Yet, another eye-opener of a book is Michael Sokolove’s Warrior Girls. Sokolove looks into the alarmingly high rate of injuries in girls participating in sports and investigates why this is happening. With the advent of Title IX which opened the door for women to reap the benefits of playing sports in college, the discovery and subsequent discussion of the high rate of injuries to girls has been met w/ mixed feelings. For those proponents of Title IX, there is a fear that any discussion that suggests that girls are not capable of playing sports will damage all of the gains made in the last 30 years. So even top officials w/in women sports are reluctant to admit that this is an issue. However, one can’t argue the facts that Warrior Girls brings out
Girls are 8 times more likely to rupture their ACL’s than boys.
They are more prone to concussions
They are also more likely to suffer from “Overuse” injuries such as Shin splints, stress fractures and back pain.
Combining research w/ personal accounts of girls who have suffered serious injuries, he is able to weave together a compelling argument that this discussion needs to happen NOW. Other points of interest…
1) Physically and bio-mechanically, girls are very different than boys. Girls walk and run more upright than boys (the whole carrying a baby thing), they have a higher center of gravity which changes their running form, and they have wider hips which changes the angle to their knees. Some research also suggests that the muscles in the legs work and react differently than in boys. Even though physically they are different, all of the training, exercises and conditioning is done with a boy-centered approach.
2) More research needs to be done as to the causes of ACL injuries. Researchers know what happens in certain cases, usually a change in direction that causes the ACL to rupture but there are many other seemingly innocent moments on the athletic fields where this injury occurs. Seems that very small changes in the biomechanics of planting a foot… w/out the needed slight-angle-bend to absorb the shock…instead landing more flat footed and placing all of the force on the knee… seems to be another cause. What causes those small changes which cause the injury? More research needs to be supported.
3) There have been some very effective preventative exercise programs/initiatives started but these have been met w/ low enthusiasm. These programs involve a 30 minutes exercise/stretching/jumping sequence that teams should use prior to their practices/games. For those teams that utilize the program, the rate of ACL injuries to those girls drops substantially and pretty much disappears. This suggests that these programs work. However, coaches and even the players find it very difficult to give up the time in practice to do the program. Perhaps they would rather give up their entire season to surgery and rehab?
4) Where are the parents? In cases where girls suffered multiple ACL injuries, their parents stated that they knew it was dangerous for their daughter to return to sports so quickly but that they couldn’t do anything to stop them. Their daughters were too driven and too stubborn to stay on the sidelines. I guess that the parents found it too difficult to say, “no” to their daughters in order to protect them. Who is calling the shots at home?

Big picture is that there has been this acceptance in women’s sports that 25% of their team members will have a catastrophic ACL injury… it’s just the way it is. What Sokolove’s main point is that this is NOT the way it has to be and with discussions, further research and prevention programs, girls will be able to participate in sports w/out the fear of crippling themselves.

I also just finished reading Meat Market by ESPN reporter Bruce Feldman. Feldman spent a year embedded with the University of Mississippi’s football coaches as they went through the process of recruiting their players. Although there were far too many names of both coaches and players and it was hard to keep everyone straight, the book did a great job of exposing all of the ins and outs of the recruiting process. Now granted, recruiting in the SEC might be a little bit more competitive than other conferences, but it was interesting to see this process from both the players’ and the coaches’ perspectives.
Some highlights of the book…
1) Verbal commitments mean absolutely nothing. It is routine for players to verbally commit and then jump ship several times before officially signing with a college. What bothers me is that the players have no sense of what the word, commitment, means. I suppose that verbal commitments are just an archaic tradition left over from the days when a verbal commitment meant something.
2) I have tremendous respect for the coaches and the time they invest in recruiting. Ole Miss has the reputation as the hardest working group of recruiters. They spend thousands of hours watching game and highlight tapes trying to find those players that can help their program. Their analysis of these videos is brutally candid. In one video, they will rip apart a potential recruit for not being flexible enough or quick enough and then for the next player, watch 30 seconds and offer that player a scholarship right on the spot. These coaches also spend all of their time, either coaching Ole Miss, watching recruiting tapes, watching HS football games live, or traveling to meet w/ recruits. There is no off-season or slow-season for these coaches.
3) The importance of grades and character of the player in the process. So many outstanding players can’t play in college because of grades. Now there are lots of ways coaches can try to get around bad grades. There are on-line courses that players can take from BYU which help to increase their GPA… borderline diploma mills. There are post grad/military schools that players can go to for a year until they become eligible… but not a guarantee either. The coaches are also looking at attitudes and work ethics. Many of their recruits get left out because of character issues.
4) National Signing Day is the Day of reckoning for these coaches. This is when all of their efforts get measured. Can you imagine having your emotional well-being, future, and job evaluation be determined by the decision-making-process of an 18 year old?
ESPN has now made this day into a huge event so we’re able to see the antics of these future stars. How many more times do we need to see some selfish kid put on a college hat, take it off and put 2-3 more hats on, trying to build the suspense, before committing. Better yet, why are we glorifying these players and giving them this opportunity?
Overall, good read and very enlightening.

