It wasn’t that long ago that lacrosse in Florida was virtually nonexistent with young athletes. As the sport has gained popularity, student athletes who once were destined to play football, baseball and basketball have another option.
Jake Coleman started playing football in the Indian River County Recreation Department at age seven. “I love playing football,” Coleman says. “When I started I mainly played offense and ran the ball and I loved playing flag and tackle.”
Coleman played football all through middle school and then in eighth grade some of his friends were playing lacrosse and they convinced Coleman to give it a try. “Lacrosse is completely different from what I knew about football. All the skills and everything were new to me and I really didn’t know what I was doing,” Coleman said. “But once I started playing I loved it. I practiced a lot and started to get good at it.”
When Coleman entered Vero Beach High School he continued to play both sports. The football coaches moved him from offense to defense and the lacrosse coaches kept him on defense where he started to excel. So much so that Coleman took his junior year off from football. “I decided to take a break from football last year to focus on lacrosse,” Coleman said. “My Dad had coached me in football since I was little so he wasn’t too happy at first when I stopped playing football to play more lacrosse. But he saw how much lacrosse meant to me and my Mom and Dad have gotten into it and supported me the whole way.”
This year is Jake Coleman’s senior season and he has returned to the football team as a defensive starter and recently committed to Queens University in Charlotte North Carolina to play lacrosse. “I played at the Blue Chip recruiting camp in Charlotte and they saw me there,” Coleman said. “I went up there for a visit and the college was awesome. I want to study sports management and they have a great Sports Management program there so I committed right after my visit.”
Jake’s advice to other athletes is simple, “Play whatever you like. College coaches like guys that play two sports so go ahead and do it.”
