Player Profile - Sean Robinson

By Chris Clarke

With the inaugural British Columbia Junior Lacrosse League Midget Draft upon us, I sat down with Sean Robinson of the Coquitlam Junior Adanacs. I got his perspective on the draft and an idea of what it's like for a young man to juggle student life while also playing a highly competitive sport.

An engineering student at the University of British Columbia, Robinson says he has always enjoyed putting things together, whether it was blocks as a little boy or working on a construction site as a teenager, and the progression into engineering seemed the perfect fit. As much as he enjoys UBC he thinks the opportunity to follow former and current teammates to the US and Division 1 university scholarship money is definitely a possibility, maybe as soon as this September. He's had talks with Cornell, Queens in North Carolina, and Hobart College in New York among others.

At the encouragement of his father Lyle, Sean has had a stick in his hands since he was four and is now entering his third season as an Adanacs forward. Robinson is considered one of the leaders on the team, someone who the young guys might view as a mentor, as they climb through the Coquitlam minor system.

A humble young man, when asked how high he might have gone in the draft if it were around when he was coming up and he wasn't a protected player, Robinson responded that he didn't think he would have gone all that high. This is due partly to the fact he didn't really start to grow until he was in grade 11, but also he doesn't suffer from Terrel Owens syndrome (look at me I'm the best). In fact, after only one year in intermediate he rose to the ranks of juniors and won the rookie of the year award (a fact that he didn't share with me).

As the sports pages seem to be filled with more court proceedings (see NFL), or entertainment news (David Beckham) these days rather than talk of athletic heroes, there was no hesitation when questioned about whom his heroes were growing up. In fact he doesn't have to go outside his front door. It's dad Lyle, a former star in junior and senior lacrosse and a member of teams that won both the Minto and Mann Cups, who has been Sean's mentor since he was young and it continues today. And the strong team atmosphere that Lyle must have been a part of seems to have rubbed off on a second generation of Robinson. Sean talked at length of how well the Junior A's get along and the importance of making his new young teammates feel like a part of the Coquitlam lacrosse family. If the Adanacs are to do well this season that camaraderie will help them on their quest for the Minto Cup.