First off it’s best for me to give a little intro myself so you all know who I am.
My name is Jamie Speck (known to most as simply “Speck”) and I play for the Southwest Cyclops in the Canadian Lacrosse League. My hometown is Toronto but I currently live in Mississauga and attend Humber College where I study Sport Management and will be graduating in April. As far as my actual lacrosse career goes, I’ve been playing lacrosse for 13 years. I grew up playing my minor lacrosse in Mimico (double blue represent!) and am a product of the Guelph Jr. B lacrosse club. After graduating from junior lacrosse in 2012, I spent my first season of Sr. B with the Six Nations Slash of the Can/Am league and will be returning there this summer where we are hunting for a league championship and getting a chance to go out West for a Presidents Cup run later in August.
This is my first season playing CLAX and I have really enjoyed the experience so far. I was in camp with the now defunct Toronto Shooting Stars last winter where I got my first real taste of high level lacrosse in training camp and exhibition games with the team. I was ultimately released after the last exhibition game, but got great feedback from coaches Glenn Clark and Dan Ladoucer, who let me know what they wanted to see more from me on the floor to have a chance to play in the league. I spent all winter working out and watching game footage to improve my chances of playing in the league for next season.
In December I got a phone call from our Southwest coach Jeremy Tallevi inviting me out to camp and telling me I had a good shot to crack the roster. I was very determined to go into camp and put all the time I spent in the gym and watching game films together, and I ended up earning a spot on the roster.
One thing I love most about the team is the guys we have in the dressing room. We have many talented players and possess a very deep roster. All the guys have been great so far and the atmosphere in our locker room has a great feel to it. There are no egos, and no rifts between any of the guys in the room. We have a great mix of players from ex-NLLers to go along with Mann, Founders and Minto Cup champions. I have learned a ton already in just a few short months of being on the floor with the great coaching staff and players we have. Just getting to be on the same floor and run offensive and defensive sets with some of these players I have watched play for years has been a blessing for me as I constantly am picking up new things to add to my game and contribute on game days. The other thing that stands out for me is the leadership we have in the room. Our captain Ryan Campbell is one of those guys who you respect as soon as you hear him talk, and I think I speak for the team when I say he is one of the most important guys in our locker room. He keeps the team calm and focused and plays a style of game that makes everyone around him elevate their level of play game in and game out.
Our coaching staff has been fantastic in addition to the players on the team. Coach Tallevi runs us through fast paced practices and is very clear on what he expects from us. He is very organized and knowledgeable and has a breakdown of important stats from each game we play about what we did well and what we need to improve on. We also get video prep before each game on our opponent to better prep us for what we will be seeing from each team come gameday. All of our coaches expect us to play at a high level and won’t accept mediocrity. All the guys battle hard at practices to prove to the coaches they should be in the lineup on gameday, and having that hard work creates great in-house competition for our team as each guy works to be better than the one sitting beside him.
As for our season, we currently sit at 2-3 after a tough OT loss to a much-improved Barrie Blizzard team on Saturday. We could very easily be sitting at 4-1 right now after a narrow opening day loss to the undefeated Ohsweken Demons, but in the end you are what your record says you are and we have to work extremely hard as we only have three regular season games left, two of which come against a gritty Niagara team before playing in Barrie to close out our regular season.
It’s definitely tough not getting to be a regular in the lineup each game as I have only played in two out of five games so far, but I also understand the process and that I am a 22-year-old rookie this year that needs to prove himself and earn my floor time. Having a roster as talented as we do means we are deep at all positions and the reality is that there are many guys who have earned their spots through the hard work and experience they have gained over the years playing consistently at a high level. I’ve never been one to complain about floor time though and I will continue to push myself at practices and control what I can control, which is my work ethic and dedication to the game. I really value being a part of this team and I want to be a part of it for a long time as we all work towards our common goal of winning a Creators Cup championship.
That’s all for now, I’ll check back in next Monday after our game against Niagara this weekend.
Cheers
Speck
