Be Smart Parents: Here We Go … Lacrosse Season Begins

InsideLacrosse.com

In our area, the high school lacrosse season begins this week. Last week was equipment pickup and fitness testing—a tease for the work that was started in the offseason and goes full time through early June, if we can make the season last that long. So how do we, as parents, make sure that our kids are ready for the long season ahead?

Answering Your Questions: Summer Tournaments

Spring season has drawn to a close. For collegians, this means cross training and some kind of internship (woof), but for high school and middle school athletes, summer is all about tournaments. College coaches recruit from tournaments: they’re too busy in season to worry about building a team, but as soon as the last whistle blows and their athletes are out for the summer, coaches focus on the future. The problem is that there is a tournament almost every weekend–many conflict, and some attract more coaches than others. Here is a good guideline for which tournaments you want to be at.

Questions?

June:
– 8-9: Lax Inception
– 28: Lax for the Cure
– 30- July 7: Vail Shootout On the 40th anniversary of the Vail Shootout, I have to plug for this tournament. Everyone who plays is crazy about it. Age brackets start at U8 and go to infinity (so it seems). This is a great atmosphere, and worth the trip.

July
– 12-14: Club National Championships. You bet a lot of coaches will be at this one.
– 19-21: All-Star Express. This tournament is fun–it’s always a favorite for younger players.
– 21-23: Capitol Cup This tournament has a great reputation, and attracts teams from across the country.

Feel free to comment if you want to plug for a tournament. Good luck in club season.

How The West Won

grizzly bear sightings: still 0 grizzly calls: too many to count  grizzly humor: infinite.
grizzly bear sightings: still 0
grizzly calls: too many to count
grizzly humor: infinite.

My team just came back from four days at the WCLA National Tournament in Colorado Springs. This is Virginia’s second year at Nationals and we went 2-2. In the normal season under our usual conditions, this would be unacceptable. But at this level, in the conditions we experienced (hail, slip and slide field conditions, altitude, tough mudders in the eight meter) I’m tempted to cut our losses and slip into the summer hiatus…. Or I’ll think about it, incessantly… for a long time. To become better, we have to learn from our mistakes.
Usually I’m a no-excuses player. I remember my first varsity lacrosse tryout was in the snow. At the time I had horrendous stick skills and a pretty questionable perception of what the rules were. The weather, for me, was perfect. I was athletic, determined, and technically deficient. It was simple. So today, looking back on my fourteen year-old self–I wonder what changed. Our team is fast. Our team is skilled. We won the regional championship by ten goals, beating out Virginia Tech and University of Maryland. We’re very good at east coast lacrosse—and maybe that’s the problem.

The rules have changed. In the WCLA (club women’s college) we play by USL rules—different from NCAA. The sphere around the head is larger, limiting checking even further (yes, unbelievably so, women’s lacrosse can get more lame). This is strictly enforced in the western conferences and Texas; on the east coast, most refs are accustomed to NCAA rules: the sphere is small, checking is mostly always legal, physical contact is allowed. The west is a different game. A low check from a hanging stick is usually always a foul or “across body” regardless of the fact the attackers cradle resembles the earth’s orbit around the sun. This is frustrating from a technical standpoint—good stick skills are no longer an essential, but an added bonus. Defense is harder; the games are higher scoring; the game is disjointed, punctuated by whistle after whistle.

“Guys, let’s just play our game” we’d say from the huddle—but we couldn’t, not like we were used to. The weather and rules affect all.

At first glance I hate the new rules. They diminish the value of creative stick work—of dodges, of quick reactions for a low, satisfying check on the double team. This new game is about footwork, It’s about patience. As the scores of the tournament reflected, all teams are adjusting to the new rules. Our defense is suffering under the incessant cross checking/shooting space/checking into sphere/weird dolphin hand motion calls/poetic license calls. At final glance on this piece, I still hate the rules– But I’ll give a nod to the west coast teams who have mastered the rules and adjusted their game accordingly.

Champs--they play beautiful lacrosse
Champs–they play beautiful lacrosse

– Shout out to CSU for an incredible season–

Improve Your Skills with Cradlebaby

Cradlebaby

If you’re like me, you practice lacrosse in the house. Despite being told not to, you continue to practice new things, not knowing whether or not it will work out for you. Sometimes things go great, you pull off something cool and you move on to the next one. Other times, well, you end up breaking something.

To prevent this from happening, the Cradlebaby was invented.

According to the creators, Cradlebaby is “a lacrosse practice ball designed to help kids of all ages and skills improve their lacrosse game. Specifically, to improve their cradling, dodges, fakes and shots by allowing them to practice indoors or out, all the time. The Cradlebaby training ball is a regulation lax ball tethered to a player’s stick so that they can play with it without breaking windows, lamps, etc.”

The Cradlebaby attaches to the head of the lacrosse stick, while being permanently attached to the ball. This makes the ball feel just like a normal lacrosse ball when practicing, but adds the security of knowing you won’t lose the ball somewhere or break anything.

Whether you’re practicing indoors or outdoors, this is a sweet little practice tool. For more information on the Cradlebaby, or to pick one up today for only $15.00, head over to http://www.laxcb.com.

Check out the video below of the Cradlebaby in action. Drop us a line in the comments and let us know your thoughts as well!

