December 15, 2021 • 20 mins
Lindsey Munday joined the University of Southern California Women's Lacrosse program as head coach in 2011 and led the Women of Troy to their first Pac-12 Championship in 2019. Prior to USC, Coach Munday won five NCAA Championships with Northwestern University (two as a player and three as a coach) and two World Titles with Team USA while earning All-World recognition as an attacker. Coach Munday joins Nick to discuss the benefits of being a multi-sport athlete, how she views players’ roles within a team, and her advice on playing sports in college.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
I think the only way to folicee your potential is
to really sort of let go and just be all in.
And that means sacrifice, and that is hard sometimes. If
you want to get on the field spoiler alert, listen
to the coach because they're going to give you the
keys to like what they want. This is the Reformed
(00:27):
Sports Project, a podcast about restoring healthy balance and perspective
in all areas of sports through education and advocacy. Hi,
this is Nick Bonacoor from the Reformed Sports Project podcast.
Joining me today is coach Lindsay Monday, the head women's
lacrosse coach at the University of Southern California. As a player,
Lindsay Monday is one of the most accomplished collegiate lacrosse
(00:47):
players in history, setting records at Northwestern University before joining
Team USA to bring home two world titles. Named two
thousand nineteen Pack twelve Coach of the Year, Coach Monday
was hand picked to build USC's women's lacrosse team from
scratch in two thousand eleven and has led the women
of Troit to multiple championships since. Coach, thanks for hopping
on a call. Yeah, of course, thanks for having me
(01:09):
we connected right through your borderline viral tweet where you
were just talking about the importance of kids playing multiple sports.
And here's where I love to start. When you look
at the culture of youth sports, Now, what do you
see as a coach, former athlete, multi sport athlete, what
do you see currently that that kind of concerns you
a little bit? Yeah, I mean I think you know,
what I'm seeing is a lot of specialization and and
(01:33):
early specialization, you know, um, I think especially in use sports.
Like I said in the tweet, I mean I was
fortunate enus. I played multiple sports. I played soccer, basketball,
and lacrosse in high school and you know, pond hockey
and tag and all the ass you know when you're younger.
But I see now, you know, when I do coach
higher level you know, in high school kids and even
(01:53):
use kids when I try to make um comparisons or
you know, use basketball as an example about you know,
jumping off your to sit foot, and I ask, like,
who plays basketball? You get zero hands? Now, And when
you try to explain certain things that you know work
in a specific sport, you know, kids just don't understand
because they don't you know, a lot of them don't
play all these other sports, and I think you know, again,
(02:14):
every single sport can help him whatever you do choose
to play ultimately. But you know again, in like hockey
you need to get a passing lane because you can't
pass through people, and basketball you gotta protect, you know,
shoulder shoulder ball. You know, all these skills will help
him whatever you end up choosing, and just a lot
of kids aren't playing them. So I think you know,
some of these simple just like athletic, you know, understanding,
(02:36):
you know they don't have, and you almost have to
teach that where you know they're almost giving themselves a disservice.
One of the gentlemen on our advisory board is coach
Bob Bowman, who's the head swimming coach that there was
on the stay at. He's Michael Phelps is longtime coach.
He literally sets me on interviewss Nick. We have kids
coming here that don't know how to stand on one
foot like that, don't know how to throw a ball
like they know how to swim, but that's all they
(02:57):
know how to do, and they break down and all
is that you're alluding to? Yeah, No, definitely, And in
our sport and lacrosse particular. UM the rules at a
youth level, UM let you get away with a lot
in terms of things like protecting the stick and you know,
cradling and some of the basic skills for safety reasons,
which makes sense. But you can just get away with things.
(03:19):
So then you know, if you don't play those other sports,
you're just not learning sort of those basic some of
those basic skills. But yeah, you just lose. You know,
if all you're doing is specialize in one sport you do,
you lose just basic things that UM will help. So
I will tell you this if yet to have a
college coach or a professional scout say to me, I
want a specialist, I want this, I want never. I
(03:41):
never have that check. But at the same time, I
always hear your parents say, well, coaches are talking out
of both sides of their mouth, right, they say they
want multi sport athletes, but they're showing up at offseason
tournaments and recruiting from those. Can you speak to that
a little bit, because I think people get confused, absolutely,
and I understand that comment. I think and lemons across particular.
I'm actually on a committee. I wasn't there right from
(04:03):
the beginning. So I have to give you know, props
to who the committee who started this trend. But Women's
across the low down recruiting, and that was a big
piece of it. So now we are back to we
officially cannot talk to kids, We cannot recruit kids until
September one of their junior year. And again, in the past,
it did get to a point where you know you're
recruiting you know, freshman or sophomores, and so I get
(04:26):
parents saying that going to each tournament is important because
you can go to one of coach sees you you
start the relationship from there. So I understand that that
in Women's Across, we felt so strongly about it that
we made this huge push to to stop early recruiting
and really get back to how it used to be.
