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Team USA: Rippin' it with Rabil

by Brian Logue | Lacrosse Magazine Online staff

Paul Rabil will be one of Team USA's leaders at this summer's FIL World Championship. © Kevin P. Tucker

How do you shoot the ball 111 miles per hour? It’s not easy.

Team USA’s Paul Rabil did just that at last summer’s Major League Lacrosse All-Star Game during the halftime skills competition.

“You’re using every muscle in your body,” Rabil said during the recent taping of a segment for an upcoming episode of the Lax Feed video podcast on Lacrosse Magazine Online (the Lax Feed podcast debuts Thursday, April 1 and will run weekly through the NCAA championships). “You relax every muscle in your body and try to control it with your wrist. It’s not a natural shot.”

You can watch some sweet video of Rabil’s high-powered shot here, but ripping it at that velocity isn’t something Rabil recommends for game action. When one of the best players in the world sometimes misses the cage from 20 feet away, you know it’s not the shot you want to try to bury in a game.

Being one of the best players in the world is something Rabil will get to prove this summer at the Federation of International Lacrosse World Championship in England. Rabil and 22 teammates will attempt to bring the championship back to the U.S. after Canada won the world title in 2006.

“I have total respect for the game,” said Rabil. “Playing at the international level in any sport is the highest honor you can have.”

The U.S. had dominated international competition prior to the silver medal finish in 2006. From 1982 through the championship game in 2006, the U.S. had won 38 consecutive games in international competition, including six world championship games. A lacrosse nation is looking to Team USA to put the U.S. back on top, but Rabil isn’t worried about the expectations.

“It’s not pressure,” said Rabil, “but wanting to take advantage of the opportunity. For me, I just want to be the presence at midfield that Coach (Mike) Pressler wants me to be.”

Rabil should have no problem making his presence felt in the midfield. He was the MLL MVP and Offensive Player of the Year last summer after becoming the first pure midfielder to lead the league in scoring (33 goals, 8 2-pointers, 12 assists) while helping the Boston Cannons reach the playoffs. He’s followed that up with another solid season in the National Lacrosse League, scoring 22 points (6g, 16a) for the Washington Stealth, who currently lead the NLL’s West Division.

Rabil fully appreciates the opportunity to play professional lacrosse, and he shares that feeling with current collegiate players who are considering playing in the league.

“If it’s a passion that you have, then you should do it,” said Rabil, who was one of the greatest players in the rich history of Johns Hopkins University. “There’s no going back. Even if you don’t like it after a year, you can move on.”

Rabil has no intentions of walking away from the sport anytime soon. The sport has provided him too much, and he appreciates the pioneering spirit that helps the game grow, something he has seen first-hand in the many camps and clinics he appears at each year.

“I’ve always been the biggest advocate that lacrosse is unlike any other professional sport,” said Rabil. “The players are so in touch with the youth.”