Game On

I just finished reading James Farray’s Game On. Needless to say, it was an eye opener both as an educator/coach and as a parent. As I was reading I would say to myself, “Yup, that’s me”, or “I did that”.
The basic focus of the book is on our obsession w/ youth sports in the last 15 years and how this has adversely affected our children. Farray explores the rise in tournaments, national championships, and year-round commitments to sports and what effect this new obsession is having on our children. Each chapter in the book is dedicated to that corresponding age where children are pushed into sports. For example, Chapter One deals w/ the rise in parents using in vitro services that are designed to increase the chance of better athletic genes in your baby.
Several ideas/concepts were brought out
1) Is it genetic or environment? People saw what Earl Woods did w/ Tiger and now every parent believes that with the proper push, that their child will also become the top player in their sport. Therefore, we’re seeing parents signing up their two and three year olds for the local soccer leagues. Parents are trying to prepare their kids at the earliest possible age in hopes of creating their own little Tiger. Now some sports are better the earlier you start. The main example was golf that it’s easier to start younger players w/ the proper swing than it is if you started them later…in their teens. There’s a fear that if you don’t start early, someone else surely is and your kid will be left behind.
2) Not only are parents signing kids up into these structured leagues, but there are now more games and the seasons get longer. Parents feel that it’s advantageous for their 5-6 year olds to be playing 4 games a week. They feel that if they don’t, their child won’t be good enough to be picked for the travel/elite team when their child turns 7. And if they’re not on that team when they’re 7, those kids will be left behind and never be able to play HS or college ball… at least that’s they’re rationale.
3) According to the research, the children who had birthdays earlier in the year were more likely to be on the Elite travel teams and that those players who had later birthdays were generally left off those teams and eventually left that sport. Our youth sports rewards the early bloomers and those that have birthdays in the first few months of the year…oldest for that age group.
4) Signing them up at an early age is not the problem… it’s the sudden obsession w/ having these 3-4 year olds playing competitive games to the screams and delights of their parents. Farray looks at what other countries are doing w/ youth sports and notes that most of these are not doing any competitive sports until 12-13 years old. Up until then, the focus is on training skill acquisition, creativity and making sure it’s fun. Compare that to the US system or regimented drills and playing competitive games when players don’t have the necessary skills and what we have is pressured situations dominated by over zealous parents.
I’m seeing this right now coaching my 12 year old in girl’s basketball. We have two games/week with no practices. It’s 5 on 5… and it’s a zoo! Are they learning anything? Probably not. What would be better is if we formed a 3v3 league and they just played w/ limited adult interruption. They would get more touches, understand spacing, cutting… all those skills that they need to have to be able to play at the next level. But, imagine the parents when I propose this idea? “Everyone else is playing 5v5, our kids will be at a disadvantage.” Our culture/environment suggests that playing more games is the key to better players whereas the rest of the world realizes that is not true.
5) Parents feel that they have to attend all of their children’s games to “support” their child. What they are really doing is evaluating their children’s performance. Kids pick up on this and realize that they will be critiqued on their performance. Parents feel that this is how to “support” their kid. This creates an environment of pressure and anxiety that takes the fun out of playing. It now becomes parent-focused rather than kid-focused.
6) Farrey also gets into the effect of budget cuts on municipal parks and recreation…usually the first item that gets chopped. As result, there are not as many places for kids to play. There are not as many leagues and options for kids to play. As a result, we see that kids are not playing sports, increasing the country’s childhood obesity rate. He applauds the efforts of Carmelo Anthony in establishing the rec center in Baltimore and suggests that the private sector might be the ones to fill the void left by bankrupt parks and recreation departments.
7) My favorite part of the book was Farrey’s look at some of the governing bodies of sports…including the NCAA, US Olympic Committee and AAU. Farrey asks what if we took away all athletic scholarships and colleges gave away $ based on need. What effect would that have on our youth-sports obsessed culture? And if you want to see an organization just get raked over the coals, read Farrey’s sections on Bobby Dodd and AAU Basketball.