And again, like I said, this is part of it
because then it does allow you to get back to
playing other sports. And if you miss one tournament your
(04:47):
freshman year or your sophomore year, it's not a big deal. Yes,
as you get going into junior year, maybe that's where
you you know, focus a little more and you can't
miss as much er, you know, anything like that. But
we did that for, you know, one of the reasons
being multi sport athletes. So one of the things that
I don't think it's talked about enough is mental health, right,
And one of the things that I think early specialization
(05:08):
supports is that your identity gets tied to a certain
thing or your performance in a sport at a very
very young age. How do you think identity mental health
plays into early specialization those kids that are doing at
early ages. Yeah, No, I think it definitely does. I think,
you know, part of what I said in that tweets
you was, I think playing other sports like it challenges you,
(05:30):
but it's also it's fun because you can kind of
make fun of yourself a little bit because you know
you're not as good, or you know you might not
have the skills. And I think when it's something that
you know, obviously you're passionate about, but maybe got as
much as something else, like you can laugh at yourself
a little bit, you can have fun, like you could
play loose. You realize it's just a game. You know,
all of those things that then will come into play
(05:50):
in the sport you choose right, you know, you understand
that you're gonna make mistake it just it all kind
of comes full circle on that side. And I think, yeah,
when you're so you know, invested in something, is easy
to get wrapped up in it, and it is easy
to get just crazy about it, you know, not in
and not in a good way. It's a really fine line.
And I think, you know, when you can have fun
(06:10):
and other sports and and keep things light and you know,
enjoy it and and all these things, I think those
same concepts will come into the sport you do choose
and will help you. So I was able to interview.
I don't know if you've read the book yet. If
you haven't, I recommended the book Range by David Epstein.
It talks about a generalist versus a specialist, and the
dad is just compelling. He also wrote The Sports Team,
(06:31):
which talked about the tenth that he kind of defunct
the ten thousand hour rule and yeah, you're not defunct,
but just kind of gave another perspective. Well. Range just
really just game changing. And one of his quotes in
there he gave me was the earlier you match someone
to a specific you know, task or whatever, is the
greater likely you've matched the person to the wrong task.
So it's kind of like you talked about before with
(06:53):
your own journey, you know, playing other things, are being
exposed to other activities. You may not know what you
want to do until your eighteen years old. Can you
talk a little bit about your path, how you thought
you were going to play soccer and how you you know,
turn into lacrosse. Yeah, yeah, so I did the club
soccer circuit, so that's where I did travel, you know
all that. So, yeah, soccer was when I was younger,
my passion. It's what I thought, you know, I would
(07:15):
do and what I would play in college. And I
kind of picked up lacrosse later. Actually played women's across
for a year in six or seventh grade. Actually played
boys across when I was younger, and like you know,
sirtain fourth grade, picked up girls across in seventh grade.
But because you know, kind of to this point, I
was playing cup soccer and I missed a lot, so
I stopped playing and then picked to back up in
high school and I just had so like it was
(07:37):
so fun, you know, the sport that one I had
so much room to grow because I was new at
it and it was exciting and I loved it. You know,
it's just I didn't know until probably my junior year
that it was lacrosse, you know, junior year in high
school at least, I didn't take an official visit until
my senior year, you know, that's when official visits were.
I was looking at the College of New Jersey, so
at D three school, and maybe I would have played
(07:59):
both um there, but ended up getting an opportunity at
Northwestern really because she was starting a brand new program
and so she was just looking for athletes, you know,
because she could teach the game little across and she
just wanted the athletic kids who would buy in and
had a lot of room to grow. So it was
just and I happen to go to her lacrosse camp
that she was running. So I feel very lucky that
(08:19):
my you know, story ended up the way it did.
But you know, again, I think lacrosse for me was
just the thing where I had so much room to grow.
And you know, again, even when I was playing, you know,
we won two national championships my junior and senior year.
We want three more. When I coached there, UM had
the opportunity to play on the national team for two
World Cups, and we want to gold medals. But like
(08:41):
even then, I just I feel like I was still
growing as a little cross player because I hadn't played
you know, those years. I still loved it. I was
still passionate about it, and I was still getting better,
which was really really cool. But if I didn't play
soccer and basketball, I would not have been as good,
you know, as as successful as a lacrosse player as
I was. You know, there's something to be said about fatility.
I think it goes along with being a multi sport athlete,
(09:02):
being adaptable, kind of being able to adjust two different roles,
you know, on certain teams. I know, for me, I
went to college as a catcher and we're talking baseball,
and then you know, our team was, you know, we
won a national championship my sophomore year. We had a
ton of seniors. And my sophomore year I had the
d H because the catcher that was the senior started
over me. But I was in the lineup every day
because I hit. But I had to adjust to my role.
