The Long Game MI
A podcast about youth sports development and how programs like Mercer Island Lacrosse build champions, on and off the field.
The Long Game MI
Ep 2. The Long Game in Action: Habits Built Here Compound
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What does it look like when the right habits, built early, compound over time?
Evan Condon lived that process, growing up in Mercer Island Lacrosse, helping win a state championship, playing Division 1 lacrosse at West Point and serving as an Army officer, and returning to the Club to give back by coaching the next generation.
We talk about what carries forward, and why that matters.
Among other topics, we discuss:
-- The habits that most shaped Evan's trajectory.
--What matters more: talent, or discipline and caring deeply?
--What separates players who thrive from those who struggle?
--What parents sometimes overemphasize (versus what actually matters).
This conversation about our culture and approach to long-term development shows what can happen when you play The Long Game.
Note: opinions expressed are those of the host and guest and not necessarily those of MILC.
That's the thing about the long-term development about Mercer Island that a lot of people miss. It's not about developing the best players, but it's that person that otherwise would have fallen through the cracks and they actually end up being an integral part of a championship-winning team, and they call themselves state champions. And that's I think that's a really, really big deal.
SPEAKER_00Welcome to the Long Gate, a podcast about youth sports development and how programs like Mercer Island Lacrosse build champions on and off the field. I'm your host, Matt Cooper. Last week we heard from Mark Larson who talked about the beginning of the club and the importance of establishing the right culture and habits, building them early and reinforcing them over time. Today we're talking with someone who's lived that process, Evan Condon. Evan helped Mercer Island win a state championship when he was in high school. He went on to play Division I lacrosse at West Point. Then he returned to the club to coach the next generation. Evan, it's great to have you on the show. Yeah, Matt, thanks for having me. Evan, you grew up in the club and you came back to coach. What's the first moment you remember thinking that this program was different?
SPEAKER_01Pretty early on. So I started playing in second grade. My older brother played and I just thought it looked like the coolest sport that existed. And that year, we went to the state championship against Bainbridge, and I got to go to the game, and they had all sorts of events set up for little kids. So most of my time was spent off doing some obstacle force or lacrosse challenge. And at the very end, I stuck my head around the corner and I got to witness Captain Mahoney win a face-off in the fourth quarter, go down and score, and then see all the high schoolers rush the field. And at that point, I was like, that's exactly what I want to do. And I was enamored and from second grade on, just kind of obsessed with the culture of Mercer on the Cross and winning. And that's the first core memory. And that happened pretty soon after picking up a stick.
SPEAKER_00You talked about the culture. When do you remember realizing that the culture of this program is different than most youth sports programs? I think when I started to notice it, it was pretty palpable.
SPEAKER_01I grew up about a five-minute walk away from IMS, the middle school, and walking to school and seeing guys hit the wall afterwards. It's just in your face for how much people care about the sport outside of it. And of course, with soccer and football, you'd see people practicing outside of practice. But lacrosse, it just at that point in time felt like an another level, just due to one, the number of people hitting the wall and practicing outside of practice. And then two, you know, the intensity they they brought about it. So just seeing that physical example as a kid close to where I went to elementary school and middle school stood out to me as different from any other sport that that I grew up with.
SPEAKER_00So you started in second grade, and then you played you played with the program all the way through high school from second grade on. When you think back to the early years, either at practice or playing a game on the field, is there a moment that particularly stands out to you? Yeah, definitely.
SPEAKER_01I I like I said, my older brother played, so but I try to play with all the older guys as often as possible. And, you know, when I got the opportunity to play with kids my size, there's an advantage there. Some core memories I have is going to the summer camps growing up and participating in the competitions with my friends and just kind of like laughter and joy and summertime shenanigans. And a lot of that was tied into those lacrosse camps. And I remember winning one of the fastest shot competitions. I think I was in fourth grade, and O'Hearn was the one sitting behind clocking the shot. And that was one of my bigger core memories about like, wow, I guess I'm kind of good at this. I at least I can shoot the ball fast enough to win this camp competition. But that's one of the first core memories that comes to mind, standing apart, maybe.