Kudda was privy to attend two college recruiting nights presented by the coaches at some of the top D1 and DIII programs.

For the boys recruiting night, Dave Pietramala from Hopkins and Gene McCabe from W&L presented the process from a D1 and D3 perspective. For the women, sponsored by the M&D Lacrosse Club, Kelly Berger from UMBC, Ricky Fried-Georgetown and Muffy Bliss from McDaniel College spoke.

There were several themes that were present at both evenings’ discussions:

Grades

Time Table

Club Lacrosse, Camps and Tournaments

Specialization

Future of recruiting

Grades

ALL coaches stressed the importance of solid academic achievement. There are so many top players that will never get admitted to these colleges because of poor grades. For example, during Jake Reed’s Blue Chip Camp, coaches were given their packet that also included player’s academic achievement. So often coaches would see a great player, turn to see the grades and realize this player had no shot of attending their college.

Coach McCabe stressed how strong grades make the process so much easier… coaches aren’t going to be scrambling and pleading with their admissions people if you don’t have the grades.

The Recruiting Timetable

All coaches addressed their timetable for solidifying their recruiting classes. For the D1 coaches, Fried, Berger and Petro, this process has been accelerated over the last 2-3 years. Petro shared that he has juniors right now committing and that he’ll probably have the 2010 recruiting class wrapped up by spring. For the D3 coaches, McCabe and Bliss, their timetable is pushed back a bit. Right now both coaches are solidifying their 2009 recruits. McCabe told us that he’s looking at juniors but will start to recruit them come springtime. Check out Coach Fried’s thoughts on the timetable by clicking on The drop down menu for “Choosing a Playlist” and selecting “Recruiting Timetable”

Club Lacrosse

The coaches addressed the proliferation in club teams, recruiting tournaments and camps. They all urged players to limit the number of tourneys and camps that players attend in the summer. One area that divided the men and the women coaches was the role of the Club Coach. Coach Petro seemed very concerned with the influence of some of the club coaches in the recruiting process. He and McCabe revealed that they rely more heavily of the HS coach, who probably has more contact and interaction w/ the players during the year and has a genuine vested interest in helping their players make the right college decisions. Petro shared some stories of some club coaches who charge their players a fee for contacting college coaches. That, with the incentive to boost that the club’s players are attending certain schools to increase enrollment made both coaches much more focused on the HS coach’s opinion. This differed from the women coaches who rely on the input of the Club coach almost as much as the HS coach. Then again, girls’ club lacrosse has been around longer than the mens’ club scene.

Specialization

The topic of Specialization came up on both nights as parents asked if it was better that their child play lax instead of basketball or soccer. The coaches all agreed that they look for those athletes who play multi-sports. They don’t want the players who are just lacrosse players. They’re looking for that well-rounded athlete. The players will specialize in college- no need to do it in HS. All coaches agreed that there is no advantage to playing just lacrosse year round and that it’s better to play other sports.