I was only an offensive player. I caught some, but
(09:24):
I kind of adapted to that role and I was
just happy to be in the lineup. It's then coming
up a lot where people are talking about how you know,
there's offense, there's defense, what's there to being versatile and
just talk a little bit about roles from a team
chemistry standpoint. Yeah, it's you know, the role conversation is
very interesting because you know, first and foremost, I am
a huge, huge believer of communication, you know, to be
(09:47):
transparent with players in terms of where you know they're
at and what they can do to improve. But having
the mindset of doing what is best for the team
should be everyone's role, you know, listening to the code,
being a great teammate, working your very best, Like that's
everyone's role. In my opinion, I think someone's skill set
(10:08):
is what needs to be discussed, you know, and hopefully
grown and sort of broadened and cultivated throughout their athletic experience.
And that's where you know, I've been kind of going
back and forth like maybe it's semantics, but I think
a lot of people are sort of striving for this role,
like what is my role? What is my role? And
it's interesting case I feel like it's such a destination,
(10:30):
like you want is it a scholarship, is it playing time?
Is it a starter? You know, what is it? But
then you know, okay, if what's your role, it's a starter,
you know, and is that it? Like, is that all
your role is? And I don't believe that, And I
think sometimes the role conversation can inhibit that versatility. Like
you're talking about, you know, if I tell someone that
their role is a cutter, like that's what I need
(10:52):
you to do? Are you not going to dodge? You know?
Are you're not going to be aggressive with the ball
because you don't think that you're good at that. So
it's it's tough. I put up host South the other
day about like multi sport combos that come up, and
I always think about Trevor Baptiste his face off ability
and I'm a savvy and lacrosse context or or I
didn't play the sport, but when I think of lacrosse,
I think of being like a hybrid sport. To me,
(11:14):
it's like every sport in one. It seems like it's unbelievable.
I love it. I think it's incredible. But Trevor Baptiste
was a face off guy, but as that was that
his only role, I don't know. I'm asking you, like,
if you're a face off person, can that become your
only role, and does that mean that you're limited to that,
Like what if you have to fill in somewhere? Is
that kind of what you're talking about. Yeah, I mean
I think again, you know, face offs are very specific,
and I think, yeah, he is an incredible face off guy,
(11:37):
but you know he's scored plenty of goals through and
can be actually aggressive out of you know, winning a
face off. That yes, that is technically a role. But
if you or a coach is sort of aggressively saying
like you need to get the ball and you need
to get it at your second, you need to get
off the field, you may lose you know a lot
of fast break opportunities because of that lack of confidence
(11:58):
in them. And so, yes, like face off is something
he really excels at obviously is one of the best,
but I think he's also very good at finishing the play,
at starting a fast break and potentially scoring goals out
of it, which is also really necessary for you know,
for the team. So again, I think even within a
defined role like that, it can be very limited or
(12:18):
you can actually give them the green light to develop
within that role. That's Lindsay Monday, head Women's lacrosse coach
at USC. When we return, Coach Monday and I talked
about versatility, what she looks for in new recruits, and
her advice to kids that want to play sports in college.
(12:39):
Welcome back to the Reform Sports Project podcast. Where Coach
Monday and I left off, We were about to discuss
the importance of versatility, what she looks for on the
recruiting trail, and her advice for those looking to play
sports in college. What propelled you as a player, If
I'm not mistaken, you want a couple of gold medals,
and you know you played at the highest level and
competed on the international stage, and you know, we're driven
(13:01):
and kept developing as you got older. You know, it
wasn't like you were one trick pony, right, You weren't
a specialist. You were a multi sport athlete coming up.
What was it that drove you internally intrinsically, you know,
to evolve as an athlete and as a person. What
allows you to be like kind of a hybrid and
soil versatile. Um, you know, it's interesting. I've been thinking
about this concept too, and I think, you know, I
(13:22):
don't know if it's sort of this age that is
like has changed a little bit, but I think being
all in is a huge, huge part of it. You know.
I think for me, when I commit to something, you know,
I'm like just fully fully in you know, um and
and committing to all of it and knowing that, you know,
I think this is the scariest part, right knowing that
(13:42):
if you go all in, like you might fail and
you might not make the team, and you might you know,
not be a starter, or you know, you might have
a setback or an injury or whatever. But I think
the only way to fully see your potential is to
really sort of let go and just be all in.
And that means back office and that is hard sometimes,
whether it was in college, but certainly for the US
(14:04):
team afterwards. I played for two World Cups, essentially, you know,
called like eight years of training, and you know, there
were certainly like a lot of things that I missed
in terms of whether it was like hanging out with
friends or you know, like sacrificing waking up at four
thirty in the morning to do like a crazy workout
before a flight because I knew I didn't have any
other time. Like, there are sacrifices that are involved in
(14:27):
again that that fear of failure you sort of have
to let go in order to really kind of fear
true potential. And I think that is something. Um it's scary,
it's hard, it's you know, it's nerve wracking, but I
think that is a big piece of sort of why
you know, I was able to be successful, And obviously
my parents instilled in me just that team aspect and
(14:48):
like listening to the coach because again, like if you
want to get on the field spoiler alert, listen to
the coach because they're going to give you the keys
to like what they want, you know, and so listening
to the coach, working hard, being a great teammate, Like
it sounds really simple, but it's not all the time.
