Q&A with Major League Lacrosse Commissioner David Gross

MLL commissioner David Gross, left, with 2008 second overall draft selection Matt Danowski.

PSTV partnership is a great way to teach youth lacrosse coaches, parents and players

By Craig Haley
PlaySportsTV Managing Editor

Many of the world’s top players who star in Major League Lacrosse didn’t have professional players to look up to when they were young players just learning the sport.

MLL was founded in 1999 and played its inaugural season in 2001. David Gross, MLL commissioner since 2004, is particularly fond of how his league’s players embrace lacrosse clinics and other ways to teach the sport on the grass roots level.

In taking the concept to a higher level, MLL announced a partnership with PlaySportsTV in 2009 to provide lacrosse drills, skills and tips to coaches, parents and players in an easy-to-use, web-based format. PSTV has created a Major League Lacrosse video library of lacrosse tips to add to its many other boys’ lacrosse and girls’ lacrosse videos and articles.

The Major League Lacrosse training focuses on establishing strong lacrosse fundamentals. The many videos include stick work, footwork, passing, catching, shooting, dodges, defensive concepts and goalie play. The MLL/PSTV lineup is a virtual Who’s Who of top lacrosse players, including Jesse Hubbard, MLL’s all-time leading goal scorer; Long Island Lizards attackman Matt Danowski; Denver Outlaws goalie Jesse Schwartzman; Toronto Nationals defenseman Dan Cocoziello; Chicago Attack teammates Liam Banks and Mike Leveille; and legendary scorer Mikey Powell.

Gross discusses the MLL/PSTV partnership in a one-on-one interview:

PSTV: What are your feelings about Major League Lacrosse and PlaySportsTV working together with this video library of lacrosse tips?

Gross: We think it’s incredibly important. One of the goals of Major League Lacrosse is to expand the participants in the game. And what better way than to have the absolute best players in the whole world showing kids that want to play the game of lacrosse the proper way to do it?

PSTV: With that in mind, what advice do you have for kids interested in lacrosse?

Gross: Oh, wow, I could go on for hours and hours of advice. I think the most important thing is (to) learn all the fundamentals of the game. Understand what it takes not just from a physical standpoint, but from a mental standpoint. And never give up. There are a lot of people who bloom at later ages than others. I also urge anyone interested in playing lacrosse to play more than just lacrosse. I think anyone specializing in one sport is always to their detriment mentally and physically. I would urge them to try other sports as well because I think it would only help them as a lacrosse player.

PSTV: What do you hope MLL players can teach youth lacrosse players?

Gross: Oh, I think they have the ability to teach the players anything from the most basic move to the most complex move out there. I think our guys have the greatest knowledge of the game – what it takes – and I think the kids can relate to them better than anyone else. So we think it’s terrific that our guys were eager to help put these videos together to promote the league and to promote the sport of lacrosse.

PSTV: In what ways have you seen lacrosse change through the years?

Gross: Well, the technology has changed the sport tremendously. But the greatest thing about the game is it’s always been a bit of fraternity. Everyone loves everyone who plays the sport and everyone who’s involved in the sport is willing to do anything to help others. Again I think that’s why the players were just so eager to try and help a new generation of kids learning the game. In different levels, the game has changed; I think the game is more specialized than it was when I was a kid. And I think it’s slowed down a little bit at the college level; luckily at the pros, we have the shot clock, which keeps the pace frantic. But it’s a great game no matter how you’re playing it.

PSTV: In what ways do you see lacrosse growing on the youth level?

Gross: We really believe, even though the sport’s doubled in size over the past decade, that literally it’s the tip of the iceberg. Once that kid picks that stick up, he gets addicted to the game. It’s a positive addiction; you never want to put it down. We think this is really just the beginning of the growth spurt for the league and the sky’s the limit.

PSTV: If a youth lacrosse player has five minutes a day to work on a lacrosse drill, what would you suggest?

Gross: It depends on what level he’s at. I think for the young kid, he’s got to be able to throw and catch righty and lefty and do it on the move. I would urge them, just like all of us did as kids, go find that wall, put your helmet on, put your gloves on and just run back and forth passing and catching lefty and go righty until the stick is just is an extension of your arm.

PSTV: And how about yourself, what is it about lacrosse that attracts you?

Gross: I fell in love with the game the first time I picked up a stick. The first game I ever saw I played in. It’s been a romance for me for 25 years now. I think it’s the greatest game. It has everything a player would want and a fan would want. It’s fast-paced, there’s a tremendous amount of action, there’s a lot of hitting, it’s high scoring.

###

Photo by Joe Auriemma, courtesy of Major League Lacrosse.