I’m curious if you would consider a coach as part of “the people you’ll be surrounding yourself with”… what happens if that coach leaves? Just curious as we see this more often in football and basketball, and could see it more in lacrosse someday soon…

The years were the early 2000s, aught to oh-three to be precise, and Wesleyan was the lowest funded lacrosse team in the NESCAC. Technically speaking, we had team helmets, but not enough, so I bought my own. Standard issue white. My first year we didn’t have team gloves, so everyone just wore black gloves. If you didn’t have black gloves, the team provided standard issue all black cloth Brine gloves. I think I wore some cloth L-27s. I loved them.Then we started getting team gloves, but if you wanted them outside of Feb-May you had to buy them. We paid retail prices for custom gloves. Not that bad. The school also bought a couple extra pairs for people who wouldn’t buy them, which was about 3 guys each year. We bought new gloves every year for a while. If you wanted to wear Trace arm pads, you could get some from the equipment manager, if he liked you. If you wanted something good, you bought it. They also gave out shoulder pad liners to people the guy liked. And we got grey sweatsuits that were awful and yet awesome, but had to turn those back in. If you took them you got charged $40.We did a discounted order for sticks at the beginning of the year. 20% off maybe? or 30? I can’t remember. Back then when you broke a head you could literally take it to a store in Hartford and they would give you a brand new one. Ah, the days of great warranties. That doesn’t happen anymore.We bought our own cleats, and we also bought a pair of game shorts each year. Honestly, I felt lucky when the trainers gave us white tape to use on our sticks for free as a freshman, but by the time I finished as an assistant there, we were doing a lot more.None of this seemed weird, or wrong to me. We were playing D3 lacrosse, and we weren’t Syracuse or Maryland. Lacrosse was a privilege, and while it may have seemed like a job to some guys on the team, most just did it because they enjoyed it, and liked competing.Fast forward ten years and it’s a different world. D3 teams get way more “stuff” than they used to, although many still pay for it, and I’m sure a LOT of teams were getting way more than we were when I was there. Wesleyan, for example, is much better funded and supported now than it was when I was there. The kids currently on that team have no idea what it was like a decade ago. Kids at Middlebury in 2003 would also look at me like I was crazy, but they had an established program, so it made sense for them to get the goodies.

Do D3 teams have equipment rooms or how do you get your gear? What if a head bends past usage or breaks?

During those moments when I say to myself, “I should have gone D1″, I also think about the early morning practices, access to team weight rooms, early class registration, and all the other things you mention. I still find it attractive, and a part of me still wishes I had gone that path. A part of me also wishes I had gone to Whittier or Chapman, and another part of me wishes I had gone to the AFA. I don’t see the path I took as the perfect or preferred one, but it did work for me as an athlete, a student, and a person.

The D1 path can, and will, work for many, as it did for you. I don’t have a problem with it, or the gear. It’s just a good point to start a discussion.

Thanks for the insightful comment. I hope more people will chime in with what their experience was like so that kids and parents out there will know what to expect when Jimmy goes off to college! Thanks again.

Morning AND afternoon practices (sometimes on the same day), winter conditioning (While regular students get around a month off, we had to come back for the final three weeks to run at 7am every single day.  Many of us chose to take a 3 week compacted winter course, which took place directly after the 7am workout), and then spring practices, plus travel time were grueling.  We did not have a spring break Cabo vacation.  I feel like most people decide to play club or D3 because they want to have a “life.”  I was able to enjoy every aspect of D1 lacrosse.  My social life was enhanced because I was around some of the most competitive and accomplished people in the entire school.  

Back to the gear!  We had full-reign of whatever the heck we wanted (provided by our team sponsors).  Break a shaft, get a new one from the equipment manager.  Bend a head (didn’t even have to be broken), grab a new one.  The luxury of gear comes with the hard work one puts forth.