And sometimes people they have, you know, their own thoughts
or their own agendas or whatever. But you know, I
(15:08):
think those things as simple as they are, as well
as committing fully to what you're doing. Um, again, it
sounds pretty simple, but I do think it's an indicator
of potential success. It was a Tom Brady special, like
you know, when they were talking about him being a
sixth round pick and I forget which coach it was.
When he's talking about Brady's like, you know, we saw
him running, We saw this, we saw this, and we're like,
god he goes with the problem is we couldn't tear
(15:30):
his chest open and see how big his heart was.
You can't see how hard he's willing to work and
push himself like we had no there's no way to
see that. How do you on the recruiting trail see
who has that character, who has that all in mentality?
You know? How can you find that stuff? Yeah, it's
a it's a really good question. It's hard. But I
think to circle back to to your point sort of before,
(15:51):
in terms of recruiting these days, or the nature of
trying to, you know, get a kid to your school,
I think a lot of these kids have only sort
of been the best or only had all this praise
of your so great, we'd love you, we'd love you,
all these things. But I think, to Tom Brady, or
even like myself, I'm really thankful for the challenges that
(16:13):
I had, you know, for not making the US team
when I tried out twice, you know before I actually
made it, not being recruited to all these schools, and
having all these schools tell me they love me because
I wasn't great across you know, I was always very
very grateful for the opportunities I had because I knew
that they weren't easy and that not not everyone got them,
(16:34):
and it wasn't the norm to have all these things.
And so I think trying to figure out how people
have gone through struggle, you know, whether it was in
another sport or academically or with their family anything, I
think a big indicator of heart of resilience, um exactly.
And I think you have to ask those questions, you know,
(16:56):
when when you're going through two recruits and just see
you know, because a lot of times if you ask
someone what's the hardest thing you've gone through, they'll be like, oh,
well when I got cut, my coach did this, and
you know, the team did this, and sort of blame people.
But I think being able to take accountability and make
a change out of something, you know, that's tough, I
think can show a lot about someone me And I
(17:16):
say that to my girls all the time. It's like,
when things are easy, everyone can be great, a great teammate,
you know, and be positive and be happy and work
hard and sort of all of these things. But who
are you when you're backs against the wall? Who are
you after that injury? Who are you if you're not playing?
Who are you if you know you're going through struggle?
Are you gonna sacrifice all your values and and be
negative and go against the coach and go against the
(17:36):
team or are you gonna really stay true to your
core values? And again, like that's when you'll really see,
you know, who's who is when their backs are against
the wall. What's your advice to a parent who's trying
to navigate through this culture of specialization and kind of
professionalization and youth sports. Yeah, well, I think, first and
foremost for for kids and for parents, like, don't takeing
(18:00):
so seriously. You know, I think a lot of times,
especially at nine, intent like we treat things like life
and death like in terms of a game. When you
pare it down, we're talking about filacasse like a stick
in a ball and like a goal. That's what we're
talking about. So then when you're crying over games or
you're freaking out about basing one game, when your tenure
like it's the game. We're supposed to play this because
it's fun and we enjoy it. And I think when
(18:22):
you put so much pressure on things, it becomes not fun.
You know, it becomes a chore, it becomes a job,
and then you end up presenting things. And like that's
not the point of this, you know, of of why
we meant to play sports. You know, you do it
because it's something bigger than yourself and you love it,
and it creates relationships, and it challenges you and it
drives you and all of these things. But not to
end up presenting it and so that would be the
(18:43):
biggest thing for me. Um, it's just sort of you know,
take it less seriously and enjoy it, have fun. Don't
get so worked up about you know, missing one thing
or specializing. Just do what you want to do. And
you know, and I do think playing other sports is
going to help you and whatever sport you do end
up and doesn't mean this crazy club, you know, basketball
team if you want to play soccer, but just play
(19:04):
you know, street ball if that, you know, do just play, like,
just enjoy other sports and challenge yourself and have fun.
It's fun a key components. Fun have to be involved
in it in order to achieve any level of success. Yes,
a thousand percent, I think you know anyway that you
can provide that for us. As a coach, we try
every single day to figure out other ways we can
(19:25):
do that. And right now I'm on the field about
to play. There's a football out, there's dodgeballs and frisbee
and you know this spring before warm up. If people
get here early, just go play whenever you want, get loose,
have fun. And you should have seen the first day
we brought volleyball. Note it was like they won the
national championship. But Mike, if that's all I have to
do is gode balls out five minutes before practice, cool,
(19:46):
like that's the weird you know, Yeah, just enjoy it,
have fun. Ahwesome Coach Lindsey Monday, I just cannot thank
you enough. Good luck on the season. I'm just grateful
that on a call that's Lindsay Monday, head Women's across
coach and you wes C. Thanks for listening to The
Reform Sports Project podcast Dominic Boncourt and our goal is
to restore a healthy balance and perspective in all areas
(20:08):
of sports through education and advocacy. For updates, please follow
us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, or check out our
website by searching for the Reform Sports project
I think the only way to folicee your potential is
to really sort of let go and just be all in.