The Future of Recruiting

The women coaches felt that since their sport is growing, both in the number of players and in D1 schools offering scholarships, the timetable won’t change too much. Not so with the men. Petro feels that it’ll be even more competitive since there are only 50+ D1 schools and lots more players from all over the country. He sees colleges possibly looking at freshmen and possibly younger in the years to come. McCabe is alarmed, as were the other coaches, at the number of tournaments and recruiting camps that are stretching family budgets and players’ intensity. Unfortunately, since there is a huge financial incentive from running these events, the coaches feel that we’ll continue to see an increase in the number of camps and tournaments.

Protective and safety devices for Youth Athletics
Lack of safety devices creates a liability exposure

While attending a Little League Baseball game I witnessed a foul ball go into the stands. In itself this is not an issue, but when you take into account that there is not a fence down the third base line protecting players or fans this creates a liability exposure. No one was injured; however the propensity for an injury is great. The local organization does not own the property that they play on however that does not release them from the exposure. The “I didn’t know” defense would not have merit. Had a player or fan been injured during this event the organization as well as the property owner could be held liable for any injuries that could arise from such a situation.
The solution to this issue was solved by installing a twelve foot high fence down the third base line. This cost was absorbed completely by the organization with the hopes to prevent any unnecessary injuries.
Fencing around a playing field may not be the only exposure you have when it comes to the fans. What is the condition of the stands? Do they provide a safe place for the fans to sit, or are they the same stands your great grand parents watched your parents play. Even if you have no ownership in the property, knowing that the property is safe is in your organizations best interest.
For more information regarding youth athletics and liability insurance, please visit the K & K icon on this website.

As many teams begin their pre-season training, Kudda wants to take a moment to remind everyone of some of the ways they can become stronger coaches. Perhaps last Spring, the players just didn’t respond as well as you had hoped, maybe they seemed to not care and didn’t work hard during practice. Perhaps you had some problems w/ parents or with other coaches?
Kudda recommends that coaches take a few moments to check out some of our “Coach’s Wisdom” on issues that take place “outside of the lines”. What are some actions that you can take right now and for the rest of the season that will help you become a better role model for your players? What are some strategies that will help you maintain a positive environment for your players and parents? What are some other issues that you will need to address early before they fester into larger problems?
Kudda suggests that you refresh yourself by watching these selected clinics where our Kudda coaches share their thoughts.
For keys to better coaching
The_Keys_to_Good_Coaching
Adjusting_Your_Coaching_Style_for_Different_Age_Groups

For dealing w/ Parents
Dealing_with_Parents
Coach_Mac_on_Dealing_with_Parents

Legal Issues and Liability
Insurance_Issues_for_Coaches_of_Youth_Sports

Hints to getting off to a solid start
1) Communicate w/ parents and be pro-active. Have a parents’ mtg and explain logistics and your expectations. Possibly have them sign a “contract” where they agree to meet your expectations.
2) Always have a detailed practice plan that includes some sort of competition and fun. Not just drills
3) Talk w/ each kid at least 1x per week. Depending on the size of the team and how many practices/week you have…If you talk w/ 1-2 players at the beginning, 1-2 players in the middle during a break and after 1-2 practice. During these talks, explain what they are doing right, where you see them playing, what their role is and 1-2 specific areas, skills that you would like to see improvement. Make sure you also give them the ways to improve. For example, don’t tell them they need to shoot better, w/out providing time and some drills to improve.
4) Keep it Fun
5) Keep your sense of humor

At this point of the summer, my son has done several tournaments with his club lacrosse team and has attended a “recruiting” camp…Top 205. At all of these venues, there are always 8-15 college coaches watching each game. Personally, I have no idea how these guys can really differentiate between all of the 6’0, 175 pound middies who are fast, shoot well on the run, and play great defense. As you scan the sidelines, it’s easy to recognize some of the top D1 coaches at these venues…they all have their polo’s…usually UnderArmour…hat, folding chair and clipboard. By this time of the summer they have been on the road for 4 weeks at various tournaments and camps… and they look exhausted! But as you scan the sidelines you’ll also see many coaches you don’t recognize, from colleges that you may not have heard of…primarily the D2 and D3 coaches. Chances are this is where your son or daughter will end up playing so don’t dismiss the fact that these coaches are interested just because they are D3.