Is a Shortage of Youth Referees Hurting the Game?

Lacrosse RefLast night, my U-13 West End Warriors went to battle with a team from across town known for their polished stick skills and outstanding conditioning. We were the underdogs from the first face-off, and fell to Robius 5-2.

Our kids played well in a game that could be described as sloppy and a bit out of control. I’ve never been one to bicker about referees. I’ve always supported the notion that nothing I do or say is going to alter the calls they make. But in a David versus Goliath kind of showdown, we never stood a chance, and much of this was due to the two men wearing black and white pin stripes.

Two of our opponents’ goals game while their attackmen were clearly in the crease. The first was on a fast break situation, and both officials couldn’t make it past the midfield line before their player took the shot. They were out of shape and out of position. The second came off of a set play, yet still, one referee trotted above the midfield line while the other stood firmly twenty yards away from the action. I was closer to the crease from my spot on the sideline and could blatantly see their player slide through the crease.

But the biggest call came in the third quarter when we were trailing by just one goal. Their player sprinted up the sideline and our defensemen gave him a body check from the side. One referee was literally three feet from the play and deemed it a legal play while the other threw a flag from the other side of the field. This led to a man-up goal situation for Robius and we could never regain momentum.

After the game, the director of officiating came up to me and apologized. He explained that there is a shortage of referees in our region and agreed that they missed a few calls. I constantly tell my kids to play with sportsmanship and integrity, but last night, nothing seemed to give. I can’t say that we would have won the game with better officials, but it would have certainly been more competitive. On to the next one!

In Defense of Music

It’s 10:30 PM and the lights are on but the park is empty. All teams at the Pomerstone Classic have gone home for the night. Except mine. From far away you can see us clustered around in a circle—probably reviewing the three games we played that day, possibly talking strategy for our two games tomorrow.

But walk closer and you’ll see–we’re dancing.

Can't hold us

My team never goes without music. Whether it’s practice, warm-ups, or celebration post-game our speaker is always blaring. Many coaches and players find music distracting and unprofessional. It’s hard to yell orders or directions when you’re fighting Avici or Diplo for the airwaves. How, they ask, can you keep your players calm and collected before a game if their mind isn’t clear? They cite studies claiming multi-tasking (e.g. trying to warm up and prep and listen) detracts from the caliber of production.

But lacrosse isn’t about production. There’s no right mathematical formula or combination for winning a game. The game is rhythmic; more art than science. Focus and concentration are essential, but if you play for the love of the game, those take care of themselves. I play best when I’m loose and relaxed.

To all those teams and coaches that hate on music before a game, I offer only our record and my sincerest apologies. Because your team isn’t having as much fun as ours 😉

Good luck on your season. Keep posted for an epic warm up play list.

The Post-Game: You vs. DOMS

We played three games back to back on Saturday down in Roanoke in the Virginia Tech Tournament. In spite of generally crushing it on the field (#winning) like a champ, I woke up on Sunday feeling more slightly less than an ATH.

The morning after a big day is a delicate period where many crucial decisions must be made. Do you get out of bed? Can you? And why don’t you remember getting hit by train? While it’s tempting to linger in bed clutching ice packs to your quads, casually tweeting about how your body hates you, don’t. This is detrimental to your followership and your body. While yesterday was about you wracking up GB stats, today is about you and DOMS. DOMS is a classically painful third wheel: arrives uninvited, wedges itself obnoxiously between you and your sweet win, and overstays it’s welcome. DOMS, delayed onset muscle soreness, is the well-known ache you feel starting 12-24 hours after intense exercise. It tends to worsen, peaking anywhere from 24-72 hours later. That’s right, the train wreck feeling is here to stay for up to three days. If you let it.

To combat DOMS and properly take care of your body, you need a regeneration workout the day after. Regen combines low intensity cardio and flexibility training to aid muscular recovery.

Regeneration Workout
1) Dynamic stretching. (10 min) This entails movement. You want to loosen up your major muscle groups without placing unnecessary strain on your body.

2) Cardio (Low intensity, 20 min) You need to get blood flowing; Cardiovascular exercises is any type of exercise that uses major muscles groups to perform repetitive movements. This can be running, any kind of cross training like cycling or elliptical or swimming. It’s going to hurt for the first couple minutes, but plays a fundamental role in breaking up the lactic acid build up in your muscles and distributing it throughout your body.

3) Myofascial Release aka Foam Rolling (10 min)
Every athlete should own a foam roller. They’ve been used for decades with pros and are becoming increasingly common in the fitness world, but most high school and youth athletes don’t know about foam rolling. The concept is that intense periods of pressure and release work out knots in the tissue to relieve tension and prevent injury. Target your quads, glutes, hamstrings, calves, IT band, and lats. Lat rolling feels strange, but you’re using this muscle ground every time you throw, shoot, etc.

Foam Rolling Exercises for Lacrosse Players
Foam Rolling Exercises for Lacrosse Players

4) Some passive stretching. What you would typically consider stretching. Do this last to prevent injury and strain.

I did Regen Sunday morning, and felt infinitely better on Monday. It’s easy to love the pre-game and natural to love the game itself. Learn to love the post-game, and your body will thank you.