Mistake #1

Allowing the colleges to dictate which schools you should be interested in attending.

Starting on September 1st of their junior year, players can be contacted by coaches. Coaches will throw out a pretty wide net and send out hundreds of form letters knowing that 25% of so will show interest and than only a handful from that group will end up coming. If the college is really interested, that the player is truly one of their top recruits, chances are the player will get a few handwritten notes from the coaches. Nevertheless, on the evening on Sept 1st, junior recruits will have a handful of emails and letters from college coaches. Most of these letters tell the recruit that they were seen at one of the various recruiting tournaments and that the coaches believe that player could play at their university.
Getting a lot of inquiries can be quit an ego rush for a 16 year old kid… as well as for their parents. Suddenly the suspense and anxiety of not knowing if you were good enough to play at the next level gets eliminated as you start to sift through the various letters and emails from the coaches. At this point, many players start to put together a list of the schools that they would like to visit and spend a Junior Day. Mistake #1 is letting the potential pool of colleges be dictated by which college coaches have expressed interest. In our discussions with college guidance counselors and several MIAA lacrosse coaches, players should have developed their own pool of schools prior to Sept 1st, independent of which coaches noticed them at various tournaments and camps.

Mistake #2

Assuming that you will be seen by coaches

Most college coaches spend 4-6 weeks in the summer and a few weekends in the fall going to various camps and tournaments watching thousands of players. In order to maximize the number of players they see, most coaches will watch a half of a game before going to another game to watch the other half…usually they simply turn their fold out chair around to face the other field. Over the course of a 4-6 game tournament, there is a good chance that most coaches will have watched at least a half of one of your games. Was that the half where you played your best? Is it the half where you were in a mental funk and couldn’t do anything right? The coaches who saw you play great in that half may end up sending you a letter while the ones who saw you play another half may not have noticed you. It is all luck. How did you play when certain coaches were watching? A simple solution is to make sure that you go to all of the tournaments and camps, but that gets slightly expensive and exhaustive. You could make sure that your club team is very strong and has other players getting recruited, but you might not be able to get on one of those teams.
Players will then need to put together a video. Contact the college coach to find out what they prefer to see. Most coaches we talked with said they would like to see a few minutes of highlights, and then see an entire quarter of a game. For the highlights section, avoid the slow-motion and special effects, and make sure to somehow spotlight the player in each shot. No need to spend hundreds of dollars having this created by a recruiting firm when you can do most of this yourself or pay someone who knows how to edit $75. Keep it simple and clean.

Mistake #3

Parental over involvement

The number one mistake that is made during this process is parental over-involvement. If the parent is the one contacting coaches, or setting up weekend visits, handling all communication on their child’s behalf, coaches could assume that the player is either irresponsible or the parent is a control freak. Either way, the coach may shy away from that player. It is important for the player to take responsibility for the process and for the parent to be there for guidance and support. Parents can take the lead regrading financial aid and scholarship issues but that’s it! Coaches do NOT want to deal with parents, they want to work with the players.

Mistake #4

Under-estimating importance of initial visit…look sharp and beware of your Parent-child dynamic

The initial visit a recruit takes to a college is important in making a positive first appearance. Players often make mistakes in presenting themselves in the best possible light. Players should wear khakis and polo shirts and have everything tucked in. Baggy pants and sweatshirts give the appearance of someone who doesn’t take care of themselves and this sends a negative message to the coach.
Also coaches are watching for the dynamics between parents and their child during these meetings. If the child rolls their eyes or is disrespectful towards their parents, this sends a message to the coach that the player will be disrespectful towards them.
During the visit the players need to be on their best behavior and stay with their host. There are all sorts of stories of recruits being separated during parties and other functions. Nothing good will come of a 16 year old alone on a college campus.

Mistake #5

Lax (the sport) is the #1 reason to go to a college

Lax should be #4 or #5 on the list of reasons to go to a particular school. What if the college doesn’t have your major? The campus isn’t to your liking? Perhaps it is too close or too far away? Is it OK for a player to turn down an offer from a top 10 ranked school and go to a smaller lower ranked school? Will you ever play at that school? Is the ego trip of telling everyone that you’re going to a top 10 school worth the chance of not having a phenomenal experience?