And that means sacrifice, and that is hard sometimes. If
you want to get on the field spoiler alert, listen
to the coach because they're going to give you the
keys to like what they want. This is the Reformed
(00:27):
Sports Project, a podcast about restoring healthy balance and perspective
in all areas of sports through education and advocacy. Hi,
this is Nick Bonacoor from the Reformed Sports Project podcast.
Joining me today is coach Lindsay Monday, the head women's
lacrosse coach at the University of Southern California. As a player,
Lindsay Monday is one of the most accomplished collegiate lacrosse
(00:47):
players in history, setting records at Northwestern University before joining
Team USA to bring home two world titles. Named two
thousand nineteen Pack twelve Coach of the Year, Coach Monday
was hand picked to build USC's women's lacrosse team from
scratch in two thousand eleven and has led the women
of Troit to multiple championships since. Coach, thanks for hopping
on a call. Yeah, of course, thanks for having me
(01:09):
we connected right through your borderline viral tweet where you
were just talking about the importance of kids playing multiple sports.
And here's where I love to start. When you look
at the culture of youth sports, Now, what do you
see as a coach, former athlete, multi sport athlete, what
do you see currently that that kind of concerns you
a little bit? Yeah, I mean I think you know,
what I'm seeing is a lot of specialization and and
(01:33):
early specialization, you know, um, I think especially in use sports.
Like I said in the tweet, I mean I was
fortunate enus. I played multiple sports. I played soccer, basketball,
and lacrosse in high school and you know, pond hockey
and tag and all the ass you know when you're younger.
But I see now, you know, when I do coach
higher level you know, in high school kids and even
(01:53):
use kids when I try to make um comparisons or
you know, use basketball as an example about you know,
jumping off your to sit foot, and I ask, like,
who plays basketball? You get zero hands? Now, And when
you try to explain certain things that you know work
in a specific sport, you know, kids just don't understand
because they don't you know, a lot of them don't
play all these other sports, and I think you know, again,
(02:14):
every single sport can help him whatever you do choose
to play ultimately. But you know again, in like hockey
you need to get a passing lane because you can't
pass through people, and basketball you gotta protect, you know,
shoulder shoulder ball. You know, all these skills will help
him whatever you end up choosing, and just a lot
of kids aren't playing them. So I think you know,
some of these simple just like athletic, you know, understanding,
(02:36):
you know they don't have, and you almost have to
teach that where you know they're almost giving themselves a disservice.
One of the gentlemen on our advisory board is coach
Bob Bowman, who's the head swimming coach that there was
on the stay at. He's Michael Phelps is longtime coach.
He literally sets me on interviewss Nick. We have kids
coming here that don't know how to stand on one
foot like that, don't know how to throw a ball
like they know how to swim, but that's all they
(02:57):
know how to do, and they break down and all
is that you're alluding to? Yeah, No, definitely, And in
our sport and lacrosse particular. UM the rules at a
youth level, UM let you get away with a lot
in terms of things like protecting the stick and you know,
cradling and some of the basic skills for safety reasons,
which makes sense. But you can just get away with things.
(03:19):
So then you know, if you don't play those other sports,
you're just not learning sort of those basic some of
those basic skills. But yeah, you just lose. You know,
if all you're doing is specialize in one sport you do,
you lose just basic things that UM will help. So
I will tell you this if yet to have a
college coach or a professional scout say to me, I
want a specialist, I want this, I want never. I
(03:41):
never have that check. But at the same time, I
always hear your parents say, well, coaches are talking out
of both sides of their mouth, right, they say they
want multi sport athletes, but they're showing up at offseason
tournaments and recruiting from those. Can you speak to that
a little bit, because I think people get confused, absolutely,
and I understand that comment. I think and lemons across particular.
I'm actually on a committee. I wasn't there right from
(04:03):
the beginning. So I have to give you know, props
to who the committee who started this trend. But Women's
across the low down recruiting, and that was a big
piece of it. So now we are back to we
officially cannot talk to kids, We cannot recruit kids until
September one of their junior year. And again, in the past,
it did get to a point where you know you're
recruiting you know, freshman or sophomores, and so I get
(04:26):
parents saying that going to each tournament is important because
you can go to one of coach sees you you
start the relationship from there. So I understand that that
in Women's Across, we felt so strongly about it that
we made this huge push to to stop early recruiting
and really get back to how it used to be.
