What's going on everybody? I know I just posted a few hours ago, but I got a message from someone that caused me to want to hop back on here and write a few things out. He stated that he wanted to hear more about my profession and responsibilities, the game of lacrosse, and how I got to where I am. He mentioned that somehow, my blogs were not making him interested in the sport at all, which is the last thing I'd want to do clearly. So, in an effort to give a bit more insight to my life and this sport, I wanted to write again.
For starters, a few people have asked, "what did you go through to get this life?" Good question. I probably had a similar path to a lot of athletes. I worked extremely hard to get better on a daily basis. Growing up in Baltimore I started playing lacrosse at a very early age (because my father played) and was fortunate enough to get looks from a handful of Division 1 schools by the time I was a junior in high school(Maryland, Virginia, UNC, Duke,etc). Ultimately, I picked (in my opinion) the best school in the world to play lacrosse, John's Hopkins University. Not only is the lacrosse program the most storied in the country, but academically, I knew I'd be challenged. I graduated in 4 years (2005) and won a National Championship my senior year (to this day, one of the best days of my life). After graduating, I was fortunate enough to make the National team, and traveled to Canada in 2006 to represent my country in the World Games. I also got drafted to play in the MLL for the New Jersey Pride.
As far as the life of a professional lacrosse player goes, it's unlike any other professional sport. There are no seven figure deals waiting for lacrosse players when we graduate college, and endorsement opportunities are difficult to come by. Professional lacrosse players play this game for FUN, not for the money (partly because it's not there!). Unlike other professional sports where you spend your year training for your season, professional lacrosse players spend our days working for a living. Most guys that play in the MLL (Major League Lacrosse) work as teachers, work on Wall Street, are in the service, are Coaches, are still in grad school, etc. It's IMPOSSIBLE to live on the money made just from playing professionally.
There are a handful of guys who work in the lacrosse business, and are able to make their living that way. My situation is a bit unique, and I'm very fortunate to be in it because I get to do what I love. When I graduated in 2005, I signed an endorsement deal with STX (the oldest and best lacrosse company, www.stx.com), as well as I signed on to be a full time employee of the company. I also signed an endoresment deal with Nike, which has been a dream of mine as far back as I can remember. My responsibilities for STX involve a lot of appearances/clinics in which I show my equipment line (as well as other STX equipment lines) and continue to spread this great game that's done so much for me (shooting/dodging demonstrations, etc). Outside of the traveling, I work directly with one of our product managers at STX and have learned how to manage my line's (K18 equipment/apparel) from start to finish, which has been difficult (with all the travel) but has proved to be very useful. I started a company with one boy's called Run N' Gun Lacrosse (www.runngunlacrosse.com), and we've got camps all over the country through out the year. Recently, I started another company called Playmaker Lacrosse, which will be a bit smaller scale, but I think the business plan looks good, we'll see.
I realize that our sport is NO WHERE near other professional sports that we all love to watch. The majority of the guys in the MLL all do camps, clinics, appearances, speak at youth leagues, and do anything else we can to continue spreading this game. At the end of the day, we're all (lacrosse players) are in this thing together and in oder to get the sport to the next level, it's extremely important for us to continue to spread this game. I'm fortunate to be able to travel around the country to area's like Texas, California, Denver and all of the other area's in which lacrosse is just catching on and continue spreading this great game.
My favortie part of playing in the MLL is that every weekend, I get to play against the very best lacrosse players in the world. The league is very small (only 10 teams) and each team is packed with incredible players. So as a competitor, it's amazing to be able to go out each week and play against the best there are.
Lacrosse has presented with me with SO many opportunities thus far in my life. Because of that, a real passion of mine is getting into the inner cities across the country to promote this game to underprivileged kids and show them the doors it can open for them. Lacrosse for LIFE (www.Lacrosseforlife.com) was a great way for me to be involved with people who had the same passion as I do. I'm excited about the move out west and being able to be heavily involved with the children. Currently, I'm in the works of putting something similar together in both Vegas and Baltimore, so I'll be sure to keep you all updated there.
The heart and soul of our game at this point in in college, and we all realize that. Memorial Day weekend, when the final four goes to a professional venue, and 55 thousand people pack in there to watch, it's the closest thing we've got to a professional sport.
Professional lacrosse is still in it's infancy stages, but it's awesome to be a part of it at this point. Hopefully when I'm older and lacrosse has gotten to the level that other professional sports are at, I'll be able to say I was a part of it at the beginning. 10 years ago, after college, there was no league (at least no organized one) for guys to aspire to play in. While we're not where we want to be as a professional sport, we still LOVE going out every Saturday from May-August and playing the sport we all fell in love with from an early age, and guys who are coming out of college have a league to aspire to play in.
Hopefully this has given a little more insight to professional lacrosse and my involvement in the game.
If you guys have any questions about lacrosse at, from people's opinion's of the sport, to the rules, or anything else you think of, feel free to write me a message, or post on the articles. It's as important for me to spread this GREAT sport on here to as many people as possible, as it is for me to keep you all informed with the crazy stuff I got going on in my life!
