The Six Year Itch

Guest writer Parker Johnson debuts with his lacrosse journey and some sound advice for lacrosse players from the North.

My name is Parker Johnson. I am a sixth-year (yes, you read that right) attackman at the University of Indianapolis. I grew up in North Delta, British Columbia, Canada. If you watched Chaos win the 2021 PLL Championship, you are familiar with how the Canadian style impacts the field game. 

Everyone likes to play the name game with Canadians. Generally, most Canadian stereotypes are true - especially since everyone knows each other. I am not claiming to have a close friendship with any pros but when it comes to Canadian lacrosse, you can play Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. 

I grew up in the same city as Logan Schuss (Ohio State 13’, current Vancouver Warriors forward) and Tre Leclaire, who you all know as the righty gunslinger out of Ohio State. I lived across the Fraser River from Kevin Crowley (the only player to be drafted first overall in the WLA, MLL, and NLL drafts), Josh Byrne (PLL Champion), and countless other college and pro box stars. In Canadian lacrosse, a little distance can change a lot. 

Being from North Delta is difficult to understand, even for those who grew up ten minutes away from me. One of those towns is New Westminster, a lacrosse hotbed, as well as their rival city, Coquitlam, home to Wes Berg (Redwoods), Ryland Rees (Waterdogs), Ben McIntosh (also a Waterdog), and countless other Western Canadian stars. 

Fortunately, I lived within a short drive of all the best players in Western Canada. The fact that I grew up in North Delta meant that I could watch a spectacular and gritty senior box game any night of the week during the summer. That is exactly what my dad and I did at least a couple of times a week since I was nine years old. Unfortunately, I could not play for these associations.

Because North Delta had enough kids to field one team at every level, the average of the team’s skill was used to determine what level we were playing at. I ended up playing at the B level every summer because we had a lot of kids who didn’t love lacrosse, were not dedicated enough…or were not good enough. 

It seems like every player has some sob story about how they were underrated and under-appreciated. I was a B-level player with A-level dedication then, and a D2 college player with a D1 love for the game now. When I started playing field at ten years old, there was an instant desire to play as often as possible. Despite being comically bad, it was still fun! There was one kid on the team worse than me and if he was not there, I was the undisputed biggest pigeon on the field. It didn’t matter. To me, lacrosse is still the most fun a human can have. 

I kept working at it and eventually became the best player on the field and only the field. Do you know how to tell who is the undisputed pheasant on the floor? Find the kid who is scared of being hit. That kid was me. 

I eventually started looking into getting recruited. I played for the most prestigious (uh, only) club field program in BC. We had the privilege of going to tournaments on the east coast and having our asses handed to us roughly 15-3 every game by the best D1 commits the eastern seaboard had to offer. I was fortunate enough to be one of the three kids to score a goal on the coveted Crabs lacrosse club. 

This got me nowhere. 

I ended up getting recruited to attend UIndy at the Canadian field championships though I got to play with several D1 studs including Dylan Foulds, the third man on the O’Keefe/Ament line at Penn State.

I was recruited by Limestone, Mars Hill, Pfeiffer, Salisbury, UIndy, Robert Morris, and Rutgers. I played so poorly in front of RMU coaches that they stopped recruiting me. Another D1 school offered me a preferred walk-on spot at the bargain cost of roughly 50k per year. What a steal!

With all this hype building around me, I had a clear choice and went with the school that gave me an affordable offer, UIndy. I went to my high school’s head coach to seek recruiting advice. He told me that I had some interest from some good schools but I should go somewhere where I will actually touch the field. That was the last time I played or talked to him. After 3.5 years (going to be 4.5, thanks COVID) of collegiate play, starting at attack, and a triple-digit point total, I have certainly proved him wrong. 

At the end of the day, it is not the hardships that you will remember. What you will remember are the fun times you had with your teammates, on and off the field. I wrote this piece to hopefully show younger kids that if you work hard enough and enjoy the journey, you can find success. Don’t measure your success in wins and losses. Measure your success by your happiness and enjoyment.

It is not hard to find happiness on a lacrosse field.

You can follow Parker on Instagram at @parkerjohnsonjb and/or email him with questions at johnsonpt@uindy.edu.