Podcast: Rob Parkin on big games, high school vs. club development

Reading Memorial (Mass.) High School coach Rob Parkin joins the "Chasing The Goal" podcast.

On this week’s episode of New England Lacrosse Journal’s “Chasing The Goal” podcast, hosts Kyle Devitte and Owen Hart welcome Reading Memorial (Mass.) High School head coach Rob Parkin.

Parkin is a teacher at nearby Burlington High School, but this is his third season in charge of the Reading boys lacrosse program. Though he once coached at Burlington, he was also a longtime assistant at Reading under Charlie Hardy before taking over in 2024.

The Rockets are 7-1 this season. They earned a one-goal win against Billerica Memorial, the team that defeated it last season in the MIAA Division 2 championship game.

Watch the full podcast below on YouTube. It’s also available on all major podcast platforms. If you enjoy it, please leave a rating and a review. Watch more episodes on the Chasing the Goal podcast channel.

Here are some excerpts from the pod.

Kyle Devitte: Let’s talk about your hot start. By the time this (podcast) comes out, the (Billerica) game will have been played. Emotionally, what do you think that’s going to be like for you and your team?

Rob Parkin: I mean, redemption tour is the first thing that comes to mind. But we have so much respect for Coach (Ryan) Nickerson and his staff and, obviously, Billerica and Reading are no strangers. We go way back, playing each other the last 10, 15 years, plus having some great battles back in the Jeff Trainor days as well.  

So, I think you treat it as another game with a little heightened awareness that we didn’t like the results of last year. What happened was losing an epic game, 17-16, with nine seconds left. Obviously, it was not an easy pill to swallow, fellas. But you’ve got to love the grit. You’ve got to love the resilience. You’ve got to love the style of play that both our programs bring to the table. We like to play fast. We like to be a gritty team. We like the fact that the game is a game of swings.

And that happens in hockey, that happens in football, that happens in a lot of different sports, right? So you’ve got to kind of take the wind by the sails and, sometimes, you’ve got to slow your emotions down and stay calm under the storm. And then when that happens, you give it your best shot.

Owen Hart: As somebody who does coach for a club lacrosse team, I wish that college coaches interacted more with actual high school coaches when they’re doing recruiting, because you see them two hours a day, six to seven days a week, for three months. In the summer or the fall, (club coaches) get them for a weekend. It’s not that they don’t have relationships with them, but you were just with the kids more and know more about them as a person. 

Rob Parkin: I can’t agree with you more on that, Owen. I mean, at the club level, the kid is more of a tool; you need that kid to plug and play that kid into that situation. You’re trying to get them exposure, but you’re also trying to compete at the highest level of summertime or fall-time lacrosse. I think, at the high school level, there is more humanity to it, right? You have to build good relationships with your kids. You’re asking your kids to be the best versions of themselves, and you’re asking those kids to give blood, sweat and tears for three-and-a-half months.

You’ve got to build a good relationship with those kids, and you’ve got to be able to listen well to those kids. You’ve got to be able to listen to their bodies. You’ve got to be able to listen to what they need. You’ve got to be able to listen to their concerns. You’ve got to give them some grace, right? And so many of those club coaches — and no offense, I was a club coach for a while — I’m not sure they give as much grace as some of the high school coaches.

@TheKyleDevitte
kyle.devitte@laxjournal.com

More Episodes