Mistake #6

Expect a lot of scholarship $

A fully funded D1 program has 12.6 scholarships available. Most recruits will therefore be offered a quarter or half scholarship at most. If the  tuition is $50,000, even with the athletic scholarship, families will be left funding the rest. If you hear of families explaining that they got a full lacrosse scholarship, just laugh at them. Maybe they’re combining all of the financial aid into their “scholarship” offer. This makes them sound good and reflects how awesome their kid is. Chances are it is a combined scholarship and financial aid package.

Mistake #7

Freshmen Grades and academic record

With the recruiting process starting younger and younger, the grades during the freshmen year are becoming more important. Too often, players use their freshmen year as a transition year and think that these grades won’t carry forward to affect them. Since many colleges are looking at rising sophomores now in this accelerated process, the only grades they have to measure are the freshmen year. If these are poor, chances are the colleges may pass the player over.

Mistake #8

Coaches talk with each other

The coaching fraternity is a very tight knot group. Many of the coaches are best friends or hold recruiting camps together or spend many long and hot days sitting together watching lacrosse games. Coaches talk and share stories about all of the recruits. If something happens during one of your college visits, it will surely get around to the other coaches. If something happens off-field at your HS, it will get around. Lacrosse is a very small world and news travels fast.

When teaching correct passing form, should the right foot be slightly forward (for a right handed player) or is it okay for the left to be forward–as long as shoulders/platform are towards target/setter? What is correct teaching in regards to feet besides you should be still on contact vs. running through the ball?
SACS, To be honest I’m really not set on either foot forward, my main concern is the passer being balanced on contact. Most coaches I know use the right foot slightly forward. This is because it creates a more comfortable angle for the passers platform. This is true unless you are to the right of the target area then it is opposite. Regardless, my concern is the angle of the passers platform. What ever angle a passer shows with their platform is to where the ball is going. The ball only knows the angles we show it. I just want my passers to be still on contact (if possible) and to create a correct angle as early as possible to the setter/target area. This will also help the setter anticipate where the ball is going to go before the player actually touches it. The shoulders should stay down and square to where the ball is coming from, and the platform should angle to the target. As far as left or right handed, I don’t think that will make a difference on a passers feet. I hope this answers your question…good luck!

Preston

Boys have to win to feel good
Girls have to feel good to win

This is a very simple phrase that has lots of implications.

It suggests that:

• Boys play sports for the thrill of winning while girls play sports for camaraderie.
• There is more psychological and emotional factors for girls before they start to play
• There are some post-game strategies that coaches should employ, depending on the sex of the players.
• The coaching relationship and overall team chemistry with girls has a bigger impact on their performance than it does for the boys.

So what are the implications as a coach?

1) If you coach girls, understand the importance of the emotional state of the players as well as team chemistry issues. Perhaps you need to address these issues rather than ignore them.

2) Maybe understand that the socializing that occurs during practice, with the appearance that the girls are not focused, is actually important to the team being able to perform at a high level. This socializing helps them bond which helps them perform better.

Kudda would love to hear your thoughts!!

I had to give up coaching baseball after 20 years because I wasn’t getting home until 7:15 after a 4:00 start. Thus I was missing my kids’ games. I remember getting home by 6:00 on a regular basis. We had many games that were over by 5:30? Why the gradual slowdown of the game? What is happening out there?

MLB is also experiencing longer games. This may be more to time in between innings to maximize the ad revenue. However, teams are more deliberate in changing pitchers, having mound discussions, and taking their sweet time in between pitches. The effect is with a 7:30 start time, games are lasting until 10:30-11:00. This makes it hard for families to attend a weeknight game.
When was the last time you saw the conclusion of a World Series Game?

Big question: What can be done to speed up the game? Of course, we need to figure out why the games at all levels are taking longer.

Kudda is hoping that disciplinary action is being taken up at PC against this player. They can not simply ignore what he did. The message needs to be sent that this type of thuggery has no place in HS sports.

Many of you have also questioned the referee’s role in controlling the players. This issue is being investigated by the referee association in the Baltimore area as a result of the video. How could the referees allow this player to remain playing after two devastating and illegal hits? Why didn’t they immediately eject the player? Again, the primary job of the referees is to make sure that the players are safe. (Then you deal with calling the games fairly)

In this situation, the referee’s failed in their primary mission. I also blame the coach for not removing the player. Coach McDonough may not have seen the actual hit, but seeing the aftermath, a player knocked unconscious might raise some questions on the sidelines…someone saw it on the PC sidelines. And after the 2^nd player went down? Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out.

