I saw a recent piece on HBO Real Sports about Tom Byers, an American soccer coach living and coaching in Japan. He has had great success with a primary emphasis on “possessing the ball” for young players. His contention is that all the other skills required for success in soccer are secondary to an inherent ability to possess the ball.  

As I was watching, it occurred to me that my recurrent message to young players is about a singular skill in our sport that may be a base requirement for proficiency in all others. I have written about the value of being a good passer and feel even more strongly about it as I consider the topic. You can’t help but learn to catch the ball with nuance if you improve your passing skills. You will become a better shooter if you can pass with touch and accuracy to a moving target. I am not sure you can play lacrosse if not an effective passer and the very best players are excellent passers.  

In recent history, two of the dominant middies in the college game, Paul Rabil and Myles Jones, became more complete players in the second half of their undergraduate careers when they added a credible passing threat to a consistent ability to get their own shot.

I have a concern for young players who become preoccupied with MLL players, trick shots and shooting in excess of 100 MPH. Their pockets are too deep, they drop the heads of their sticks before they are able and some of these youngsters cannot hit the cage in a fastest shot contest from standing two yards in front of the goal. 

I tell those same players that if the contest was overhand passing accuracy, Paul Rabil would also win that contest. I am going out on a limb here to suggest that Paul learned to master that fundamental first before dropping his hands sidearm to gain the leverage required to shoot 111 MPH. 

Learn to pass overhand – to follow through with your stick toward the target and the requisite footwork before you start dropping the head of your stick to win the fastest shot.  

Would you like to improve your chances of playing on championship weekend?

Learn to be a great passer.

I was speaking to a young man from North Carolina who was asking for advice about being recruited. It would be fair to describe him as a late bloomer, someone who had a good junior year, from an emerging area and who now felt he had the ability to play at the next level. He wanted to know if he still had a chance to be recruited. 

I told him that the second we hung up the phone, he needed to compile a list of his top schools and write a letter to each of the coaches at those institutions. Easy enough for computer-savvy prospects to personalize each one.

(Please have someone proofread the first one to each school. I can’t tell you how many letters start out with, “Coach Starsia, I am very interested in the University of Notre Dame!” It is not a deal breaker, but careless.) 

Include some basic information – school, grades, test scores, high school coach, contact information for him, club team, summer schedule, name of your club coach and his contact information also. Try to avoid subjective descriptions like, “I’m very coachable,” or “I will be a hard worker.” 

The first indication to me that you may not be coachable is that you think you are.  

In addition, for someone who has only experienced the first few years of a high school career, I’m sorry, but you have no idea about hard work. 

You can avoid these areas completely or, if you must, try, “I look forward to working with you and your staff” and/or “I would greatly look forward to being a member of your program.”

I am always much more interested in hearing about your high school football, basketball [and/or other sports’] exploits.  

“Wow, this young man was really good in this high school summer lacrosse tournament I watched and he is the starting tailback for the high school football team.”  

That would be a much more reliable indicator that you are the caliber of athlete to play at the next level. I might rather come watch you play football than another lacrosse tournament in the fall.

I tell parents all the time that the simplest way to determine whether your son can play at the highest-level Division I schools is to answer this question, “Is your son one of the best athletes at his high school, period?”

Include a highlight tape, if you have one. Three or four minutes is plenty long enough. Please consider who is listening when you pick out the accompanying music and put your best stuff at the beginning of the tape. I might not make it to the third minute if you haven’t gotten my attention pretty quickly.

While I have never seen this young man [from North Carolina] play, the answer to his question of whether he might still be recruited is answered with another question, “Are you good enough?”  

If you/he are, there are still lots of good college opportunities out there.

Enjoy the rest of the summer.