Nike SPARQ Brings Cutting Edge to Lacrosse
by C.R.Vaccaro | Special to Lacrosse Magazine Online
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Times and scores are tabulated for 31 Long Island high
school players Saturday at the first-ever Nike SPARQ combine
for lacrosse. Recruiting officials and participants say this kind
of combine can help quantify a prospect for college coaches.
(Photo: John Mecionis)
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Photo Gallery
HAUPPAUGE, N.Y.-- Acting as pioneers in the venture to
merge Nike’s SPARQ training with lacrosse, 31 high school
players from Long Island participated Saturday in the first
lacrosse combine of its kind.
At Fast-Edge Sports Performance in Hauppauge, N.Y., area girls'
and boys' lacrosse players, 26 of which hail from Suffolk County,
took to a four-station training grid designed to measure speed,
power, agility, reaction and quickness.
“This will make the sport of lacrosse on the forefront of
something,” said Kory Angelin, president of Fast-Edge.
“It’s comparable to what the NFL combine
has.”
Through a 20-yard sprint, a vertical jump, a 5-10-10-5 shuttle run
with a stick and a rotational powerball throw, the athletes trained
and will eventually get scientific rating numbers based on their
performances.
Angelin, who was contacted by SPARQ because of his company’s
progressive speed and agility training tactics, said the next step
in the combine process is to host an event at a large venue,
accompanied with multiple training stations, hundreds of athletes
and college coaches.
Coming from all parts of Long Island, most of the players were
from successful high school programs, including eight from Ward
Melville, nine from St. Anthony’s and one from Garden
City.
With its sport-specific averages and training methods, Nike has
used SPARQ to measure overall athleticism in football, baseball,
basketball, hockey and soccer. LacrosseRecruits.com, a budding new
Web-based firm designed to facilitate high school lacrosse
recruiting for coaches and players, was on hand to show how easy it
is to put scores on their Web templates and how college coaches can
find out about players in a smooth, hassle-free manner.
Ward Melville High School’s Mackenzie Hommel, the only
senior of the group, has been training at Fast-Edge for two years,
but fully recognizes this sort of athletic work as a main reason
why she was able to rehab an ACL injury and earn a scholarship to
play at Duke University next year.
“You put yourself on the market,” she said.
“It’s beneficial to see where you rate. It can only
help.”
Hommel’s father Don, a partner with The Lacrosse Combine, a
company working with Fast-Edge to create this full-package of
advancement for high school lacrosse players, knows first hand that
SPARQ works.
“We’re able to give kids the opportunity to properly
get to the next level,” he said. “We gathered together
people to build an elite program for kids to excel in all parts of
the game.”
Most participants agreed that the 5-10-10-5 shuttle was the
toughest event.
Hicksville High School sophomore attackman Joe Leonard
didn’t know what to expect.
“It’s a lot different than what you think, especially
with the stick in your hand,” he said.
Aside from the obvious physical challenges SPARQ offers, players
like Greg Danseglio realize college coaches can get their hands on
these scores.
“It narrows the recruiting process,” said Danseglio, a
sophomore at St. Anthony’s High School. “It can show
colleges who you are and what you can do.”
“The numbers don’t lie,” said Matt Wheeler,
president of LacrosseRecruits.com. “We’re on the
cutting edge.”
