a coarse language to describe people or different situations. I may have been tone deaf early in my life, and it caught me by surprise when I became uncomfortable with him talking the same way around my own children. When I admonished him, the common refrain would be “I didn’t mean it that way”. It really didn’t matter what you meant, Dad, what mattered was what people heard.

Yowzer, how does this relate to lacrosse? Well, becoming a great passer follows the same paradigm. I had a defenseman at Virginia who grew up playing hockey in New England (are you listening Matt Lovejoy?). He was especially good with the ball around his feet and could throw the ball effectively from sidearm and below. The problem was that even his well-thrown balls were hard to catch. When a middie is running up the field wondering whether he is about to have his head taken off, where the clearing spaces are and whether he may wind up with a shot at the other end, there are not enough brain cells left to track a rising fastball from across the field. He needs to see the ball early and he needs it delivered simply, to a good spot.

The great passers of my coaching lifetime — Tim Goldstein, Tim Nelson, Darren Lowe, Ryan Boyle, Conor Gill and others — threw passes that practically caught themselves. Their sense of anticipation, of luring someone to a better spot, their overhand delivery, their touch on the pass, their understanding of the subtle nuances of our game was a joy to behold. They would know their audience clearly. Did you know that all cutters are not created equal? In my world, Brad Kotz, Billy Marino, Vinny Sombrotto and Jon Reese were always open. When my college coach told our team in a huddle my sophomore year “If you see Starsia cutting to his left hand, you do not see him!” I could deal with the truth and the indignity. I can still picture myself refereeing scrimmages at Brown and left to marvel at Darren Lowe’s ignoring some open cutters while mining for a better option.

To young players everywhere, whether you are going off to camp, trying to figure out this game or hoping to get recruited at the next level, work on becoming an effective/better passer. Not a single one of those guys in the previous paragraph who would have been a threat in a fastest shot contest. We spend way too much time with that phenomenon and an obsession with it has stunted the growth of many young players. Learn to pass, learn to pass off the dodge, off the ground, when someone is hanging on your arm. You may find that you have to tighten your pocket some in order to deliver an accurate overhand pass… Good! Go ahead, dazzle me with your consistency. We are almost always admonishing young offensive players to throw the ball harder early in their college careers, and it is hard to do that with those baggy, low-set pockets. You can shoot it hard at a 6x6 target but, it is a greater challenge to deliver a crisp, accurate pass to a moving target. You will find that you become a better shooter/scorer by becoming a better passer.

I had some wonderful and poignant conversations with “Big Dom” in his late years and will always admire the player who executes a well-thrown pass. Drink plenty of fluids, don’t be “too cool for school” and enjoy the 2017 summer season!