Lacrosse Camps and Academies by Rhino Lacrosse

Catamount Classic: Impact Players

October 13th, 2009 by Kyle Devitte- from insidelacrosse.com

Player to watch: Peter Baum, Freshman, Midfield. Hands, feet, heads, extremities down THE fastest player in the entire tournament. He’s not just fast; he’s quick – ravenous quickness. The kind of quickness that you see in video games. He emerged from scrums around ground balls untouched and with torched defenders in his wake attacked the goal without mercy. His finishing and shot selection leave a bit to be desired, but it looks like another fantastic diamond in the rough for Colgate.

Peter, how is college going so far? College has been an awesome experience thus far. Academically it has been very challenging and different from high school. Social life at Colgate is great, there is always something to do and the lacrosse team really sticks together socially, everyone on the team are great friends with one another. Lacrosse wise it has been amazing. The workout facilities, the new gear, and of course the level of play all make it so fun.

How have your practices been going? Fall ball practices were really exciting. We practiced 5 days a week and had 2 lifts a week. The biggest change from high school to college practices was that there is absolutely no standing around in college. Practices are very fast paced, and transition oriented. Obviously all us freshman were a little nervous for that first practice but everything settled down quickly and then it was just back to playing lacrosse. I definitely felt like I made a great impact this fall.

Have you picked a major yet? Nope, considering some options including economics, geography, history, and English.

What’s the biggest difference you have found between west coast and east coast lacrosse? I have been playing back east for about 4 years now, in tournaments, etc. and I would say there is very little difference between east and west coast lacrosse at the high school level, except maybe how polished their stick skills are out east. The biggest transition is from high school to college, where everyone has a bit of a learning curve to make up. Having an equal left and right hand certainly doesn’t hurt, the biggest thing for Oregon players to improve on is not their shooting, it’s their stick skills and their mental game.

How did Rhino Lacrosse help you improve your game and prepare you for college lacrosse? Rhino gave me an opportunity to learn from amazing coaches that had already been there and experienced college lacrosse. I still use their advice and coaching, particularly the instruction of Ryan and Tony, every day I play. The mental part of the game is so huge in college, and Rhino coaches were huge in helping me change my game to more of a thinker than just an athlete. I think Ryan Powell is one of the smartest lacrosse players of all time, and having him teach me through high school has helped immensely.

The recruiting process can be challenging, how did being a part of Rhino Select help with your recruiting process? I had already given my commitment to Colgate before I started playing Rhino, so my recruiting process was basically over at that point. But having seen younger players benefit from Rhino recruiting wise has been great. The exposure is excellent.

Now that you have achieved your goal of playing college lacrosse, what is your new lacrosse goal? That is a simple one, to win the Patriot League championship and advance in the NCAA tournament. I am so excited for spring to come so we can start real games. This team has a lot of potential and I am looking forward to it.

How’s Upstate NY treating you? I am anxiously awaiting winter, and at the same time it has already come (our first snow was on October 16!!!!!). But honestly fall in Hamilton, New York is absolutely beautiful. The northeast is just amazing in the fall and I couldn’t ask for a better college environment, but it is cold haha, and winter will be an  adventure seeing as my roommate Kyle Stanich is from the Los Angeles area. It has been really nice to be in a more rural location having grown up near downtown Portland.

What do you miss the most about Oregon? I miss a lot about Oregon, like any college kid I miss my family, friends, just the overall feeling of home. But Colgate has a very comfortable feeling which is really nice. Specifically I would have to say I miss the Mexican food, which is phenomenal on the west coast. Also I will definitely miss the mild weather in a few weeks here, when it is consistently way below freezing over here. The east coast has been pretty good to me so far though.

Any message for young players wanting to play lacrosse at the next level? Stick skills and game sense are the most important things in lacrosse, hands down, no exceptions. Since being here I have seen kids without the most amazing athleticism score lots of goals based solely on their knowledge of the game and their ability to handle the ball. Also shoot overhand, I know as a high school player I hated shooting the ball high to low, but now that I am in college I really shoot the ball low about 80% of the time. It is much more effective.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 26th, 2009 at 5:41 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.