What to do next

I simultaneously have too many ideas and also not enough of them

Hi, all. Thanks again for subscribing to this project. I call it a project because it’s somehow become less of a newsletter and more of a paradoxical quandary.

I’m stuck at a place in my career where I am no longer an aggressive takedown artist fueled by righteousness. Of course, you already knew that, but I don’t think I knew it until today.

Because today I turned down work.

Not just any work, but the work that I built my career on - covering pro lacrosse.

It’s not that I can’t be bothered. It’s not that I don’t care. It’s not even that it’s too far of a drive.

It’s just that there are better ways for me to spend time writing about lacrosse. I know I haven’t sent out a lot of correspondence lately, but you should know it’s not for a lack of ideas or motivation - it’s a deep-rooted fear of execution. I’m also terrified of people stealing my ideas because, in small industries like lacrosse, people do that regularly and get away with it. (Welcome to being a writer.)

So, because we are all friends, I’m going to share a few ideas with you that I think are either too half-baked or too complicated to pursue with LacroCity until this point.

1. D-2 and D-3 Consultantcy

   Is that a word? I think it’s a word. And if it’s not then I’ll do a better job of explaining it. In my travels, I have talked with a lot of athletes and a handful of parents. What I have discovered is that everyone wants to go D-1. You’re shocked, take a minute to breathe before this next sentence.

   Well, guess what? Not everyone can play Division One lacrosse. Most players are better suited for a D-2 or a D-3 program. Period. Any coach that tells you otherwise is a liar or getting paid to say it. Just because you are told that you’re a D-1 prospect does not mean that you are a D-1 prospect unless the person telling you that is a current coach at a D-1 school. And even then, things could go south on that prognostication quickly.
   So, what I want to do is start counseling players and parents on a one-on-one basis on which D-2 and D-3 lacrosse programs would fit their academic and skill levels. Yes, I know you already pay clubs to do this for you. But do those clubs have over 15 years of experience researching and writing about D-2 and D-3 schools? Do they have the time to sit down with you and really get granular about five D-3 schools that offer a nursing major? Or a graphic design major? Or gender studies? Because I know what those schools are. I know how good their lacrosse programs are. I know their conferences. I know most of their coaches.
   Anyone can research 75 D-1 schools and be knowledgeable about them. I’m not that guy. I’m the D-2 and D3 guy. I always have been. I write and vote on D-2 and D-3 All-Americans. I coached D-2 and D-3 for 12 years. I am coaching kids who are far more likely to play D-2 and D-3 lacrosse than anything else.
   I can help you pick the right school and the right program.

2. Dear Kyle Advice (aka: Micro Specific Office Hours)

   I loved writing the Office Hours posts. They were fun, but more importantly, they were informational and honest - two things that are largely absent from most lacrosse content on the internet in that headspace. The problem with those posts is that I had to omit the personal context of those questions and how I approached them because I didn’t want to encroach on anyone’s identity - online or otherwise.
   So, I wanted to offer a service through Calendly where you can book me for 15 minutes to talk about any lacrosse topic you like. I would charge a very small fee for it (Time, as they say, is Venmo) but that would entitle you to that entire slot. Think about it. My enemies alone would jump at the chance to tell me how much I suck for 15 minutes. Wait. Don’t tell them about this. See, now you know why I haven’t even proposed this before. The second-guessing isn’t the problem, it’s the abuse potential that deters me.
   But I want to use my knowledge and my background to help. I feel like this is the most direct route.

3. ACLers
   When I hurt my knee last year (It’s doing great, by the way, thanks for asking) the first thing I wanted to know was how to get through it. All I wanted was to pull every string and talk to every lacrosse player - male or female - that ever went through what I was going through and ask them how they ended up on the other side. I didn’t do that because I thought it was needy and tiresome. Now that I’m nearing that other side of things, I realize that having some sort of extra support and/or stories about an injury like this would have made a difference. It still might.
   My approach would be pretty simple - ask famous and not famous lacrosse players about their knee injuries (and then expand to other serious injuries) and some of the things that they went through to get back on the field. That’s it. It sounds simple. I wanted to do it as a podcast at first, but figured that would get lost in the shuffle of things and miss the mark of casual readers. I’m bad at asking for help, so I put it off even though I really needed it. (This post is evidence of that.) If I can make things 1% better for someone going through a long recovery - it’s worth it.

4. The Academy
   This is everyone’s idea. And it is way too specific for most of you to respond to with anything more than a handwave. Know that I know that and accept the judgment before you do it.
   I want to create a curriculum for public school lacrosse players to get better. I want to teach it to coaches and apply the majority of things that we do at Hopkinton that are impactful to player development.
   And I want to do it in central New Hampshire.

   I have kicked this idea around with the Hopkinton head coach for the last few summers and he was very supportive.
   Why just public school kids in central New Hampshire though?

   Because it is a woefully underserved area. The best programs in N.H. are in the southern or eastern part of the state. They all have youth programs that teach developmental skills very early on and those initial skills set a solid foundation to build upon. A lot of the youth programs in smaller communities have to combine towns just to field teams. And most of those teams are coached by dads who take online courses to be certified. There is nothing inherently wrong with that. But if you had a choice between a guy who has coached lacrosse for 20 years and your neighbor who just completed an online course - who would you choose? What if the neighbor was being instructed by the other guy?
   If I create this and implement it, I can scale it for even more underserved areas in other states and regions. I like how we teach the game. Why not share it on a larger scale?

Right now, those are the four tracks. All I want you to do is vote for your favorite idea with a number. Just comment 1, 2, 3, or 4 on this post. Alternatively, you can shoot me an email or DM and I’ll tally them up and that’s the next project. You have a say.

In addition, if you have anything else you want me to write about that is not these options - send that to me as well. This is a great community and I want to serve you better.

I need to serve you better.