With a little over 50 schools that play D1 men’s lacrosse and each school able to give a maximum of 12.6 scholarships…usually split into halves or quarters… we’re talking 1000-1600 players that are awarded a D1 scholarship of some value. So in any given year, there are maybe 300 HS players that might get a scholarship to play lacrosse. So unless you’re one of these top 300 who want to play at the D1 level, most HS players will be playing at the D2 and D3 level.

Let’s face it… every parent and player wants to be considered a D1 prospect. It helps the social status of the player, it helps the “cocktail party” status of the parents…it strokes everyone’s ego. But the actual college experience of being a D1 athlete may not be in every player’s best interest. Many of these players don’t realize the amount of work and commitment involved with playing a D1 sport. Just because you have the ability to play D1, doesn’t mean that you should. For many top athletes, playing D3 might actually be a better option.

Playing at the D3 level enables the athlete to have a better balanced college experience. According to Anne Phillips, head women’s lacrosse coach at Franklin & Marshall, D3 schools allow for players to be fully focused on their academics while being able to play sports at a competitive level. To see all of Anne’s thoughts about the benefits of D3, check them out at the Kudda library.

http://video.kudda.com/clinic/Benefits_of_Going_D_III

According to Matt McGinnis, head coach at Denison, many of the liberal arts schools are more academically demanding and may do a better job of preparing students for grad school, law school or med school. (I got to spend time with Matt, as we were both eating at a pizza place outside of Gettysburg)

For many of the D3 colleges, the financial aid available may be more than a partial scholarship from a D1 program. It may be a more attractive situation overall…more affordable, better balance between academics and athletics, and more flexibility in doing pursuing other extra-curricular work.

This weekend marks the beginning of the club lacrosse summer recruiting tournaments. For some of the Mid-Atlantic girls clubs, they have the Charm City classic outside of Baltimore and for the HS boys; there is the Rutgers MVP camp. From now until the end of July, every weekend will have a tournament or camp where college coaches will be evaluating players’ skills. It is pretty exciting to look around on the sidelines and see a lot of top D1 coaches watching a game where your kid is playing, knowing that if they play well, they might be getting some interest from these coaches. Unfortunately for many parents, they take this as the only opportunity that their kid will have to shine. Thus more pressure is placed on their kid to perform, which usually doesn’t happen in those stressed situations.
So let’s say that your little sweetie pie doesn’t have the game of her life or that Jr got stripped of the ball in right in front of the Harvard coaches. You think to yourself, “It’s all over! They’ll never get any interest now!” Hold on as this isn’t the “death sentence” that you think it is. Coaches are looking at a variety of factors/skills during these summer games.
Several of the coaches interviewed mentioned that they are looking for lacrosse players and good athletes first. Not too many were looking for positional players: with the exception of goalies. Most are looking for the type of athlete that will fit into their system of play. Check out these interviews by clicking on the Recruiting Clinic near the top of the video player.

Most coaches know that your kid is going to make a mistake or two. The key thing that they look for is how your kid handles themselves afterwards. Janine Tucker, head women’s coach at Johns Hopkins, looks for girls who sulk or point fingers at other teammates. Janine asks, “Do they give up or go 120% for that next groundball?” Georgetown Head Coach Ricky Fried calls this,”the competitive nature”. What is their reaction to a mistake? A common theme that a lot of coaches mentioned were, “How does the player deal w/ adversity?” Does this light a spark in the player or does it, “cause them to have a mental breakdown and require therapy?”
Another area that coaches notice is how the players interact between games. “Coaches want social players that are willing to be part of a team,” says Janine. Do the players isolate themselves in between games or are they in the thick of things?
Coaches are also watching for any negative behavior from parents. Are parents over-bearing? Coaching from the sidelines? Screaming at the referees? Coaches don’t want a “head case” parent involved in their program for the next few years so parents, be aware that you can adversely affect your kids appeal. Speaking of parents, coaches are also very cognizant of how players interact with their parents. Anne Phillips watches this closely for any signs of disrespect or condescending behavior.
So just because Jr and the “Little Princess”, in your eyes, dropped the ball, it doesn’t mean that college coaches think they dropped the ball. There seems to be plenty of opportunities for them to show the coaches some of their other qualities. Conversely, just because they scored 5 goals or got every ground ball, it doesn’t mean the coaches want them if the players are selfish and high maintenance.

