The Multi-Sport Myth: Why Lacrosse Recruiting Demands Specialization
College coaches love to stand on their soapboxes and preach the virtues of the multi-sport athlete—claiming they admire the grit, the adaptability, the mental toughness that comes from competing across multiple sports. They say they love it when a kid can play lacrosse, basketball, and maybe even run track. But let’s be real: the recruiting system they’ve helped create doesn’t support that. In fact, it forces athletes into a single lane, leaving little to no room for playing anything else.
Year-Round Lacrosse: The Unspoken Requirement
Unless you live in a lacrosse hotbed, or you’re playing for one of those dynasty programs that gets every scout’s attention, the reality is simple: you’ve got to be all in on lacrosse. Year-round commitments to summer camps, fall showcases, and winter training sessions leave no room for serious participation in other sports. Want to miss an important lacrosse event for a basketball game? Good luck getting noticed. The hypocrisy is clear—the same coaches who claim to love multi-sport athletes are operating in a system that punishes them for trying to be well-rounded.
• The Machine’s Demands: Specialization is the only way to survive. If you’re not spending every waking hour improving your lacrosse skills, you’re falling behind. There’s no time to be a multi-sport athlete.
• The Few Outliers: Yes, some athletes can pull it off, but they’re rare. For most, the only way to get recruited is to dedicate yourself entirely to lacrosse.
Sacrificing More Than Just Sports
This hypocrisy doesn’t just affect the player’s athletic career—it shapes who they become off the field. Instead of developing a love for competition, for the thrill of different games, these young athletes are worn down by the endless cycle of lacrosse practices, games, and showcases. The joy of sports fades, replaced by pressure and burnout. And when their lacrosse career is over, they’re not only left as one-dimensional athletes but also as less well-rounded people. The system claims to value balance, but in reality, it demands total, unrelenting commitment to just one thing.
