Anthony Grassi is a standout attack on the ADVNC NDP ‘25 team heading to play DI lacrosse at Rutgers University next Fall.
Anthony was a very active kid who grew up in the Seattle suburb of Sammamish, and has played in the Eastlake Lacrosse program his entire life. Anthony played a lot of sports from an early age. His mom, Allison Grassi, signed him up to try lacrosse in Kindergarten.
“I played club lacrosse in college at Pacific Lutheran University,” Allison Grassi said. “Anthony’s older sister, Sydney (currently a junior lacrosse player at Iona University) had already started playing lacrosse when Anthony was in Kindergarten. So I thought Anthony would enjoy it. It’s a really fun sport with a great community around it.”
“I liked it,” Anthony recalled. “It quickly became my favorite sport. I really liked my coaches with Eastlake rec club. I really liked the other kids on the team. It’s fast paced and fun.”
Anthony kept playing lacrosse alongside hockey. He played for his Eastlake rec team until eventually starting to play club lacrosse for the Seattle Starz.
“He was on the youngest Starz team ever,” Allison Grassi recalled. “He was nine, and he played up on the 10U team.”
“That was super fun,” Anthony said. “A lot of my friends from Eastlake played too. My coach from Eastlake, Coach Santini, kept coaching us with the Starz. He really loved the game, and really helped me and all my teammates a lot.”
When ADVNC partnered with the Seattle Starz and created the National Development Program (NDP), Anthony was excited.
“My ADVNC NDP ‘25 team became my favorite team,” Anthony said. “The coaches are great, and they make it fun. The guys on the team are so fun to hang out with. I love the ADVNC culture. It was great to have good competition at practice, and then go play even better competition at tournaments.”
“Playing for NDP definitely made Anthony work harder,” said Allison Grassi. “He saw an increased level of competition. It made him want to keep working harder to become a really good player.”
“I saw that too,” said Anthony’s dad, Mike Grassi. “Playing for ADVNC NDP opened his eyes up to another level of defense. It forced him to become more creative with his game.”
Creative is a word used often to describe Anthony Grassi’s game. “The creative part of the game has always been there for me,” he said. “I love a free style of play. I like to change things up on the spot. It just comes naturally.”
Grassi is an All American at Eastlake HS in Seattle.
When Anthony started looking for a great fit in a college program, he was drawn to Rutgers because of their creative style of play. “The Rutgers coaches had been watching Anthony for a couple of years,” Allison Grassi said. “The coaches all knew that Anthony liked a creative style of offensive play. When we went to visit the school, Anthony knew right away that it was the place for him, primarily because of their style of play. They knew Anthony was drawn to that, and they sold him on it, right away.”
“I knew I wanted to go to a big school,” Anthony said. “I also wanted to play for a top team where I liked the coaches. Rutgers felt very welcoming.”
Anthony also credits his ADVNC NDP Coach Andrew Parrilla, a Rutgers lacrosse alum, for helping guide him to the Scarlet Knights. “Coach Rotelli helped me too,” Anthony said. “He has so many connections, and he just seemed to know that Rutgers would be a good fit for me, and helped me get in touch with their coaches.”
After committing to Rutgers, Anthony was selected to play for the Team USA U18 Select Team. “Playing for Team USA has been super fun,” he said. “It’s just awesome playing against other countries and meeting new guys. It’s just awesome repping the USA and the whole experience has been really cool.”
Looking back on the journey, the Grassi’s have this advice for parents of young players. “Let the kid lead the activity,” said Mike Grassi. “Don’t push too hard and don’t force them to do too much. Forcing them to do things is how you make them dislike the activity that you want them to love.”
“Don’t have them do too much too early,” Allison Grassi explained. “You don’t want to burn them out early. You want them to be hungry for more. That has defined Anthony’s journey...he always wants to do more.”