SPEAKER_00And you said O'Hearn, that's Ian O'Hearn, whose name we heard in the first episode, and who's been the program director and head coach for the last 25 years, and who coached you in high school and directed the program? Is that right? Correct. Yeah, we'll hear from Coach O'Hearn when he's a guest later in the show. Kind of closing off the get to know you segment. If you look back now, is there one habit that you developed in the youth program that you didn't really appreciate back then, but you now realize mattered enormously in your life later?
SPEAKER_01I guess listen to advice from maybe corners that you wouldn't expect. And my example for that is actually the P teacher at the middle school. He's an East Coast guy, played lacrosse. And he told me one day, he's like, hey, like if you want a left hand, and that's something that's really important in this sport, being able to have a right and left hand. And he told me a story about one day he just decided he was going to have a left hand, and he went to the wall and he stayed there all day with a stick in his left hand until he could shoot and pass and do everything he needed to do with his left hand. And I think I was in sixth grade at that time, and black team trials were coming up, and I was like, I need to have a left hand, and then got that advice from my P teacher, and then that's what I did. I went up to the wall and spent the entire day there sticking my left hand. And that's one lesson that ties into where I'm at today about just listening to advice from other people and taking their experience and then applying it to yourself and seeing if it works out. In that case, you know, it did. I ended up getting better at my left hand, and that's one little small nugget that worked for me.
SPEAKER_00So let's move on to talking about long-term development. Name of the podcast is the long game, because I think you'd agree with me that Mercer Island takes an approach that focuses on long-term development, not short-term results, even if this does produce ultimately long-term results. And you've had a lot of success. You're a high school All-American. You won an individual wrestling state championship, also in high school, your division one player at Army. When you think back to your early years, are there others? You mentioned one habit. Were there other particular habits or cultural aspects of the club that the coaches emphasized over and over that prepared you and contributed to that success?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think one thing that was iterated on over and over again was hidden the wall. And that's kind of the foundation for stick skills. Otherwise, you're just an athlete that doesn't know what he's doing. Things that are worth it take a long time. Otherwise, you know, everyone would have it. And whether that's, you know, a state championship that you've been working for all season long, a marathon that you've been preparing for, or even, you know, a relationship, it takes a long time. And so for Mercer Allen, we always stress hitting the wall. And one example I think about in terms of the long term and accountability and everyone being on the same page in high school. One of my teammates, he's a 2014 grad from Mercer Allen. His name's Charlie Randardson. And I mentioned I have two older brothers. And because of that, I didn't have a car growing up that it didn't make it down to me. So Charlie would pick me up on the way to practice, and we would hit the wall every single day before practice. And RC's a club sport. So we practiced 7:30 to 10 o'clock at night. And he picked me up at 6:30 and we hit the wall every day before. And then that kind of trickled down into like telling the other guys to step up. Okay, if you say you want to win a state championship and you're not putting in the work to do that, what are we doing? And I think because of people knowing about what Marchant Lacrosse stands for, because most of the guys on the team had seen state championships won between second grade and eighth grade, and they wanted to put in that work. It just turned the dial to another level. And when I think about like that might not work on a different team. And the beauty about a long-term program is that accountability aspect is inherently tied in the DNA. And it raises everyone who might not have stuck with the sport. And back to like it being worth it, that makes it a heck of a lot more worth it when you know that everyone put in as much effort to accomplish it and you didn't buy it. You didn't put this coagulation of players together. You all work together from the moment you picked up your stick. So hitting the wall and accountability, and you know, that's something that comes to mind when I hear your question.
SPEAKER_00And the habits and the culture and the discipline that you're talking about. You started being exposed to the program in second grade. When did you start to realize, hey, what this program is instilling is actually really paying off for me?
