Josh Balcarcel went into the 2025 Premier Lacrosse League season as an undrafted rookie who earned an invite to training camp with the California Redwoods.
Entering the 2026 Championship Series, not only is he an active roster regular, he’ll be a veteran on the squad, even with just one season of pro experience under his belt.
“I’m excited about JB,” head coach Anthony Kelly said. “He played with Team Puerto Rico in Sixes. He’s going to have more Sixes experience even than guys that are much older than him. He’s a guy that will have a veteran mindset.”
After featuring in every Redwoods game and finishing tied for sixth on the team in points (7G, 2A), Balcarcel continued to ride the wave of momentum from his rookie season by representing Puerto Rico in two international Sixes competitions: the Atlas Cup and the Pan-American Lacrosse Association Sixes Cup.
Balcarcel said Puerto Rico head coach Dylan Sheridan, who is also the offensive coordinator for the Philadelphia Waterdogs, did a great job preparing the team, and he believes those competitions helped him better understand the intricacies of the Sixes discipline.
His biggest takeaway was the importance of good conditioning.
“It is a constant state of playing fast,” Balcarcel said. “Getting the lungs ready to get up and down is one of the biggest things to prepare for.”
Balcarcel is already known for his speed, which Kelly said will be a great asset for California. In preparation for the fast pace of play, the 23-year-old midfielder has done a lot of running: short sprints combined with longer-distance intervals.
Kelly believes Balcarcel has more layers to his game than just speed, however, and that he can make an impact in a settled offense, as well.
“He developed a great ability to set picks over the summer,” Kelly said. “Now that he is going to have a better understanding of that, and he’s going to incorporate some of that box mentality I’m going to bring to these guys, he’ll continue to set some picks and create some offense for us.”
One difference between the international events and the Championship Series is the two-point arc. On offense, Balcarcel said the shorter two-point arc could mean it’s more in his range, although he’ll still defer to teammate Romar Dennis as the guy the Redwoods want taking two-point shots.
Where he wants to focus on making a difference is at the defensive end.
“It’s going to be a big, big emphasis on having to get out on hands early,” Balcarcel said. “As soon as you cross that 50, you’re basically a shooting threat. Just having the proper footwork, breaking down on offensive guys, especially those that have range.”
Balcarcel caught many people by surprise early in his rookie season. That won’t happen at the Championship Series, and that’s something Balcarcel thinks about frequently. He draws similarities with his college experience at Marist, where each year, he was expected to take on bigger roles and increase his production.
He’s spent the offseason watching film. He’s rewatched games from the summer to analyze his play, and he’s also gone over clips from previous Championship Series games to see what he can learn.
It’s all part of an effort to outdo what he did last year and provide whatever the Redwoods need in order to complement his teammates and pile up victories.
“Ever since I made the roster and got that invite to training camp, my life has changed drastically,” he said. “With that came a lot more exposure than I was used to, which is awesome. I love my hard work getting recognized. There’s all these funny posts the Redwoods do, which is always hilarious and awesome.
“All of that is truly a blessing, but that’s not the reason I’m doing it all. I’m doing this because I wanted to continue to play a sport that’s given so much to me and that I truly love, and, on top of that, continue to build relationships with my teammates.”