And again, like I said, this is part of it
because then it does allow you to get back to
playing other sports. And if you miss one tournament your
(04:47):
freshman year or your sophomore year, it's not a big deal. Yes,
as you get going into junior year, maybe that's where
you you know, focus a little more and you can't
miss as much er, you know, anything like that. But
we did that for, you know, one of the reasons
being multi sport athletes. So one of the things that
I don't think it's talked about enough is mental health, right,
And one of the things that I think early specialization
(05:08):
supports is that your identity gets tied to a certain
thing or your performance in a sport at a very
very young age. How do you think identity mental health
plays into early specialization those kids that are doing at
early ages. Yeah, No, I think it definitely does. I think,
you know, part of what I said in that tweets
you was, I think playing other sports like it challenges you,
(05:30):
but it's also it's fun because you can kind of
make fun of yourself a little bit because you know
you're not as good, or you know you might not
have the skills. And I think when it's something that
you know, obviously you're passionate about, but maybe got as
much as something else, like you can laugh at yourself
a little bit, you can have fun, like you could
play loose. You realize it's just a game. You know,
all of those things that then will come into play
(05:50):
in the sport you choose right, you know, you understand
that you're gonna make mistake it just it all kind
of comes full circle on that side. And I think, yeah,
when you're so you know, invested in something, is easy
to get wrapped up in it, and it is easy
to get just crazy about it, you know, not in
and not in a good way. It's a really fine line.
And I think, you know, when you can have fun
(06:10):
and other sports and and keep things light and you know,
enjoy it and and all these things, I think those
same concepts will come into the sport you do choose
and will help you. So I was able to interview.
I don't know if you've read the book yet. If
you haven't, I recommended the book Range by David Epstein.
It talks about a generalist versus a specialist, and the
dad is just compelling. He also wrote The Sports Team,
(06:31):
which talked about the tenth that he kind of defunct
the ten thousand hour rule and yeah, you're not defunct,
but just kind of gave another perspective. Well. Range just
really just game changing. And one of his quotes in
there he gave me was the earlier you match someone
to a specific you know, task or whatever, is the
greater likely you've matched the person to the wrong task.
So it's kind of like you talked about before with
(06:53):
your own journey, you know, playing other things, are being
exposed to other activities. You may not know what you
want to do until your eighteen years old. Can you
talk a little bit about your path, how you thought
you were going to play soccer and how you you know,
turn into lacrosse. Yeah, yeah, so I did the club
soccer circuit, so that's where I did travel, you know
all that. So, yeah, soccer was when I was younger,
my passion. It's what I thought, you know, I would
(07:15):
do and what I would play in college. And I
kind of picked up lacrosse later. Actually played women's across
for a year in six or seventh grade. Actually played
boys across when I was younger, and like you know,
sirtain fourth grade, picked up girls across in seventh grade.
But because you know, kind of to this point, I
was playing cup soccer and I missed a lot, so
I stopped playing and then picked to back up in
high school and I just had so like it was
(07:37):
so fun, you know, the sport that one I had
so much room to grow because I was new at
it and it was exciting and I loved it. You know,
it's just I didn't know until probably my junior year
that it was lacrosse, you know, junior year in high
school at least, I didn't take an official visit until
my senior year, you know, that's when official visits were.
I was looking at the College of New Jersey, so
at D three school, and maybe I would have played
(07:59):
both um there, but ended up getting an opportunity at
Northwestern really because she was starting a brand new program
and so she was just looking for athletes, you know,
because she could teach the game little across and she
just wanted the athletic kids who would buy in and
had a lot of room to grow. So it was
just and I happen to go to her lacrosse camp
that she was running. So I feel very lucky that
(08:19):
my you know, story ended up the way it did.
But you know, again, I think lacrosse for me was
just the thing where I had so much room to grow.
And you know, again, even when I was playing, you know,
we won two national championships my junior and senior year.
We want three more. When I coached there, UM had
the opportunity to play on the national team for two
World Cups, and we want to gold medals. But like
(08:41):
even then, I just I feel like I was still
growing as a little cross player because I hadn't played
you know, those years. I still loved it. I was
still passionate about it, and I was still getting better,
which was really really cool. But if I didn't play
soccer and basketball, I would not have been as good,
you know, as as successful as a lacrosse player as
I was. You know, there's something to be said about fatility.
I think it goes along with being a multi sport athlete,
(09:02):
being adaptable, kind of being able to adjust two different roles,
you know, on certain teams. I know, for me, I
went to college as a catcher and we're talking baseball,
and then you know, our team was, you know, we
won a national championship my sophomore year. We had a
ton of seniors. And my sophomore year I had the
d H because the catcher that was the senior started
over me. But I was in the lineup every day
because I hit. But I had to adjust to my role.
I was only an offensive player. I caught some, but
(09:24):
I kind of adapted to that role and I was
just happy to be in the lineup. It's then coming
up a lot where people are talking about how you know,
there's offense, there's defense, what's there to being versatile and
just talk a little bit about roles from a team
chemistry standpoint. Yeah, it's you know, the role conversation is
very interesting because you know, first and foremost, I am
a huge, huge believer of communication, you know, to be
(09:47):
transparent with players in terms of where you know they're
at and what they can do to improve. But having
the mindset of doing what is best for the team
should be everyone's role, you know, listening to the code,
being a great teammate, working your very best, Like that's
everyone's role. In my opinion, I think someone's skill set
(10:08):
is what needs to be discussed, you know, and hopefully
grown and sort of broadened and cultivated throughout their athletic experience.
