In the second of two parts, the Mammoth captain opens up about life outside of lacrosse
Recently Colorado Mammoth captain, John Gallant was nice enough to sit and chat with me and more importantly let me bombard him with a variety of questions.
A Canada native, Gallant has played defense for the Colorado Mammoth since they were the Washington Power. Before playing in the National Lacrosse League (NLL) he played in Canada for Six Nations and the Victoria Shamrocks.
This is the second of two parts. You can read the first part here.
MD: What would you tell a young student of the game who wants to improve his defensive play?
JG: I would tell them, get in shape. You have to physically get in shape. You have to mentally be in shape enough to be committed to do that. Doesn’t mean you can’t go out with your friends on Friday night because you gotta practice on Saturday right? I think every time you can go play, whether it’s buddies or whether it’s a practice, you have to commit yourself to be the absolute best that day. It’s obviously it’s a very tough thing and it’s not always going to happen. I think that you got to play as much as you can. You got to commit to being the best you can all the time.
I think to be honest with you, you got to have something else. You gotta whether it’s, you’re gonna work on your stick so you can shoot the ball, so you can be comfortable moving the ball, taking face-offs, you gotta have something else. I think that’s the one key with anybody, you know. Assuming I wanna play defense, ok, but can you run the wing on a face-off? Can you transition the ball? Can you transition the ball, stay up and play offense? And that goes for field lacrosse too. Can you shoot? With a long pole? I think for young kids, kids even if they’re just in high school, you gotta learn everything. Learn how to play attack, learn how to play midfield, learn how to play defense, learn how to take face-offs. Learn to play short man, learn how to run the wing.
That’s my biggest piece of advice, learn the whole game so that like, myself, when you get to a team and they say well do you want to be on this team or not? You better have something there. Right? When I was 18 and I went to Six Nations, if I said no, I play offense and they said maybe, well can you play defense and I said no, or I did it and did it with a half heart, I wouldn’t be here. Right? There’s always going to be somebody better. There’s always somebody better than you, so you gotta learn the whole game.
So that’s basically number one. And then number two, I’d play other things. Too many people focus only on one thing and play it like all year round. I would do other things because you learn so much. If you’re solely only playing lacrosse your whole life, by the time you get to high school, or I mean like college, you’re going to hate it. You’re going to hate it. There’s always got to be the joy to playing. Because there’s going to be moments where you are going to hate playing whether it’s because coaching staff, coaching in a certain way or you know it’s because when you get to college and you’re playing every single day and you’re playing at six in the morning, well you’d better enjoy it.
MD: How do you keep from getting burnt out at this level?
JG: Doing other things. Joel Rather is our strength and conditioning coach.  You trust him and you listen to what he says. You do that and that physically prepares your body. Right? And then your mind, the mental part, you just have to get away from it. You spend time during the day working on your skills and improving, but you spend time doing other things – whether that’s another sport, whether it’s spending time with your family and your kids, whether that’s reading a book. You find something else that pleases you, because if it is your entire life, the rest of your life is not going to be successful. Your relationships are not going to be successful, your business life is not going to be successful.  That’s what I’ve kinda learned, sometimes the hard way. It’s like anything in life, any food, if it’s all your life, it’s only a matter of time before you burn yourself out.
MD: How much impact does a goalie have on the defense and vice versa?
JG: Tremendous. A lot. I don’t think I could give you statistical…a lot. Because it’s confidence. Listen, like we’re always getting scored on. Right? When there’s a goal it’s because we made a mistake somewhere. Right? So for us to be successful, we have to play with confidence. We have to know that the goalie behind us is gonna stop the shots he’s supposed to stop. Just stop the ones you’re supposed to stop. Stop one or two that you know, you’re maybe not supposed to. But if you just stop the ones you’re supposed to, I can play my game.
If I start getting worried about you. Right? I’m going to start doing things that I shouldn’t, that are out of our game plan and that can only cause more problems. So they have a lot. They’re obviously going to get shots, so our job is to limit their good shots. Let them have shots from where we want them to have it. The goalie’s job is stop the ball.  Stop the ones he’s supposed to stop. They work together, but if he doesn’t trust us, or we don’t trust them, then you’re playing outside of the game plan and then you start doing too much. You start doing too much outside of the game plan and they will score more goals.
MD: A lot of people have complained about Bob McMahon and his lack of emotion, how did that impact the team?
JG: I loved playing for him. I really did. I think I was a better player, playing for him. I think his style may not have meshed with the personnel we had. His style might’ve been more a veteran type team. Right? Perhaps. But, you know he was very calm on the bench which I think is a positive. I think you see that with Steve too. He’s very calm and relaxed. You have to be. Just like anything else, you follow your leader. If your leader is gonna be yelling and screaming, and if he’s going to be rattled, the players are gonna be. Yeah he had a lack of emotion, but I don’t think it was a huge negative. He was tough. I loved playing with him. The head coach or the boss is going to take the fall. I think that was the disappointing part. You feel like you let him down – someone who put in a lot of time and effort to make you and the organization better, and has to take the fall for it. Especially for someone who you truly respect, it’s tremendously disappointing.
MD: A common comment from players on the 2006 team was about team chemistry and how there were no egos. What do you think was the biggest factor in that team unity?
