Thomas Michaelsen (born September 14, 1985) is the first

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensively ...

player ever to be drafted professionally in

Major League Lacrosse Major League Lacrosse (MLL) was a men's field lacrosse league in the United States. The league's inaugural season was in 2001. Teams played anywhere from ten to 16 games in a summertime regular season. This was followed by a four-team playoff f ...

and the

National Lacrosse League The National Lacrosse League (NLL) is a men's professional box lacrosse league in North America. The league is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The NLL currently has fifteen teams: ten in the United Stat ...

from

St. John's University St John's University may refer to: *St. John's University (New York City) **St. John's University School of Law **St. John's University (Italy) - Overseas Campus *College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University, St. Joseph, Minnesota and Col ...

. Thomas is currently the President and Founder of 365Lax Inc., a lacrosse company based in Long Island that provides lacrosse-specific services for players in grades kindergarten through twelfth grade.

Early life

Michaelsen was born and raised in

Bethpage, New York Bethpage (formerly known as Central Park) is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) located within the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 16,429 at the 2010 United States Cen ...

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

. He grew up with two older sisters, a twin brother Trevor who also played with him at

and a younger brother. In high school, Michaelsen was named All-County in soccer, wrestling and lacrosse, and also earned All-American in lacrosse. Michaelsen is considered one of the best athletes of all time in Bethpage history and Top 5 Lacrosse players all time from Bethpage.

Lacrosse career

Collegiate lacrosse

Immediately attending

on a full scholarship, Michaelsen played and starred in every game and led the team in points ever since. In his senior season, he was named a National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) All-American, earned the Francis A. McCall Memorial Award as the team MVP and also became the fifth player in St. John's history to reach 100 career points and first player since the reinstatement in 2004 to surpass 100 point. In his collegiate career, Michaelsen tallied 71 goals and 46 assists for 117 points, making him fourth in career assists, fifth on the all-time leading scorer list and tied for fifth in career goals in the St. John's record books. As a sophomore in 2006, he earned the team's offensive MVP award. Michaelsen was the first player to earn All-ECAC honors in 2007, and in May became the first player since 1990 to be selected to play in the annual USILA Senior North/South All-Star Game.

Professional lacrosse

After college, Michaelsen was drafted 42nd overall in the 2008 Major League Lacrosse Collegiate Draft by the San Francisco Dragons and 24th overall in the National Lacrosse League Entry Draft by the

Minnesota Swarm The Minnesota Swarm was a box lacrosse team in the National Lacrosse League who played at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota from 2004 until 2015. The team's previous owners (Minnesota Sports & Entertainment) who also own the NHL's M ...

. Michaelsen ended his professional career after playing with the NY Lizards in the MLL and as a member of the Swarm in 2009.

Business endeavors

Tom Michaelsen is an entrepreneur who owns several businesses. He is the founder of 365Lax Inc, a company that provides lacrosse-specific services all year round for both boys and girls in grades 12 and under. and is also the co-founder of College Bound Laxers (CB Laxers) which has helped over 600 athletes to play lacrosse at the collegiate level. Michaelsen is also the co-founder of the US Academy of Lacrosse, a sports complex located in Farmingdale,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Michaelsen, Thomas 1985 births Living people American lacrosse players People from Bethpage, New York Sportspeople from Nassau County, New York Sportspeople from New York (state)