SPEAKER_01I think sometime between seventh and eighth grade in the beat, two different instances. Instance number one was in seventh grade. The 2010 Marshall and Lacrosse team was ranked 20th in the country. And Inside Lacrosse, that's the number one magazine that exists within the sport. And all the latch rats at middle school would read it and keep up to date on it. When that came out, that was a big deal. It's like, heck yeah. And they had a whole page just for us. It was called Island Hoppers. And we're the only team outside of maybe one other California team that was on the West Coast, ranked in the top 20. That was kind of a signal to me of like this is this is a big deal. And then the second one was our trip to the East Coast. And you hear a lot of the coaches, most of the coaches on the Merchant Island coaching staff grew up on the East Coast and grew up playing this sport, and their bias towards it, West Coast will be better and has better athletes. But going over the East Coast in middle school and being able to give the opportunity to play in some pretty high-level tournaments and beat some of those quote unquote East Coast teams that that think they're better than you could just because you're from the West Coast. And here in Constance like, oh, you from Washington, D.C. It's like, nope, state. I think those two instances, reading about it in National Magazine and then going over and actually beating those guys. It's like, okay, we're good at the sport. And obviously it's because we put the work in. So it kind of just inspires you to keep taking the next step forward and then getting after it.
SPEAKER_00Give me one or two ways that the culture, the loyalty, tradition, discipline that you learned at Mercer Island Lacrosse specifically helped you at West Point, either while you were playing lacrosse or as a cadet or on active duty in the Army. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I mean, that's there's a lot of overlap. We were talking about Kevin Mincio, who's a big part of this program. He is now living in Nashville, but he was a VP at Goldman Sachs before 9-11 and then enlisted in the military as an infantryman. And he's a lot of inspiration for why I ended up going to West Point and selecting that as a school that I want to play lacrosse at. And yeah, loyalty, tradition, discipline. That's a clean overlap with the mantra of what Army Lacrosse is, which is family toughness tradition and the Army, it's all the same. It's getting a group of people from different backgrounds together at different skill levels, pointing out a mountain and saying, how do we get there? And making sure you're all on the same page and taking steps forward and giving the trust to your guy on the left and right. But let me know when I'm out of line, and I'm going to let you know when you're out of line. And that's what makes great teams on the sports field. And outside of that, there's a ton of overlap.
SPEAKER_00Was that easier for you to do that at West Point and on active duty given your experience in the club?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I'll share one quick story. And I don't know if parents will want to hear this, but going through some of my military experience, you know, we have our basic training when we first get to West Point called Beast Barracks and any other type of military school you go to, ranger school, aerosol, jungle school, you're kind of treated as everyone's treated the same. So you're treated as like a basic infantryman going in, and then you got drill sergeants yelling at your face. And I just remember like every single time someone got in my face, I was like, I've dealt with much worse than this. That when it was brought up that you weren't doing the right thing. And he would let you know, as a good coach does, it made you feel bad, like going through all of my hard army stuff. It didn't, it didn't pale in comparison to some summer camps in Mercer Island Lacrosse.
SPEAKER_00Maybe another way to phrase that is that this program, especially at the high school level, just really seeks and then ultimately demands excellence. And there is no settling for less than that. Much better show. And no, no, not better. Just different. Well when you look think back at your time in Mercer Island Lacrosse, what do you think separated the players who thrived versus those who struggled or ultimately left the program?
SPEAKER_01I think it really just it just comes down to do you care? Do do you care? And if you care, you want to be a good teammate. If you want to be a good teammate, you're gonna hold others accountable, you're gonna be held accountable, and you're gonna do the things that are necessary within the scope of your position. You're gonna know what you need to do, you're gonna know the play, you're gonna make sure that you're doing the right things to prepare for that moment. And if you care, you're gonna be an awesome teammate, and that's gonna motivate and get you to do everything that you need to do to show up on game day for your team to win what you guys set out to win at the beginning of the year.
SPEAKER_00Which mattered more if you had to pick innate talent or physical attributes or what you just described? A deep care combined with daily discipline, which one mattered more?
SPEAKER_01I mean deep deep care. And there's a lot of intangibles that come with that, especially lacrosse is a team sport through and through. There's a lot of different areas where you can have excellent players, but those excellent players, if you have the best MIDI in the country, guess what? We're playing five on five, we're just gonna lock off that guy. So if you got, quite frankly, a team, you know, that brings down everything that the team's trying to accomplish. So when you get discipline, when you get a guy that cares, you get a good teammate that spreads like wildfire, and that's what creates a championship team. I'm assuming that the great talent might not be the best teammate. That's going to be a cancer to the team, and that's gonna end up not working out for getting you to Memorial Day weekend and wasting the trophy.
