breaking bad habits

here are a few of my "favorite" youth players:

"the bull" tries to dodge 3 or 4 defender's no matter who is wide open

"lumberjack" likes big chopping inaccurate checks usually on the helmet

"gilman" his clear is always a 50 yard pass to no one

"stone hands" drops every other pass

"serious trickster" unsuccessfully attempts ice picks, swim dodges, rusty gate checks, anything he saw on the internet

and finally "the gun slinger" he shoots underhand, sidearm or behind the back, but never on the cage.

years of watching these player types has left me frustrated to say the least. the question is how do we break a young player of these and other bad habits before it becomes part of who he is as a lacrosse player.

my father had a great saying. "he's getting better and better at doing it wrong" this is not what we as coaches want to happen.

i have broken many players on bad habits with a simple , effective practice technique called "the gauntlet" not only will it get them to change bad habits, it will condition them and improve their footwork and stick skills

heres how its done: simply set up 4 cones off the field 20 yards apart in a box formation.

when your player keeps repeating some type of fixable error, send him to the gauntlet.

have them sprint to the first cone, shuffle or karaoke to the second, back pedal to the third and sprint out to the fourth. have them carry a ball if you'd like or change the distance between cones to make it more or less difficult.

a great option is to have a mini-wall or use a wall you may have close by. after they finish the run, have them do 25 or 30 opposite hand wall reps to complete the task.

in my experience, the gauntlet works as well or better than laps, push ups, or suicides. they are carrying a ball and finishing with wall ball - always a plus.

i have actually seen players make a mistake and just take off by themselves to the gauntlet.

i hope this helps some bad habits disappear. one note, make sure they know specifically why they are going by explaining what they did wrong. always take the time to demonstrate the proper techniques.

tryouts and player evaluations

one of the hardest thing to do as a coach is to evaluate talent and potential. there are only a certain number of players you can effectively put on any given team and many players are equal in skill level.

how do you decide who goes "up" or if your program has "A", "B", and/or "C" teams, and who goes where? who gets cut?

its even harder to cut players if that is how your system works.

i have several ideas to make the task less painful at the middle school level and beyond

1/ hold a separate day for evaluations. make the groups small by breaking them down by position. ideally you want to look at 10-12 players at a time if possible. too many middies? split them by grade and then by alpha to reduce the size. 25 kids in a gym is next to impossible to give the proper attention.

2/ use help. recruit varsity players, assistant coaches, the 5/6 coaches, even a high school JV or Varsity coaching staff may have interest. the more eyes on the players the better. i am often surprised when i see the range in evaluations by different coaches

3/be prepared. i tape last names on helmets, first names on the back. especially if you have people helping who does'nt know the players. the last thing you want is to keep asking someone "whats your name again?" also, bring multiple rosters on spreadsheet to hand out. have columns for "stick skills", "dodge", "speed", etc. i like a 1 -5 rating system. print the number on each column so a evaluator merely has to circle a number. you can use 1-10, A-F grades, whatever works for you.

4/ run short, skill based drills to quickly evaluate the degree of skill. i start with wall ball to check both hands, then do several passing drills - preferably on the run working both hands and over the shoulder. i like to see shooting from all positions, its a good gauge for athleticism and strength. its important do do individual skills such as 1v1 or 2v2, etc if you have the space and of course team concepts such as 6v5 and 6v6. some players show well in a gym shooting and dodging, but may not see the field well or hog the ball. seeing what they are made of in a ground ball session is also recommended if you are on turf or grass

5/ use a video camera. film never lies. if you forget a player or start wondering what he did in tryouts, go to the tape. its nearly impossible to remember every player.

i will break down techniques to make your final team placements next blog...