One of my poker buddies announced that he and his wife are expecting their first child sometime in November. As I contributed to his future babies’ college education, we offered tidbits/advice of good parenting. Make sure you have a great OB and have a birth plan. Make sure you read to your kid everyday. Make sure that you always eat dinners as a family. Limit how much time they watch TV. Make sure they eat their vegetables and make sure they put on lots of sunscreen. The only thing I could think of sharing was, ”Make sure they play a sport that has a clock!” Maybe it wasn’t one of those warm and fuzzy comments that are common in these conversations, but very practical. I’m pretty sure that his wife didn’t hear that one from her friends. As I thought about it more, it really is one of the most important pieces of advice that you can give new parents. Several years later this poor guy could be spending his entire Saturday afternoon watching a double-header in 9-10 baseball–believe me, one game is quite enough. (And I admire the dedication and support that baseball parents bestow onto their kid’s baseball careers. I know that I couldn’t do it) What if his kid wants to play volleyball…those games can go on forever. How about tennis?

For the 21st century parents with hectic schedules, running from event to event, knowing the end time is a must. It is very hard to guess what time the baseball, volleyball or tennis match may end. However, if your child plays basketball, soccer, or lacrosse, one could make a reasonable guess. Then the family knows when they can get to their next event.

Even if your kid is playing in a tournament for the “clock” sports, you have a reasonable idea of the time commitment. And if you want to ever see 3-day tournaments being run with the precision of a Swiss watch, go to a girls lacrosse summer tourney. On day 3, if the game is scheduled to start at 2:45…it will start at 2:45. No delays or residual backups from previous games. How is this able to happen? Answer: the airhorn. I love it! No matter what the score, no matter that a girl is racing down the field about to score the winning goal, when the “Air Horn Nazi” blows the horn…game over! Next game! Parents can actually plan on what time they’ll be leaving the tournament and know what time they’ll be home! Can baseball, tennis, softball or volleyball do that?

So the next time one of your co-workers complains that they spent all of their Saturday afternoon watching their kid play baseball or softball, just remind them how you watched your kid’s lacrosse game and still made your 3:08 tee time. If it doesn’t have a clock, you could be in for a long, long afternoon.

As coaches transition into their summer lacrosse teams, here’s just a refresher as to how to maximize the effectiveness of your practices. Coaches need to keep in mind several factors such as the timing of the practice, how long and the skill level of the players. Let’s face it, practice in the heat is tough; tough on the coaches and especially tough on the players. Don’t forget to add lots of water breaks into the plan. Practicing later in the day…say @ 6pm makes sense w/ the heat but it’s also the time of day when players’ focus isn’t always there. Therefore increase the number of drills rather than doing only a few for a long period of time.
A great practice plan for youth lacrosse can be found at Kudda.
Coaches should start w/ some basic stretching, either static or a series of continuous warm-ups as demonstrated here.

They should then focus on stickwork drills…maybe 2-3 variations. See all of the variations of stick work drills up at Kudda. Players should then get into some groundballs and then into some transitions including 3v2 and then 4v3. Coaches should then have the players work on positional work, practicing drills and skills that are relevant to their position. Here is when they would be working 1v1 or 2v2.
Next coaches should work on their 6v6, or 7v7 for the girls, settled ½ field and then move to a full field scrimmage. It’s very important that you plan on scrimmaging every practice. You can always work/add into the full field scrimmage your clears and rides.
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A quick reminder for coaches: If the players aren’t “getting it” after 5 minutes- they’re not going to get it after 20 minutes, don’t keep at it…simply move onto the next part of your practice.

Here is a recommended time for each of the areas w/in a 2 hour practice.
Warmup 10 min
Stickwork 15 min
Ground Balls 10 min
Transition 15 min
Position 10 min
Settled ½ field 15 min
Full field 20 min
Special..EMO, Shooting 15 min