SPEAKER_00Talking about the gelling of the team, one unique aspect of Mercer Island is how many of our players started early. You started in second grade, both of my kids they started in kindergarten, and that's common. And so many of the kids, by the time they get to high school, they've played together for five and sometimes 10 years. How important is that in the sustained success of Mercer Island? Yeah, that's everything.
SPEAKER_01There's not, if you look at the field, there's not that many kids picking up a stick. There's a lot of different sports that kids get an opportunity to play, and that's awesome. But you're realistically looking at anywhere between nine to twenty-five a class, and that's just talking about like elementary school. And so you're trying to get that class to to senior year, and it's it's gonna whittle down. So when you're building on that trust and you you get a group of kids that have been playing together year in and year out, that's gonna have an impact on the field. But more important than that is kind of back to the long game portion of this and working for things that matter. If you and I pick up a stick in second grade and we get a goof around and watch the state championship, and we're like, well, that's gonna be us one day. That's a pretty powerful feeling when you spent most of your life at that point in time as a young boy trying to accomplish that and you get to do it with your best friend. So I think that second part speaks to, you know, it's more important for the kid than anything. But there's a lot of on-the-field aspects that happen just due to chemistry and knowing how the other person plays.
SPEAKER_00And on this podcast, we're not here to criticize other programs, but um there's now a trend where you'll have, in many instances, kids who play for their high school team go to play on other teams. Sometimes kids playing against each other and club teams in the fall or the summer. And undoubtedly they can get good competition that way. But I think our program thinks there's something missing from the chemistry. If everyone splits to go train under different coaching philosophies with different teammates, do you agree and think that Mercer Island's focus on playing exclusively with the club year-round? There's real benefits, both for individual development as players and then as team development. 100%.
SPEAKER_01I think for me, the individual development as a human being is the most important aspect of that. That comes down to do you care? Do you want to be a good teammate? Are you willing to be held accountable? Are you willing to look, you know, your best bud that you've been playing on the field since second grade? Like you're not doing enough to help his team win. And that conversation just does not happen at the club level. If you're thrown together for weeks at a time and you get a play in a lot of awesome tournaments and win them, but you know, when you're only playing five games to win a tournament, that's a little bit different than working towards something over the course of six years. If you go and grab any merceron lacrosse player that's grown up through the program, you're by and large going to get a great teammate. You're gonna get a good human being. And I think that's the most important part about keeping this together. And there's again a lot of on-the-field benefits that happen from that. I would say the biggest aspect of that is just developing a man that the words and their actions overlap. And I could go on, but I'll stop on that.
SPEAKER_00So that's an important point when we really think about the long game is we're focused on success on the field, which for you was in high school and then also went on to play division one. You and I have talked about this. And I think we would both say, as important as those on the field results were, the real benefit of sports is what they instill in you that can lead to success off the field in endeavors that have nothing to do with sports. When you look at it from that point, do you also think that the model that this club follows is one that was useful and meaningful in your life?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I mean, that's why every single year, while I was active duty in the Army, anytime I've been back in Seattle, I come back to this program and it means a lot. And I would love for other programs like Marshall Allen to exist in the lacrosse world in Washington State. And I know Ahern will be on eventually, but like he there's a big difference between Washington State and some other West Coast states in terms of that approach. And he's planted the flag since the early 2000s and allowed for that to happen. That's kind of what it's all about. And yeah.
SPEAKER_00One thing this podcast will do will help tell the story, I think, of what this program has meant for people, people like you. And yes, verify what you say, including on a two-day break home from business school, you're making time to come record this podcast. Okay, we're gonna go to a lightning round. So the first word or sentence that comes to mind, minimal thought. What are the three words that best describe you? Loyal, goofy, energetic. What was your favorite post-game meal?