Have a good Friday night, I'm going to go for a run and try and enjoy a weekend in Baltimore with the family.
Oh yeah, get out to see This Christmas when you can, definitely a good one for the family.
I'll get at you soon with my funny thanksgiving stories.
KH
For starters, a few people have asked, "what did you go through to get this life?" Good question. I probably had a similar path to a lot of athletes. I worked extremely hard to get better on a daily basis. Growing up in Baltimore I started playing lacrosse at a very early age (because my father played) and was fortunate enough to get looks from a handful of Division 1 schools by the time I was a junior in high school(Maryland, Virginia, UNC, Duke,etc). Ultimately, I picked (in my opinion) the best school in the world to play lacrosse, John's Hopkins University. Not only is the lacrosse program the most storied in the country, but academically, I knew I'd be challenged. I graduated in 4 years (2005) and won a National Championship my senior year (to this day, one of the best days of my life). After graduating, I was fortunate enough to make the National team, and traveled to Canada in 2006 to represent my country in the World Games. I also got drafted to play in the MLL for the New Jersey Pride.
As far as the life of a professional lacrosse player goes, it's unlike any other professional sport. There are no seven figure deals waiting for lacrosse players when we graduate college, and endorsement opportunities are difficult to come by. Professional lacrosse players play this game for FUN, not for the money (partly because it's not there!). Unlike other professional sports where you spend your year training for your season, professional lacrosse players spend our days working for a living. Most guys that play in the MLL (Major League Lacrosse) work as teachers, work on Wall Street, are in the service, are Coaches, are still in grad school, etc. It's IMPOSSIBLE to live on the money made just from playing professionally.
There are a handful of guys who work in the lacrosse business, and are able to make their living that way. My situation is a bit unique, and I'm very fortunate to be in it because I get to do what I love. When I graduated in 2005, I signed an endorsement deal with STX (the oldest and best lacrosse company, www.stx.com), as well as I signed on to be a full time employee of the company. I also signed an endoresment deal with Nike, which has been a dream of mine as far back as I can remember. My responsibilities for STX involve a lot of appearances/clinics in which I show my equipment line (as well as other STX equipment lines) and continue to spread this great game that's done so much for me (shooting/dodging demonstrations, etc). Outside of the traveling, I work directly with one of our product managers at STX and have learned how to manage my line's (K18 equipment/apparel) from start to finish, which has been difficult (with all the travel) but has proved to be very useful. I started a company with one boy's called Run N' Gun Lacrosse (www.runngunlacrosse.com), and we've got camps all over the country through out the year. Recently, I started another company called Playmaker Lacrosse, which will be a bit smaller scale, but I think the business plan looks good, we'll see.
I realize that our sport is NO WHERE near other professional sports that we all love to watch. The majority of the guys in the MLL all do camps, clinics, appearances, speak at youth leagues, and do anything else we can to continue spreading this game. At the end of the day, we're all (lacrosse players) are in this thing together and in oder to get the sport to the next level, it's extremely important for us to continue to spread this game. I'm fortunate to be able to travel around the country to area's like Texas, California, Denver and all of the other area's in which lacrosse is just catching on and continue spreading this great game.
My favortie part of playing in the MLL is that every weekend, I get to play against the very best lacrosse players in the world. The league is very small (only 10 teams) and each team is packed with incredible players. So as a competitor, it's amazing to be able to go out each week and play against the best there are.
Lacrosse has presented with me with SO many opportunities thus far in my life. Because of that, a real passion of mine is getting into the inner cities across the country to promote this game to underprivileged kids and show them the doors it can open for them. Lacrosse for LIFE (www.Lacrosseforlife.com) was a great way for me to be involved with people who had the same passion as I do. I'm excited about the move out west and being able to be heavily involved with the children. Currently, I'm in the works of putting something similar together in both Vegas and Baltimore, so I'll be sure to keep you all updated there.
The heart and soul of our game at this point in in college, and we all realize that. Memorial Day weekend, when the final four goes to a professional venue, and 55 thousand people pack in there to watch, it's the closest thing we've got to a professional sport.
Professional lacrosse is still in it's infancy stages, but it's awesome to be a part of it at this point. Hopefully when I'm older and lacrosse has gotten to the level that other professional sports are at, I'll be able to say I was a part of it at the beginning. 10 years ago, after college, there was no league (at least no organized one) for guys to aspire to play in. While we're not where we want to be as a professional sport, we still LOVE going out every Saturday from May-August and playing the sport we all fell in love with from an early age, and guys who are coming out of college have a league to aspire to play in.
Hopefully this has given a little more insight to professional lacrosse and my involvement in the game.
If you guys have any questions about lacrosse at, from people's opinion's of the sport, to the rules, or anything else you think of, feel free to write me a message, or post on the articles. It's as important for me to spread this GREAT sport on here to as many people as possible, as it is for me to keep you all informed with the crazy stuff I got going on in my life!
Have a good Friday night, I'm going to go for a run and try and enjoy a weekend in Baltimore with the family.
Oh yeah, get out to see This Christmas when you can, definitely a good one for the family.
I'll get at you soon with my funny thanksgiving stories.
KH