JG: I think leadership. I think Gary. A lot of it was Gary. Right? That’s it. It’s Gary Gait, his mentality and how he ran it. You knew where you stood and you knew what he wanted. You knew what your job was and you knew if you didn’t do your job what the consequence was. And you trusted and respected all the other guys there.
MD: Do you see that potential in this team?
JG: I think you do, I think if you didn’t there’s bigger issues. I think that goes back to your rebuilding. If you didn’t, you go, either you need to make a change with some of the other guys, or get me outta here. You don’t want to be in a place where you know you’re gonna fail. Right? So I think there is. It’s gonna be a lotta hard work.  But I think if guys are willing to commit to sacrifice personal goals for the betterment of the group, you’ll always have the potential to be great.
MD: What person have you learned the most from?
JG: There’s nobody coming to mind. I think I’ve learned a little bit from everybody. I learned a lot of how to play while playing in Victoria. And that was a lot from playing with really good players and having a good coaching staff. Right? Playing in Six Nations, I learned a lot. I learned how to be a good lacrosse player.
MD: How did it feel the first time you saw a fan wearing your jersey?
JG: It was good. Like, I couldn’t tell you where. It was good. To be honest with you it was odd. It was odd. It felt odd because I wouldn’t put my personality to be very out there, to want attention. It was odd because I was like wow. Someone has my jersey, and it was kind of a realization that I guess, we are sort of important in some way and you kind of take that for granted sometimes. That the influence, you know, the enjoyment people have you know, watching you. We have other jobs so it’s not the same as some of the other sports, but the way we’re treated by our fan base is the same. It’s flattering, I guess would probably be a better word. It’s very flattering.
If someone is gonna spend the money – and enough to have your jersey, it’s for a reason. A positive reason. There are a lot of moments, especially in a season like this, where you start questioning yourself. Questioning what you’re doing. And you know a lot of times all it takes is for someone to just say, ‘No, no, you’re ok. Just keep doing what you’re doing. You’re fine.’ It’s very flattering. I mean, and it’s odd. [laughs]
MD: What made you want to be a teacher?
JG: I like teaching. Enjoy helping children understand the fundamentals, and the basics, of what to do, of education, of life. I enjoy that. It’s just something I have a passion for, something I want to be better at. I enjoy teaching. I enjoy educating. I never grew up thinking I wanted to be a teacher. I had an opportunity to do it and I did it and I enjoyed it. Went back to school to be able to teach. I enjoy waking up knowing that I’m helping people learn the very basics of their education which they will then use the rest of their life.
MD: What did you think you were going to be?
JG: I thought I was going to be a chemist. I wanted to be a chemist. I wanted to be an environmental chemist. A toxicologist. That’s what I wanted to do. It’s a little different, yes. That’s what I went to school for. You know, there was the idea of being a police officer. And you know, it wasn’t necessarily for me and then teaching came up after that.
MD: What subject/grade do you teach?
JG: Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade
MD: What from teaching have you been able to apply to lacrosse and vice versa?
JG: Patience. Patience dealing with people, dealing with different situations. Absolutely, without a doubt, that’s it. You gotta have patience. You gotta have patience when teaching. You gotta have patience when dealing with middle school, or teenagers. You have to have patience when dealing with young kids. Just different. Patience, how to communicate.
MD: What did you grow up watching as a kid?
JG: I was a Transformers guy. I loved it.
MD: Which Transformer would you be?
JG: I’d be Optimus Prime. Without a doubt. I’d be Optimus Prime because he’s the truck. Solely cause he’s the truck. The first game we had, they interviewed me then and asked me what I wanted to be and I said a garbage man. I had a fascination with, still do I guess, with transport trucks. That was my thing growing up. Cause they were big, huge. That’s why I liked them. That’s why Optimus Prime, because he was the truck. Not cause he was the leader or a cool guy, whatever.
MD: What’s the last book you read?
JG: I read Mitch Albom’s 5 People You Meet in Heaven, that’s probably the last one. That was in the summer. During the year, I read more magazines.
MD: What’s your favorite book?
JG: One book I read a lot in school is, The Little Engine That Could. I kinda enjoy reading it. Obviously, with my job, I read it often. So I enjoy reading it. So I’d say go with that one. [laughs]
MD: What’s your favorite movie?
JG: Ghostbusters
MD: What’s your dream car?
JG: I’d have a motorcycle if I could have anything. I think I’d have a Harley.
MD: Where in the world do you most want to travel to?
JG: I’d probably go to Europe, to Spain. I’d go to Spain. I’d go to Ireland. I’d go to Europe.
MD: Where’s your favorite place to travel to?
JG: You know, I like Mexico. I do. I liked Australia.
MD: What item can you not live without?
JG: These pants are ok. TV. Definitely need TV. Need a DVR now too. That and comfortable clothes. Jogging pants. Love jogging pants.
MD: What do you wish people knew about you?
JG: I wish…This goes to Josh Gross and some other people. My last name is Gallant (Guh lant with a hard a like ant). Not Gallant (Guh lont with a soft a like aunt). Not Gallent. So I wish people knew about me 1. Say my name right. 2. Just that I’m a normal everyday person, easy going, relaxed. I wish they knew about me that I am a nice person, very approachable. I’m a nice respectful person.   My mother and father did a good job raising me, and I’d like them to know.
