NXT LC PLAYER OF THE MONTH: TIM HICKEY

From NXTsports.com

Tim Hickey knew it was something he'd have to do if he wanted to continue playing lacrosse at the collegiate level.  

It's not that the middle part of Pennsylvania doesn't offer stiff competition, but when you've got ideas of suiting up in college, you start thinking bigger and better.  

The NXT 2014 defenseman and June Player of the Month was progressing in playing for his Trinity High School varsity team, yet at the same time, he knew he needed a jump in competition to realize his dream. That meant having to drive a lot longer to practices and games and measuring himself against the best of the best, so Hickey started envisioning change.  

(MORE AFTER THE JUMP)



"I came out to the Philly Showcase Camp and NXT kind of found me there and asked me to play for them," explained Hickey, who was named a Fab 40 all-star at the Showcase Camp . "I was starting to get interest from college coaches and they told me that I needed to get on a club team If I wanted to play at the next level. I sat down with my parents and explained to them that it was something I needed to do. I even told them, 'I'll work to help pay for it or anything you want me to do.' The level of competition that I was exposed to was much higher than what I had played in."

It was only a matter of time before Hickey's game took off. He has great size at 6-foot-2, 200 pounds and just needed to polish up his fundamentals. The three-hour roundtrip drives to practice paid off in spades immediately, helping him blossom into a shutdown defenseman. There's not a great secret and no magic potiion that led to Hickey's development. He just took the time to become great, working at it every day to exceed his expectations.  

"I just got a lot more playing time for NXT," Hickey said. "I went to a lot more camps and showcases and I went out every day and hit the wall. I'd usually go for 1,000 reps with each hand, switching back and forth, and that helped me a lot to get my stick skills up. I learned to time my checks more. The technical aspect is where I developed the most.  I've learned and progressed an unbelievable amount just by playing with NXT. The coaches helped me progress through fundamentals that I didn't have yet." 

That eventually led to a commitment to Division I College of the Holy Cross, where he'll join 2014 teammate Rich Palazzese of Episcopal Academy. Hickey was sold on the Crusaders from his first visit, liked the school's academics and envisioned himself having a chance to play early. There was also a laundry list of awards that followed Hickey as his development took off that seemed never-ending, but he wanted one more to cap his high school career.  

His defense helped Trinity roll to a 14-4 record while averaging a mere 5.4 goals against per game, but he knew that the Mid-Penn Conference doesn't usually get a high number of U.S. Lacrosse All-Americans. The league put three of its players on the team this year and after waking up one morning, Hickey heard the great news he'd been hoping for.  "I was waiting to see who had been named for a week or so," Hickey detailed. 

"I was asking my parents and my coach every day if they'd heard anything because it would be a pretty big deal for me. Finally, I woke up and my parents told me I got it. I was pretty excited for that." 

It was a long, arduous road for Hickey to go from a raw player with all the tools to succeed to becoming a shutdown defenseman, but as he heads off to college, there are few people who can claim to be more NXT than him.