Thoughts on Training Camps 2008/2009
Sometimes I forget how much my favourite lacrosse players give up just so they can play the game they love. Or how much their families & friends give up, but I was reminded recently.
The second weekend in November saw the official opening of training camp for my favourite National Lacrosse League team, the Toronto Rock. And for the first time in six years I wasn’t there. Now that surely made little difference to the guys on the floor but it annoyed the “you-know-what” out of me. I had to work. And as disappointed as I was, it got me thinking about what the players actually give up to play.
Every weekend from now until mid-December most teams in the NLL have some sort of floor time scheduled for their players and the new guys trying to make the rosters; rookies taking their first shot; guys just trying to find a spot in this ever improving, increasingly more competitive league. Each of those sessions runs around two hours of floor time. Then there is the prep, warm-up, get taped and stretched time before they even get on the floor. Plus the cool off, clean up, turn into a regular person time after. So…three hours or so right there.
Add to that the travel time. For a few guys on my team it is a few minutes. For some of them it is two to three hours one way. For some of the other teams- take Minnesota for example- guys are flying in from as far away as Victoria. The Edmonton Rush had their guys in Boise, Idaho for a weekend. The Mammoth flew their players and wanna-bes to Denver. For the boys from Toronto- a long weekend. And this is all before they even get down to business.
The season, from late December to early May, if they go all the way, requires the commitment of almost every weekend. For the players on the Rock who live in the GTA, home games mean they are actually home. But take a guy like Lewis Ratcliff. He and his wife and his baby have relocated to Toronto, from Victoria, for the winter. Saves the wear and tear of travel here every week and means he can watch Carter grow in his first year. But they have moved away from their family for over half a year. That is an enormous commitment.
Or a guy like Anthony Cosmo. This season he will likely feel like he has won the travel lottery, so to speak. For the past four seasons he has juggled a new teaching career with weekly trips to San Jose and wherever else the Stealth were playing on any given weekend. Training camp was pretty much non-existent for him. And as for team bonding. It was good thing he knew a lot of the guys he was playing with because his time with them was limited, to say the least. This year he will play for the Chicago Shamrox. At least it is only one time zone difference and a relatively short flight. And he can travel with his teammates from the GTA. But still, that commitment of almost every weekend.
These guys get paid to play. But it is by no means enough to support themselves, let alone a wife and kids. And so they all have real jobs- teacher, police office, fire fighter, tool & die maker, factory worker. You name it, there is likely a lacrosse player who does it. Some of them are lucky enough to have jobs in the lacrosse world, like Chris Driscoll who is the technical director for the Ontario Lacrosse Association. Or very a very understanding boss. Take Josh Sanderson for example. He works with his coach, who also happens to be his boss and his father. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t all kinds of manoeuvring to juggle a full time job, plus the game plus the three, soon to be four children, he and his wife have. I honestly can’t figure out how they do it sometimes.
But then I think about someone like Kim Ratcliff, who has uprooted her son to come to Toronto for the winter with her husband. Away from all of their family and close friends to follow Lewis’ dream. Or Colin Doyle who has moved himself and his wife and baby girl to the west coast for another season. Sure they have friends out there but all of their family is back in the Kitchener-Waterloo area.
So, on second thought, maybe it isn’t the players I should be most grateful to. Sure they provide me with the best entertainment in sports, at least in my humble opinion. But when I really think about it, it is their wives/girlfriends and kids and parents and close family who really give up the most so that they can follow their dream.
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And on a final note….good luck and fingers crossed for our pal Chet as he tries to crack the Shamrox lineup. They will be lucky to have a guy with a heart that size.