Would you change to get ahead ?
Could you change to get ahead ?
In sports, not everyone can or will; I’ve seen it a thousand times where a player is asked, requested or demanded to change their style of play for the betterment of the player or for the team as a whole, and often that transformation never happens.
Today, I’ll use Hayden Smith of Owen Sound as an example to the contrary; someone who did alter his game, and now faces a professional opportunity in the National Lacrosse League after being selected 13th overall by the Buffalo Bandits on Monday in the NLL draft.
I first saw Hayden Smith at the annual Harry Kazarian Minor Lacrosse Tournament years ago when he was a key offensive cog for the Owen Sound Cresent Club Midgets.
In Junior B with the Rams, as the years passed, he developed a scoring touch and was an offensive leader for the club.
Over the past two years, Smith has played Junior A lacrosse at Orangeville, winning a Minto Cup this summer with the Northmen, but seldom does he see the offensive end of the floor.
Smith has made the alteration from shooter to defender and done so with such success that even he’s shocked he was selected as high as he was.
Without the change in style, without accepting the need to change his game from offense to defense, would Hayden Smith have been a candidate to play pro lacrosse ?
Maybe. Maybe not. But by revising his game, Hayden Smith now gets a shot at pro lacrosse in Buffalo later this winter.
I’m Fred Wallace