More Off-season Prep

 With one more fall tournament to go its time to start planning for the winter. After our last tournament we will start our winter work out program. Although I would love to be able to have the guys lifting and working together 5 times a week during the winter, the reality is they're in high school and ill only be able to have them lifting twice a week. These work outs will be run by our schools strength coach, they will be focused on getting our players to be more explosive while also building up their bodies. We will also be having practices throughout the winter hopefully outside as much as possible but we will work in the gym as well. These again will focus on our fundamentals, but it's also a great time to get some conditioning built up. This all builds up to March when the season gets going. 

Pumpkin Classic Review

 This past Sunday I brought my team to a fall tournament at Seneca Valley, we were able to play 3 games that were all competitive. With light numbers for the tournament, while also having a very young roster it was important that we kept things simple and focused on the fundamentals. Our first game we came out ready to go, our defense was flying around creating turnovers and pushing transition.  Some of our younger attackmen needed some time to settle in and learn the speed of the game ( which was a theme all day ). In our Second game we became a little sloppy with ball possession but showed signs of moving within our offense. We also elevated the physicality in this game, which I like to see but we got over aggressive at times and ended up man down too much. In our last game of the day  unfortunately I believe our lack of numbers showed up, we defiantly showed signs of fatigue on the offensive end. Although Again our defense played well, we just weren't able to generate as many turnovers and struggled with ground balls. The  Offense did put together there best possession of the day tho in this game as the ball moved around in the set very fluidly and guys were dodging at the right times, unfortunately we ended up throwing the ball away. Over all the day created many learning opportunities  and allowed us to grow, It also showed that we need to start dialing in our stick work. 

Fall Tournament Prep

 This weekend my team will be playing in our second fall ball tournament, The Pumpkin Classic is a staple tournament for most WPIAL schools to attend. Right now as a team we are really focusing on the fundamentals of the game, the fall has always been a great opportunity to fine tune our skills. Offensively I like to keep it simple in the fall, running our base set to make sure my players are comfortable on the field. Defensively we are preaching good communication throughout the fall, as it's something we struggled with last season.  Communication is vital to have success on the defensive end of the field. All in all as coaches were looking to see what guys are willing to compete and get better, the fall is a great opportunity to make mistakes and learn from them. 

Lacrosse On The Worlds Largest Stage

 For the first time in 75 years lacrosse will be played at the Olympics, it last appeared in 1948 as a demonstration sport. Its been over 100 years (1908) since lacrosse has been a medal sport. Lacrosse is the oldest sport played in North America and is even Canada's national sport (that's right not hockey). The Sport was first played by Native Americans in the regions of upstate New York, (Iroquois and the Haudenosaunee) it also was played in the Mid West. Becoming an Olympic sport is a major step for the sport that has been growing throughout the world and here at home for a long time. The Olympics will feature a newer discipline of the sport in the form of Sixes, a 6v6 with goalie fast past version of lacrosse.