And that's where you know, I've been kind of going
back and forth like maybe it's semantics, but I think
a lot of people are sort of striving for this role,
like what is my role? What is my role? And
it's interesting case I feel like it's such a destination,
(10:30):
like you want is it a scholarship, is it playing time?
Is it a starter? You know, what is it? But
then you know, okay, if what's your role, it's a starter,
you know, and is that it? Like, is that all
your role is? And I don't believe that, And I
think sometimes the role conversation can inhibit that versatility. Like
you're talking about, you know, if I tell someone that
their role is a cutter, like that's what I need
(10:52):
you to do? Are you not going to dodge? You know?
Are you're not going to be aggressive with the ball
because you don't think that you're good at that. So
it's it's tough. I put up host South the other
day about like multi sport combos that come up, and
I always think about Trevor Baptiste his face off ability
and I'm a savvy and lacrosse context or or I
didn't play the sport, but when I think of lacrosse,
I think of being like a hybrid sport. To me,
(11:14):
it's like every sport in one. It seems like it's unbelievable.
I love it. I think it's incredible. But Trevor Baptiste
was a face off guy, but as that was that
his only role, I don't know. I'm asking you, like,
if you're a face off person, can that become your
only role, and does that mean that you're limited to that,
Like what if you have to fill in somewhere? Is
that kind of what you're talking about. Yeah, I mean
I think again, you know, face offs are very specific,
and I think, yeah, he is an incredible face off guy,
(11:37):
but you know he's scored plenty of goals through and
can be actually aggressive out of you know, winning a
face off. That yes, that is technically a role. But
if you or a coach is sort of aggressively saying
like you need to get the ball and you need
to get it at your second, you need to get
off the field, you may lose you know a lot
of fast break opportunities because of that lack of confidence
(11:58):
in them. And so, yes, like face off is something
he really excels at obviously is one of the best,
but I think he's also very good at finishing the play,
at starting a fast break and potentially scoring goals out
of it, which is also really necessary for you know,
for the team. So again, I think even within a
defined role like that, it can be very limited or
(12:18):
you can actually give them the green light to develop
within that role. That's Lindsay Monday, head Women's lacrosse coach
at USC. When we return, Coach Monday and I talked
about versatility, what she looks for in new recruits, and
her advice to kids that want to play sports in college.
(12:39):
Welcome back to the Reform Sports Project podcast. Where Coach
Monday and I left off, We were about to discuss
the importance of versatility, what she looks for on the
recruiting trail, and her advice for those looking to play
sports in college. What propelled you as a player, If
I'm not mistaken, you want a couple of gold medals,
and you know you played at the highest level and
competed on the international stage, and you know, we're driven
(13:01):
and kept developing as you got older. You know, it
wasn't like you were one trick pony, right, You weren't
a specialist. You were a multi sport athlete coming up.
What was it that drove you internally intrinsically, you know,
to evolve as an athlete and as a person. What
allows you to be like kind of a hybrid and
soil versatile. Um, you know, it's interesting. I've been thinking
about this concept too, and I think, you know, I
(13:22):
don't know if it's sort of this age that is
like has changed a little bit, but I think being
all in is a huge, huge part of it. You know.
I think for me, when I commit to something, you know,
I'm like just fully fully in you know, um and
and committing to all of it and knowing that, you know,
I think this is the scariest part, right knowing that
(13:42):
if you go all in, like you might fail and
you might not make the team, and you might you know,
not be a starter, or you know, you might have
a setback or an injury or whatever. But I think
the only way to fully see your potential is to
really sort of let go and just be all in.
And that means back office and that is hard sometimes,
whether it was in college, but certainly for the US
(14:04):
team afterwards. I played for two World Cups, essentially, you know,
called like eight years of training, and you know, there
were certainly like a lot of things that I missed
in terms of whether it was like hanging out with
friends or you know, like sacrificing waking up at four
thirty in the morning to do like a crazy workout
before a flight because I knew I didn't have any
other time. Like, there are sacrifices that are involved in
(14:27):
again that that fear of failure you sort of have
to let go in order to really kind of fear
true potential. And I think that is something. Um it's scary,
it's hard, it's you know, it's nerve wracking, but I
think that is a big piece of sort of why
you know, I was able to be successful, And obviously
my parents instilled in me just that team aspect and
(14:48):
like listening to the coach because again, like if you
want to get on the field spoiler alert, listen to
the coach because they're going to give you the keys
to like what they want, you know, and so listening
to the coach, working hard, being a great teammate, Like
it sounds really simple, but it's not all the time.
