THE
BUSINESSMAN AND MARKETER IN HIM SAYS THE GAMES ARE “THE BIGGEST OPPORTUNITY THE SPORT HAS EVER HAD TO CATAPULT ITSELF IN
POPULARITY TO A MAINSTREAM AUDIENCE.”
last decade coinciding with his foray into lacrosse entrepreneurship, including increased media exposure of the sport, the youth and high school participation boom, and the launch of social media. “I’ve been riding it in. It’s all been very timely.” ***
Like many college seniors in 2008, especially those with star appeal like Rabil had after winning two NCAA championships in his fi rst three years at Johns Hopkins, whenever Rabil opened his email or logged onto Facebook (the social network was four years old at the time) he was busy accepting friend requests from anyone that asked. At graduation, he was connected to about 10,000. “I wasn’t sure what I was doing at the time,” he said. Really, it was the earliest stages of the ride Rabil has been on since. ESPN televised all 15 NCAA
Division I men’s tournament games for the second straight year. Johns Hopkins was the defending champion and fell in the title game to Syracuse despite Rabil’s heroic performance — a career-high six goals in
front of an all-time record 48,970 fans at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., and nearly 700,000 more viewers on TV. The prevailing thought at the time, even
to those close to Rabil, was this was it, the height of his lacrosse-playing career. Yes, as they do now, a pair of professional leagues existed — and Rabil would be the second overall pick in the 2008 NLL draft and fi rst overall in the MLL — but you couldn’t make a full-time living just by playing. The idea was to make the most of your popularity over the next three years or so, and snag a couple endorsements before the next college star came along. Rabil worked in D.C. and often fl ew cross
country to San Jose (and later Washington state) to play games with the NLL’s Stealth, getting permission from bosses to leave on a Thursday. It’s how many pros have made it work. He entered into business with his
brother, who played defensive tackle as a football player at Dartmouth and works in fi nance. They opened their fi rst of fi ve gyms together. Rabil remains an operating
partner in his brother’s investment and holding company. But along the way, younger brother had an itch to be different. In the summer of 2009, “My competitive nature kicked in to see if I could break that mold,” he said.
***
Rabil ticks off a list of companies he’s been associated with. Baltimore-based Under Armour was the fi rst, for footwear and apparel. “From compensation annually and fi nancial security, it wasn’t much, but it was an opportunity to use their marketing platform to build an image in the sport,” he said. “That was valuable to me.” It’s an image that has changed over time, he said, from a focus out of college that was more on his physical abilities and day-to-day routine to refi ne them — a “virtuoso,” his father, Allan, called him, who could have picked up any sport — to showing off a personality that anyone with an internet connection can see anytime through social media. “You have to be OK with showing a more personable side,” Rabil said, mentioning other sports fi gures like Peyton Manning,
31 DAVID LAWSON
PRO TEAM: Rattlers COLLEGE: Duke ‘13 HIGH SCHOOL: Middlesex (Mass.) HEIGHT/WEIGHT: 6-1, 200 AGE: 24 TWITTER: @DaveLawson2 DAY JOB: Analyst, business development; Audax
“Until I started lacrosse in seventh grade, I was so focused on other sports. So it wasn’t until my sophomore year of high school that I even realized I could play lacrosse in college,” Lawson said. “While it was always a sport I loved and wanted to pursue, I didn’t know how realistic Division I really was. And not until after my senior year that ended in a national championship did I ever consider trying out for Team USA.”
39 JOJO MARASCO
Because of injuries, Rabil sat out most of the Team USA tryout process until January’s Champion Challenge.
A Publication of US Lacrosse
PRO TEAM: Lizards COLLEGE: Syracuse ‘13 HIGH SCHOOL: Somers (N.Y.) HEIGHT/WEIGHT: 5-11, 190 AGE: 23 TWITTER: @jojomarasco22 DAY JOB: Phys-ed teacher, boys’ coach, Windermere Prep (Fla.)
“I got a call on the Thursday afternoon before tryouts that I was invited to Team USA tryouts last summer. I put my name in and tried to play well in my last season at Syracuse,” Marasco said. “It took me a while to get to that level at the pro level, but I fi nally felt comfortable at the end of my rookie season. I just stayed strong, worked out, got my shooting in and got the call.”
June 2014 >> LACROSSE MAGAZINE 39
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