Tennis anyone? Or lacrosse?

I got an email recently from a freshman who was inspired by an email I wrote a while ago. That email was also written to a tennis player thinking about switching to lacrosse. This time the tennis player is thinking about becoming a goalie. The following is an answer that I gave him on why I think he should switch from tennis (that is boring him, and the coach is a disaster) to lacrosse. Enjoy.

Answer:There is one major rule that I live by that I wish I knew back in high school and that is to seek out experiences that I know I would enjoy regardless of the outcome. Seriously, when we die the only thing we are going to be able to take with us is our experiences so why not load up on as many good ones as we can.

With that being said I would highly recommend you go out for lacrosse and play a little goal for a couple of reasons:

1) It's a new experience. If you feel you've had your run of tennis then why play something you are bored with when you can go play something new and exciting with your friends.

2) Yes, your tennis skills will carry over (especially if you were good playing up at the net). Your lateral agility makes you a natural to attack the ball. Just make sure you are outfitted with enough equipment that you feel safe to start. Eventually, as you get better you can shed excess equipment. But for now, pad up and stay safe. You'll get better faster if you do.

I would like to change your attitude about one thing you said, "I would personally enjoy lacrosse a lot more than tennis, I just don't want to join and be horrible since I'm not as experienced."

Prepare to be horrible. That's what new experiences are all about! If everyone could be good at everything there wouldn't be much fun in anything right? I just took up the sport of bobsled after having done the sport of luge for years. Just like your tennis carrying over to lacrosse my luge experience helped me but it was still new. And you know what I wished the most??? That I had tried bobsled much sooner and didn't wait so long! You don't want to be saying that about lacrosse.

You shouldn't worry about playing lacrosse and being bad, you should worry about playing lacrosse and being fantastic! Seriously, how pissed would you be if you realized you were a phenomenal goalie and you waited all this time to play! Get out there and play some goal and show everyone how good you are. Then write me back and tell me how much time you wasted playing tennis!:)

Kick butt Derek. I'm going to add you to my goaltending ezine. I've got a ton of articles for you on my blog to so be sure to check that out. Have a blast. And feel free to write me and tell me how it's going.

All the best,

Jonathan -
www.lacrossegoaltending.blogspot.com