The question still to be debated is, ”Is the coach still responsible if they don’t see the play?”

Kudda will stay on this story and as we get results back from PC and the referee association, we’ll be sharing them with our viewers.

Peak Performance Occurs after Maturation. This statement really emphasized the need for kids to multi-sport until the age of 15-16. They need sampling of various sports to see which ones they liked and were best suited for. Yet, unfortunately we still see 11-12 year olds playing one sport year round. Why? Players feel the pressure to only play one sport so that they can make the cut year to year. Parents support this as their social support group is typically the other parents on the team, and they don’t want to be cut from the group either. This brought u[p an interesting point that I had not considered. I always thought the parent’s pressure to focus on one sport was more based on the pursuit of college scholarship money. However, the other motive is purely selfish on the parent’s part: they need friends and will use their children’s sport’s experience to get them.

The Privatization of Youth Sports and the Impact on Economic Class. This sounds like a mouthful but very easy to understand. With Parks and Recreations being the first to get the ax during budget deficits, youths are dependent on private clubs and or leagues to join in order to play. The costs of these clubs prevent many poorer families and kids from participating. Therefore, the richer kids get better at sports while the poorer kids don’t get to play. And when you combine this with all of the studies with childhood obesity, poorer kids tend to be the obese ones.

Youth Sports are Gravitating Towards an Adult Sports Model. The Adult Model being one based on winning, more competition and little to no practice. The model we should be focused on is a Child Based Model where it’s all about Fun, and learning the Fundamentals. I wrote on the blog last year about the trend that kids are no longer fundamentally sound because they play too many games and don’t practice enough. I’m glad it wasn’t just my imagination, but am disappointed that this is the current trend in youth sports.

So as coaches and parents, what can we do? Is there anything we could do to offset/impact the Parks and Recs being closed? Not sure… However, we can support kids playing multiple sports, not putting pressure on kids to specialize and realize that it’s their experience, not ours. And of course, focus on the fundamentals while making it fun, kid-centered and hopefully, encouraging the kids to participate in a lifetime of physical activity.

Of all of the sports to watch your kid play, wrestling was the most difficult to watch. There is this incredible anxiety of who is he going to wrestle? “Oh please let it be a girly boy!” Please let him wrestle the kid who flops on the ground and giggles every time someone touches him. (That was me during my brief but notable wrestling career) Unfortunately most times it was the tall lanky farmboy w/ the crew cut who proceeds to
introduce Kyle’s right ear to the back of his left ankle. It took every ounce of restraint for me to stop from running onto the mat and smacking that kid around. As I’m watching this I’m thinking to myself, ”What if he is in the army and has to be able to do hand-to-hand combat, he’s going to die!” Needless to say that wrestling was a one year experiment in humility.

My hats off to all of you wrestling parents out there. Not only are you dedicated and willing to spend entire weekends at meets, but you control the anxiety that you must fell before every match. That’s a lot of control!!!

Several factors make coaching basketball the “Latin” of coaching, My sense is that if you can coach basketball, you should be able to easily pick up and coach other team sports even if you have never played that sport. Why?

• The classroom setting: The basketball court is a fairly enclosed space that is relatively small. One coach can easily be heard within those confines. Resembles a classroom. You’re not spread out on a football field. There is 1-2 coaches per 12 players allowing for maximum communication.
• The fundamentals of basketball transfer over to other field sports where the goal is to score points/goals. Fundamentals such as the athletic position are common in many sports. The concepts of cutting, screening and switching/reversing the attack are also common. Looking for the 3v2 and 2v1’s are similar. The fundamentals of playing man to man defense, seeing man and ball, and shading towards ball side are all common with lacrosse and soccer.
• All of the players need to learn the same basic concepts, cutting, screening, shooting, and defense. Compare this to football where you have the linemen, running backs, QB’s…all learning and focusing on different fundamentals. Baseketball is pretty much the same. Of course the post players may practice their post moves while the guards practice their dribbling. However, many coaches are not labeling players as guards and forwards. There are many offenses and defenses where the players are interchangeable.

So for all of you basketball coaches out there just starting your season, realize what your teaching these players will carry over to other sports. How you teach them will help you coach those other sports as well.