SPEAKER_01Cherry Garcia ice cream. How about pre-game meal? I mean, it was probably two chicken palms, and then I would also add a cherry garcia with that as well.
SPEAKER_00So we're cargo loading back then. The one word that best describes Mercer Island Lacrosse. Name a habit a middle school player can build that pays off in the long game. Wobball, wobbly, wobble. Name a coaching habit that you have that you clone directly from one of your coaches.
SPEAKER_01There's landing rounds, a top landing round. I I and intrinsic motivation from coach Coach Alvarisi. He that was my college lacrosse coach. He knew how to work work from the sides and get you to work from within. So intrinsic motivation, Coach A, that would be my lightning answer.
SPEAKER_00Name one thing young players worry about that matters a lot less than they think it does. Winning a regular season game.
SPEAKER_01Single best memory from M I L C State Championship, senior year, being down in the fourth quarter 7-3 with eight minutes ago. Who'd you beat?
SPEAKER_00Okay, lightning round done. Last segment. This is one where we're gonna talk to parents who are listening to this podcast, both about the what this episode's about, the importance of habits and how they compound over time, as well as some more general topics. What do you think parents today tend to overemphasize in youth sports?
SPEAKER_01They're winning first, and there's a little bit of glory chasing. And trust me, I'm going to business school. I understand the human psychology behind getting brands on it. And I think parents think that if their kid plays at a certain club, that kid automatically, just because they're on that club, gets access to rooms that they didn't. And it's just not the case. And I think that's something that is missed from my perception. I might be wrong, but I think a lot of parents think that if you get onto this team, then boom, like you're going to college and that's not the way it works. You got to reach out to that coach individually, and then you got to go to their clinics individually.
SPEAKER_00What do parents sometimes misunderstand specifically about long-term development? You kind of touched on it, but is there anything else that you think is important for long-term development that parents might not fully understand?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I'll answer this one in an adjacent way. And I think that one of the biggest things that March on the Cross produces, or one of the coolest things that it produces, is not that star players, but the guys who otherwise, if you know, were for in a saturated club environment, might might have just not picked up the stick anymore. You know, the guy that made Maroon team as an eighth grader here at Rush Round and then stuck with it, got on the varsity team his junior year as a role player. And then by the time they're a senior, like they're they're contributing. And more than my That that guy's going to be a captain, actually, because that's the type of person that you want leading the team. So that's the thing about the long-term development about Marissa Island that a lot of people miss. It's not about developing the best players, even though we do. We have developed the best players in Washington State, but it's it's that person that otherwise would have fallen through the cracks. And they actually end up being an integral part of a championship-winning team, and they call themselves state champions. And that's I think that's a really, really big deal. And if that doesn't get you jacked up about sports, then I could you're probably looking and watching for the wrong reasons.
SPEAKER_00Mercer Island Lacrosse in some corners of the lacrosse world is sometimes a little bit controversial. What would you say is something about our program that people who are fully on the outside sometimes misunderstand?
SPEAKER_01I think a lot of parents think it's given that you just show up, put on a Mercer Island penny, and automatically you're good and we have resources to a lot more. You and Lisa know there's a lot of work that parents do to get everything lined up so coaches like myself can have a successful practice and not have to worry about stuff. It kind of comes down to caring. There's a lot of parents who care here. So a lot of people outside think that it's just automatic, but it's not, it takes a lot of hard work. I think that's the first thing that comes to mind for parents outside of Mercer Ham.
SPEAKER_00I'm hearing you say that our club parents need to make sure they raise their hand to volunteer. Yeah. There you go. Final question in this segment. You know, you're talking, hopefully, to some parents from the club and and from other clubs. What's the a single piece of advice that you would give to parents of a good fifth or sixth grade lacrosse player?
