[quote=Anonymous]I have never been in involved in a sport (lacrosse) where everyone has such a expectation of being a college player. Overall a true lack of elite athletes playing the lacrosse game. For the most part they are good, but undersized athletes of upper middle class to wealthy kids excelling due to their parents means and lack of true athletic competition from the masses.
It sounds like you stopped following the sport in 1980, a lot has changed since then
Well I think there are more kids playing the game but overall still the same type of kid playing the game. If you look at a football field or a basketball court and compare its not even close. I will give you a increase of 15% better athletes compared to the 80'S.
But lacrosse is still what I would call a skill sport. If you put in the time with practice you can become an above avg player and not be a great athlete.
Being a top 10 tennis player means being able to afford going to a tennis academy and spending $100K a year on instruction and events. Being a top 10 at skiing is close to the same. There are alpine prep schools now. Ditto equestrian. Lacrosse isn't as hysterical in terms of those costs, but the PP is correct. The college rosters today are mostly clogged with wealthier class white kids who'd never be a collegiate athlete in a more widely competed sport. Look at the athletes in division 1 soccer, basketball, football, swimming, etc. Sports where you're not having kids smoked out of the sport for not being able to pay large amounts and sports that are competed in all 50 states by millions of kids. A division 1 athlete in those sports is just that. A division 1 lacrosse player is at least in part a kid whose parents were able to underwrite the privileged pass through all this club, prep school and showcase crap. I mean sure, these kids do practice up and get their passions pointed into a sport but let's not fail to acknowledge the reality. It's a sport parents and other enablers pay for and fix for kids who are enabled all the way through.
You are partially correct and partially incorrect. Every competitive sport you mentioned - lacrosse, football, swimming, basketball, etc. - has kids who are getting seen because of the fact that their parents are able to afford recruiting and special training to give their child higher visibility, get them into a top D1 program, and possibly a professional career. There are also many more kids who are better football players, basketball players, swimmers, and likely lacrosse players who will NEVER be seen or recruited because they don't have the means or connections. The only certainly in athletics is that there is ALWAYS SOMEONE BETTER THAN YOU - no matter WHAT sport you play. If you believe anything otherwise, you're a fool. I can GUARANTEE you that if you take a top program D1 middie, he will run CIRCLES athletically around many D1 football players, quicker and faster on and off the field, with much more stamina. To call accomplished lacrosse players "non-athletes" is simply ignorant. Find me a football player or basketball player or swimmer that can get out on the field with Kyle Harrison/Paul Rabil/Greg Gurenlian/you fill in the blank and even run with them the whole game, let alone have the hand/eye quickness and coordination to pass, catch, and shoot a ball at 90 miles an hour with guys hammering you with sticks - there isn't one. Conversely, I'm betting that those guys could get out on the football field, basketball court, or in the pool and ball and swim with the best of them. They aren't athletes? You're absolutely insane.
I am guessing people are not talking about the top 10% of the D1 lacrosse players. But what we are saying is if you take the 125th player on a D1 team and put him up to a 2nd line Middie. of a D1 lacrosse team the football player would put him to shame.
Let's pull this thread - we'll take the Greg Gilmore, 99th player on LSU, who is a 6'4" 313 lb DT, and Matt Lane, a 2nd string, 6'7" 244 lb attack at Syracuse. Matt was a U.S. Lacrosse All-American, and he also played soccer and basketball, with back-to-back state titles and posted 52 career shutouts as the goalkeeper for the Montclair Kimberley soccer team. Oh, and he also scored more than 900 points and pulled down over 1,000 rebounds in his basketball career. Greg, on the other hand, well, he played football. Oh, and he also played football. Matt runs a 40 in 4.7 seconds, Greg in 4.9. Understand this - you can look at many/most of the top D1 lacrosse team rosters, and find similar stories - multi-sport athletes, excelling in all that they play, choosing lacrosse but also having other choices available. It's a foolish statement to say that "lacrosse players are just average athletes", and makes you sound ignorant. BTW - Syracuse Lax also has roster members who were all star swimmers, first team all-state football and all-America players, etc., and that's just one D1 club. Do your research before you speak...