And sometimes people they have, you know, their own thoughts
or their own agendas or whatever. But you know, I
(15:08):
think those things as simple as they are, as well
as committing fully to what you're doing. Um, again, it
sounds pretty simple, but I do think it's an indicator
of potential success. It was a Tom Brady special, like
you know, when they were talking about him being a
sixth round pick and I forget which coach it was.
When he's talking about Brady's like, you know, we saw
him running, We saw this, we saw this, and we're like,
god he goes with the problem is we couldn't tear
(15:30):
his chest open and see how big his heart was.
You can't see how hard he's willing to work and
push himself like we had no there's no way to
see that. How do you on the recruiting trail see
who has that character, who has that all in mentality?
You know? How can you find that stuff? Yeah, it's
a it's a really good question. It's hard. But I
think to circle back to to your point sort of before,
(15:51):
in terms of recruiting these days, or the nature of
trying to, you know, get a kid to your school,
I think a lot of these kids have only sort
of been the best or only had all this praise
of your so great, we'd love you, we'd love you,
all these things. But I think, to Tom Brady, or
even like myself, I'm really thankful for the challenges that
(16:13):
I had, you know, for not making the US team
when I tried out twice, you know before I actually
made it, not being recruited to all these schools, and
having all these schools tell me they love me because
I wasn't great across you know, I was always very
very grateful for the opportunities I had because I knew
that they weren't easy and that not not everyone got them,
(16:34):
and it wasn't the norm to have all these things.
And so I think trying to figure out how people
have gone through struggle, you know, whether it was in
another sport or academically or with their family anything, I
think a big indicator of heart of resilience, um exactly.
And I think you have to ask those questions, you know,
(16:56):
when when you're going through two recruits and just see
you know, because a lot of times if you ask
someone what's the hardest thing you've gone through, they'll be like, oh,
well when I got cut, my coach did this, and
you know, the team did this, and sort of blame people.
But I think being able to take accountability and make
a change out of something, you know, that's tough, I
think can show a lot about someone me And I
(17:16):
say that to my girls all the time. It's like,
when things are easy, everyone can be great, a great teammate,
you know, and be positive and be happy and work
hard and sort of all of these things. But who
are you when you're backs against the wall? Who are
you after that injury? Who are you if you're not playing?
Who are you if you know you're going through struggle?
Are you gonna sacrifice all your values and and be
negative and go against the coach and go against the
(17:36):
team or are you gonna really stay true to your
core values? And again, like that's when you'll really see,
you know, who's who is when their backs are against
the wall. What's your advice to a parent who's trying
to navigate through this culture of specialization and kind of
professionalization and youth sports. Yeah, well, I think, first and
foremost for for kids and for parents, like, don't takeing
(18:00):
so seriously. You know, I think a lot of times,
especially at nine, intent like we treat things like life
and death like in terms of a game. When you
pare it down, we're talking about filacasse like a stick
in a ball and like a goal. That's what we're
talking about. So then when you're crying over games or
you're freaking out about basing one game, when your tenure
like it's the game. We're supposed to play this because
it's fun and we enjoy it. And I think when
(18:22):
you put so much pressure on things, it becomes not fun.
You know, it becomes a chore, it becomes a job,
and then you end up presenting things. And like that's
not the point of this, you know, of of why
we meant to play sports. You know, you do it
because it's something bigger than yourself and you love it,
and it creates relationships, and it challenges you and it
drives you and all of these things. But not to
end up presenting it and so that would be the
(18:43):
biggest thing for me. Um, it's just sort of you know,
take it less seriously and enjoy it, have fun. Don't
get so worked up about you know, missing one thing
or specializing. Just do what you want to do. And
you know, and I do think playing other sports is
going to help you and whatever sport you do end
up and doesn't mean this crazy club, you know, basketball
team if you want to play soccer, but just play
(19:04):
you know, street ball if that, you know, do just play, like,
just enjoy other sports and challenge yourself and have fun.
It's fun a key components. Fun have to be involved
in it in order to achieve any level of success. Yes,
a thousand percent, I think you know anyway that you
can provide that for us. As a coach, we try
every single day to figure out other ways we can
(19:25):
do that. And right now I'm on the field about
to play. There's a football out, there's dodgeballs and frisbee
and you know this spring before warm up. If people
get here early, just go play whenever you want, get loose,
have fun. And you should have seen the first day
we brought volleyball. Note it was like they won the
national championship. But Mike, if that's all I have to
do is gode balls out five minutes before practice, cool,
(19:46):
like that's the weird you know, Yeah, just enjoy it,
have fun. Ahwesome Coach Lindsey Monday, I just cannot thank
you enough. Good luck on the season. I'm just grateful
that on a call that's Lindsay Monday, head Women's across
coach and you wes C. Thanks for listening to The
Reform Sports Project podcast Dominic Boncourt and our goal is
to restore a healthy balance and perspective in all areas
(20:08):
of sports through education and advocacy. For updates, please follow
us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, or check out our
website by searching for the Reform Sports project
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