SPEAKER_01I will share another personal story and hopefully this answers the question. But the way I was my parents approached my athletic career in the most laissez-fair environment possible. I picked up lacrostic because of my brother. My dad, my mom, they never told me what sport to play. I always started a sport because of my own friends doing it. And I think that's a pretty powerful reason. And I ended up hitting the wall every single day in middle school. And I think the reason why I did that was because it was my thing. My dad, my mom, they never like they acknowledged it in terms of saying, like, good game, but there's no film breakdown. There's no real emphasis on it. And that just let me like go, you know, just sprint with it and go with the wind. And I I think that personal story and it worked, it worked for me. I think this is also since we're on the note of parenting, another powerful example that, you know, the lause fair aspect that my dad put into my upbringing kind of paid off. Senior year, I always wanted to play football. My mom would never let me. She wouldn't sign the player release packet. But luckily, I'm dyslexic and got held back in kindergarten. So going into my senior year, I was 18 years old, signed my own player release packet, went out, played football for three weeks. I was horrible, but they wanted to keep me. So they gave me offensive and defensive MVP of the summer football camp. And I was really excited to do it. But everyone had an opinion on me doing it. There's expectations about, you know, wrestling championship, obviously lacrosse. And then if I went into that summer injured, then I would have to wait a whole nother year to go in with my West Point class. So a lot of people were like, Why are you doing this? Everyone had a little big opinion. Finally, I went to my dad. I said, Dad, what do you think? And he said, write down three things that you want to accomplish your senior year. So I pulled out a pen and paper and he goes, No, like give it to me tomorrow. All right. So I wake up in the morning, you know, handed things to my dad. Dad, these are the three things I want to accomplish my senior year. He looks at it and says, What do you just have to do with football? Called up coach about it at the time, right then and there. And then I was like, Coach, I gotta quit. Got some other things I want to accomplish for senior year. But I think that's that's the way I was raised. And I know that was a long way around answering the question, but maybe there's something there for other parents to take.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. And and one thing you touched on, the unique aspect of this club, the strong emphasis on multi-sport athletes. And you had remarkable success in multiple sports. We've talked about lacrosse won an individual state championship in wrestling. Do you think you would have been the same lacrosse player you were if you had not wrestled and had just fully specialized in lacrosse early on? No.
SPEAKER_01There's no way. I didn't want to, but the team needed a guy to do it. And college ended up being the face-off guy. And the only reason I can do that is because of my wrestling background. I did not have quick hands, but you know, I knew how to operate on the ground and how to get a rubber ball inside of my sticks. And because I wrestled, I ended up getting playing time in college to try to help my team win at that point. So no, that would be a completely different player without playing other sports.
SPEAKER_00In addition to that very specific skill, do you think more generally, just the movements you learn, the different muscles you exercise, the different athletic ability and athletic intelligence you have to have also helps you?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, 100%. One is the obvious one, burnout. Two is just being creative. Rocky guys are a lot better at seeing the field, seeing where the ball is going to be. And then three, I'll just give another example the best lacrosse player, in my opinion, who's ever picked up a stick, Pat Spencer, currently on the Golden State Warriors. We had to go against him every single year in the Patriot League tournament. He played for Loyola and he didn't stop playing basketball while he was in college. And if you watch his college tape, you can see the parallels between his basketball game and his lacrosse game. And they those two things are totally interwoven. And if you're able to get Pat Spencer on this podcast, maybe we'll see. One year from now, I think he would say the exact same thing. He's you wouldn't be the lacrosse player, he is a day without basketball, he wouldn't be the basketball player, he is a day without lacrosse, and that's coming from an NBA player.
SPEAKER_00Final question, Evan. If you had to name a single habit that you developed in this club that most shape your trajectory in life, what is it? Consistency. Consistency over intensity every time? Always. Take the emotion out of it. Consistency. Brush your teeth. Just do it. All right, Evan, thanks for joining us. Thanks for your service to our country, to our club, to our kids. Thanks for playing the long game. We believe the right culture and habits here, built young and reinforced, compound. And you're a really great example of where that can lead. But thank you for all of those things and for taking time out of your trip back home to be a guest on the podcast.
SPEAKER_01Oh, honor to be here, Matt. And keep me in mind a decade from now when this goes national. So I'm excited to keep listening and amazing job.
SPEAKER_00All right, folks. Thanks for listening to the long game. We'll see you next episode.