REGRETS NO E
veryone expected Jake Seau, the son of late NFL linebacker Junior Seau, to play football in high school and college. Maybe even the pros. Jono Zissi had other ideas.
Zissi, a lacrosse coach who saw Seau dominate his peers on the gridiron, persuaded the boy to play lacrosse as a seventh-grader at The Bishop’s School in La Jolla, Calif. Seau reluctantly showed up in the spring. Five years later, Seau is one of the top high school players in the nation. “I’ll never forget it. He said, ‘Alright man. I’ll try your stupid sport.’ He came out with a long pole the first two days and then played a little attack and ended up at middie,” said Zissi, now the coach at nearby Torrey Pines. “He slowly but surely started liking the sport. And on his own, it became his favorite sport.”
It was quite a deviation for Seau, whose father was a perennial, All-Pro linebacker for the San Diego Chargers. However, Jake Seau was determined to carve out his own niche as an athlete, and he has never regretted his choice to play lacrosse fulltime. Seau eventually walked away from football at the end of his sophomore season and has never looked back, receiving full support from his family and close friends — and even his father, who before his tragic death in 2012 often would be seen at lacrosse events. That included the 2010 US Lacrosse U15 Lax Fest in Lake George, N.Y. Jake Seau played for the San Diego All-Stars on June 20, Father’s Day. “I can’t get a better Father’s Day gift than to see him running around, enjoying himself and coming off the field healthy,” Junior Seau told Lacrosse Magazine at the time. “I’m just happy that my son gets to enjoy it.” With his time in Pop Warner, Jake Seau had amassed about seven years of football and felt that was enough. “Football never clicked with me. I always felt this looming pressure. I wanted to make my father proud. But I felt like I was setting myself up for disaster. I just didn’t feel like I would ever love the game like I did lacrosse. It was so different and something I could make my own name for. My family, friends and coaches have all been real supportive. When I walked away, people knew my sport was lacrosse and that’s what I loved.”
IN THIS SECTION
Lacrosse Magazine presents the Nike/US Lacrosse High School Preview, with regional features, preseason top 10s and player of the year watch lists for boys’ and girls’ lacrosse.
For our national top 25 polls, visit
LaxMagazine.com/HSB25 (boys) or
LaxMagazine.com/HSG25 (girls) with links to national and regional coverage throughout the season.
WEST REGION ...................................50 MIDWEST REGION .............................52 SOUTH REGION ..................................54 MID-ATLANTIC REGION .....................56 NORTHEAST REGION ..........................58
48 LACROSSE MAGAZINE March 2014 >>
A Publication of US Lacrosse
©STAN LIU
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