Welcome to “A Lacrosse Weekend,” my weekly compilation of thoughts, ideas, history, stories, myths/truths about the great game of lacrosse! I hope you find it enjoyable.

I write to you today from Whitby, Ontario where both of my daughters are competing in a box lacrosse tournament, one in the Midget age group (15 & 16 year olds) and one in the Intermediate, 21 and under. Eight American girls from Colorado, Massachusetts, Tennessee, and North Carolina have made real box lacrosse a part of their summer. And it’s awesome! The girls love playing box lacrosse and the parents love watching it!I’ve written extensively on the benefits of box lacrosse in this blog, if you want to read more, click here.

Phil-Lacrosse-ophy Podcast

I’ve started a podcast called the Phil-Lacrosse-ophy podcast and I think you will like it! I had Nick Myers, Head Coach at The Ohio State University on this week and it was awesome to hear his insights on leadership, player development, sandlot sports with his young boys, “Sharpening his saw” as a coach, and video analysis of players. Awesome stuff! Here’s the link to the podcast

Dreaming of a Better Tryout/Showcase/Prospect Day

I am hoping and praying, for all of our sakes, that those who are running these types of events will consider the following points on how to run a tryout!

First, let’s establish that the primary goal here is to evaluate players; Finding out who the best athletes are, the most skilled players, players with the highest IQ, coach-ability and intangibles. Let’s also establish that the another goal is to make money, which requires that the customers (parents/players/college coaches) are happy.

Here is a simple model that can achieve both!

1. Divide players into teams that guarantee enough playing time: (Boys lacrosse) 2 goalies, 6 poles, 4 attack, 7 mids, and a FOGO. If a team is too big at a showcase, there’s no way to achieve the primary goal of evaluating the best players. And parents/players/college coaches won’t be happy.
2. Establish three simple “Non-Negotiables” to guarantee team play

A. Clear through for dodgers
B. No bad shots
C. Move the ball

Without enforcement of these three elements of team play, the evaluators are guaranteed not to get a great look at players. Coaches of teams MUST enforce these rules by subbing offending players out for the game (briefly).

Clearing space: Let’s say you want to evaluate a defender and finally he’s guarding one of the best X attackmen at the event, but the wings never clear through for him…. Nobody is getting a look…. The attackman can’t dodge, the defender can’t defend, the goalie won’t get a chance to make a save, etc. The solution is, “Hey buddy!” I yell across the field, “yeah, yeah… come here! Hey, you didn’t clear through for the dodgers and I’m going to have to take you out for a bit.” Of course, the player will be put back in, but a brief stint on the bench works wonders.

No Bad Shots: There’s always a kid who seems like he shoots a lot. Well, some kids are going to be more assertive than others… that’s just how it is. However, let’s qualify what’s acceptable or unacceptable with regard to shooting: if he’s generating great shots, then it’s acceptable. If he’s taking shots from poor angles or from too far out, then that’s unacceptable and the player must be taken out of the game, reminded, and must sit a shift. He and everyone else will stop taking bad shots if they have to sit a shift for poor shot selection.

Move the ball: You must create a culture of passing.

• Throw it to the open man up the field
• Dump it to X if you draw a slide
• You can re-dodge, but you can’t do it every time!
• Players are to be evaluated on ability to move the ball too!

3. Each field must have a “Quality Control Coach” who:

• Makes sure team coaches enforce the three “Non-Negotiables". This is the most important piece as many team coaches will not enforce the rules and then you might as well not have rules.
• If one team is winning every face-off, then obviously one team’s defense and one team’s offense will get no looks. Either have FOGO’s switch teams at half time, or award the ball to the other team to balance the number of possessions per team.
• Manufacture match-ups: if you want to see a particular dodger/defender match up, make it happen.
• Don’t let the refs ruin the game…. As director you can tell the refs what to do (and it’s actually quite enjoyable!).

College Coach or Drive an Ice Cream Truck?

I was talking to a college coach the other day and he was like, “Man, how awesome would it be to drive an ice cream truck?” It’s really true! Everybody is so pumped to see you! They run inside to tell their parents you’re in the neighborhood, they chase after you and you make them happy! Or you could be a college lacrosse coach where no matter what you do pretty much everybody hates you!

Sports Analogies

I’m going to do a little segment on this topic from here on out in my blogs because so many moms/dads are hesitant to coach lacrosse because they didn’t play, yet there are so many similarities between lacrosse and other sports. This will help Youth Lacrosse Coaching!

• A give and go is a great play in hockey, soccer, basketball, and lacrosse! Focus on getting your players to look for give and go’s!
• In basketball, you can’t dribble, pick up your dribble to fake a pass or shot, then dribble again. It’s a violation called a “Double dribble.” However, in lacrosse you can do the equivalent of this and it is amazingly effective. Remember the Chris Cloutier “triple hitch” goal in the 2016 UNC/Loyola NCAA Semi Final game? The best players in the world use this technique to their advantage. In my opinion, faking is the difference between good and great!
• Basketball continued… Oh yeah, and there’s no offensive foul rule in lacrosse! So you can wind up, get into space, wind up again, and SLAM your guy!

Coaches Training Program

We had a great session this week breaking down the 2015 Denver-Notre Dame Semi Final match up with Cleveland State Head Coach Dylan Sheridan. Dylan is one of the finest young coaches in the game and spent 4 years on the Denver staff as well as a couple years at Princeton. Dylan’s insights into this game were incredible! Here’s the link if you want to watch the replay vimeo.com/276150431

If you consider yourself a serious coach and you’re not signed up for the Coaches Training Program, you’re missing out. See what coaches are saying about the CTP!

How To Get Recruited

As a parent here are the three things you can control in the recruiting process:

1. Make sure your son/daughter gets access to great development environments
2. Make sure they get appropriate exposure so coaches know who they are
3. Find advocates who have relationships with college coaches

Don’t forget that while all three points are important, the first one is by far the most important.

What does “Great development environments” mean?

• Good youth/HS/Club coaching
• Pick up games 1x per week
• Working in the back yard with mom/dad
• Wall ball and working on your own
• Box lacrosse
• Video Analysis

There is a huge pool of really good players out there. How is your kid going to stand out? Is continuing to do what you have been doing the best plan? You have invested a ton of money and time and your son/daughter is a really good player! You’ve seen it… and they’ve worked hard it!

Film is Truth. If you are not using film and expert analysis, there is no way your son/daughter will play to their potential. It is literally not possible.

I’ve been doing a ton of these JM3 Video Assessmentslately and I’m blown away by results. Every player I’ve done this for, (on both sides of the ball), can make simple adjustments to their games that yield massive returns. And these adjustments, if understood and executed, will make the difference in your recruitment.

See what the athletes are saying about it here.