Comments on: What Would Billy Beane Say About Lacrosse Combines?

By: Timothy

Timothy — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 15:58:00 +0000

email me at timothy@smashmouthsportnetwork.com with contact info. Love to talk and we do soccer also.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 19:54:00 +0000

Very good points as usual Swanker! So here’s a question for you… Could lacrosse statistics use an overhaul, like baseball needed? Or is baseball just a stat sport, and lacrosse is not?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 19:53:00 +0000

and basketball isn’t a skill sport? Also, Will Yeatman was a good but not great college lacrosse player and is an NFL caliber athlete… so I don’t think you can say they are nowhere near one another. There is a definite difference, but I’m not sure it’s as big as you seem to think.

I’m curious about this idea though. Would a soccer combine make sense to you? Maybe not here, but in Europe? Because that is probably the ultimate skill sport. I wonder if they do that in Europe…

I’m not saying combines in lacrosse the best thing ever, but I guess I just don’t see the negativity you see in them… would love to hear more though!!!

By: Timothy

Timothy — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 19:52:00 +0000

I agree with some of what you say, but these type of combines are not for recruiting they are for the player to get a true measurement of what type of athlete they are and compare them to the best in his age group. I would not sent that report to a recruiting coach, I would work on my weaknesses and test again. As far as IQ the one complaint I recieved from a couple of the boys was, they did not like the fact they had to react to the green like instead of a sound.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 19:47:00 +0000

HA! I saw this and almost died. No one ever follows my advice! Granted you did this before I wrote the article, but I didn’t know you were doing all this. Get in touch Tim… would love to talk in more detail about these tests! Thanks for commenting.

By: Timothy

Timothy — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 19:47:00 +0000

I dont think you are getting the whole picture here. These combines are not for the coaches or recruiting or to measure if the player will be going pro. It to give the athlete an acurate assessment of where they are athleticly NOW and tell them where others are. This way if they are serious about getting better the have a map to tell them exactly what they need to work on.

And by the way, the winners came from the top rated programs.

By: Timothy

Timothy — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 19:41:00 +0000

Again another great article about testing an athletes speed and agility using tecnology and numbers. I am Tim from Smash Mouth and I did the testing at the LI combine. The suggestion Connor has, are actually what we did. We tested the kids without stick, then with sticks, then with stick and ball. We did 40 yrd, the 40 yrd after a 10 yard ground ball. We tested players 40 yards through cones, craddling and switching hands. 20 yards down tight turn and back, both sides. We tested these boys and girls for 2 hours and 10 field test. They loved it. Next testings strongest asset is their data base. They compare the athlete agains other athletes in their age group and beyond. We are very proud of the kids that came out and the overall success of the combine. You can see a short video clip and pictures on my facebook page. Smashmouthsportsnetwork.com Thanks

By: guest

guest — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 16:19:00 +0000

this will be embarrassing considering lacrosse players are nowhere near nfl or nba caliber athletes.

and lacrosse is a skill sport first and foremost so a combine isn’t even necessary.

By: Swank Lax

Swank Lax — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 16:05:00 +0000

The problem with combines in any sport is that they don’t measure IQ and feel for the game which are what separates great athletes from great lacrosse players. Could combines be useful as a supplemental recruiting tool? Perhaps. But I’d much rather go to the game tape or watch someone play live than look at them as a set of numbers and times.