Lacrosse is a sport of rhythm.
Of blazing speed balanced with crafty intelligence.
Of jousting, of feeling out the opponent, poking and prodding, moving the ball methodically, hurriedly but without agitation, finding open man after open man, seeking the soft spot, the weak point, the fleshy underbelly of the defense before attacking with sudden, fearless, reckless abandon, a player flinging themselves from the side of the net to the front, twisting their body in a sideways arc as they drive the ball home over the right shoulder of the goalie while simultaneously tumbling, head and upper torso first, into the unforgiving ground.
It is a sport of aboriginal origins, built of the most fundamental, life-affirming elements. It was originally played among the indigenous peoples of North America, not for monetary reasons, but as ritualistic warfare, as thanks to the creator of the world for all that has been provided.
So, it's no surprise, given the native origins of the game, that today's version of lacrosse is played by men and women who display much of the same voracious commitment to the sport, despite the lack of big contracts and fat paychecks of the other major sports. Players committed not just to their teams and their cities, but to the entire community of lacrosse, of the sport as a whole, across the U.S. and now, and hopefully in the future, across the world.
Owen Blye, attackman for the Boston Cannons, always envisioned himself as a professional lacrosse player. As a young athlete, choices are often made without much forethought given - this sport is chosen because a certain professional player is favored, that sport is chosen because friends decided to play it as well.
Many times, sports like football and baseball are chosen - as much by parents as by the children that will actually play them - because of the potentially lucrative futures playing at their professional levels will provide.
That's not the case for lacrosse, and it's not the case for Blye.
That's not what he is about.
That's not what lacrosse is about.
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Blye, who grew up and attended high school in Chester County, Pennsylvania, was part of a Downingtown East High School team that won the 2007 state championship under head coach Tom Slate before he was named as a 2008 U.S. Lacrosse and Under Armour High School All-American.
After four years at the University of Maryland, where he attained the position of team captain and expended nearly the entirety of his time and energy on winning a national championship, eventually falling just short, graduation, and the prospect of finally becoming a professional athlete came.
"Being drafted was a special night for me," said Blye, who was selected at the bottom of the third round, 24th overall by the Charlotte Hounds. "You don't really have a great idea where you may go, just because the draft happens during your actual college lacrosse season, so before you graduate teams are not allowed to reach out and talk to you per NCAA professionalism rules.
"So you're kind of watching the draft like anybody else, wondering where you're going to fall and to hear your name called is special just because you watched various drafts growing up and its always really cool to watch those guys turn from college players to professional players."
After being traded to the Boston Cannons - and reuniting with his former high school coach, Slate - in January 2014, Blye was able to find a more permanent home and more productive position in the Cannons' lineup.
"From an individual standpoint there were times that I was happy with last season, I was able to establish myself on the regular roster, and I'm looking to take a step forward as is everyone else on the team. I'm working hard to do that. In order for our team to get to that next level we need to be more consistent, we have to pay attention to the little things and as a group we need to be a little more disciplined."
The Cannons, who finished this past season with a record of 6-8, were able to defeat the eventual MLL champion Denver Outlaws 17-13 in early July - a feat Blye says shows the strength and potential of the Boston team.
"Last season was a year of highs and lows. We showed that we could play with any team in the league. Denver ultimately won the championship and we were able to beat them at their own stadium which was a great game for us, which just proves that we have the talent and the ability to play with anyone in the league. Unfortunately we weren't consistent enough to make that reality."
Veteran midfielder Stephen Berger and former NLL and MLL rookie of the year Ryan Boyle, longtime mainstays on the Cannon's roster, both chose to hang up their cleats and helmets this off-season, leaving a couple of sizable voids in the lineup that Blye hopes he can help to fill this year after the 2014 season, which ended without a championship and left Blye feeling unsatisfied, both for himself and for the Cannons.
"We have all the talent in the world so we feel good about our chances this season. We feel good about where the teams at, unfortunately we lost a couple of really talented guys to retirement and those guys will be missed but it's kind of a next guy up system and hopefully guys can step in and play really well."
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The realities of a professional lacrosse career include a stupendous amount of travel and the necessity of a second job. For Blye, that means a graduate assistant position with Manhattanville College in Purchase, New York, where he is afforded both the opportunity to coach the sport he loves and further his secondary education.
"I'm in charge of our 6-on-6 offense, I'm in charge of our EMO and our clearing so I have a great amount of responsibility for our team. It's a great position to be in.
"At the same time I'm also getting my masters in finance. The school is paying for my education while I coach the lacrosse team. The head coach is an old college roommate of mine, Ryder Bohlander, who played for Maryland as well. He was defense and I was an attackman. We get along great and that's actually how I got the job was through my relationship with Ryder. It has been a great experience so far."
It also gives him the chance to determine whether his desire to coach lacrosse is a future career choice or simply an avid, lifelong hobby.
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As a strong proponent of building and developing the sport, Blye seeks out every opportunity possible to act as an ambassador for lacrosse.
"I think it's really important for guys who are involved with the sport of lacrosse to try to give back and try to expand the sport, just because there's so much room for expansion. It's still primary an east coast sport though there are some hotbeds out west and in the Midwest, there's still lots of room for expansion."
To that end, Blye was recently given the opportunity to travel to Switzerland and help the Olton Saints, a club lacrosse team that hails from the town of Olton, to hone their skills and garner valuable lessons in strategy and training from a former Division 1 player and, now, professional athlete.
"It was really humbling to see the amount of effort these guys put into the sport. They show up six hours early and line their own fields, they bring in stands for their family and friends to watch the game, they set up food stands for people to get food, they do all their own advertising, they do all their own workouts, they have player-coaches.
"There's not a whole lot of reward for these guys or exposure, but they're putting in a ton of time and a ton of effort just because they love the sport. It was a pleasure for me to go over there and just see how much they care about the sport and be able to give back a little bit and teach them different things about the sport of lacrosse."
Blye relished the opportunity to impart his own knowledge to neophyte lacrosse players passionate about the sport for much the same reason he is - the sheer joy of playing.
"They don't have a whole lot of experienced coaching over there, they have guys who pick up the sport and fall in love with it and try to coach it the best they can but guys who have been playing all their lives like myself can share a lot of knowledge that really helps them in a short amount of time and help them make really big steps."
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Now, currently splitting his time between New York and Boston, Blye continues to ready himself for the upcoming MLL season. He knows that the work he puts in during his down time and with his players at Manhattanville will help prepare him both mentally and physically for the increased role he envisions for himself with the Cannons moving forward.
"I'm learning a lot from all these other great coaches. It's really my first experience coaching at the college level so I am learning a lot from coach Bohlander, learning a lot from all the coaches I run into at recruiting events. Everyone has been real helpful and the lacrosse community is always really tight-knit and I respect all the guys I'm coaching against and all the players that I'm coaching against and it has been a really good experience thus far."
He also knows that every rep he coaches, every player he teaches and every fan he touches is a boon to the sport as a whole and another step in the direction of turning lacrosse from a smaller, somewhat well-known game to the world-wide product its proponents, like Blye, know it can be.
