Deanof Learning By Paul Krome Vero Beach’s
Shannon Dean built a national power with lessons learned at the US Lacrosse National Convention
Shannon Dean has coached Vero Beach (Fla.) to nearly every Florida High School Athletic Association girls’ lacrosse championship since the FHSAA recognized the sport in 2008, plus several more unoffi cial state crowns. The Indians fi nished 2013 ranked No. 9 in the fi nal Nike/US Lacrosse National Top 25, and their alumnae dot the rosters of several NCAA teams. Dean has reached the pinnacle of coaching in high school girls’ lacrosse by being a self-described “student of the game.” He sets aside vacation time each January to attend his favorite class, which happens to last three days and has drawn 7,000 people in each of the last two years.
Indeed, the US Lacrosse National Convention, presented by Champion, has become the premier professional development event for lacrosse coaches, a weekend smorgasbord of demonstrations, concepts, schemes and drills presented by the sport’s brightest and absorbed by its hungriest. The convention returns to Philadelphia Jan. 10-12, 2014. “I’ve been going every year since ‘06, and I don’t plan on missing any,” Dean said. “It’s that important to me to get there.” Before each season, Dean typically picks three aspects he wants to improve, and he’ll attend all convention sessions related to those goals. When he gets back to Florida, he watches the remaining sessions in The Vault, an online library of all convention presentations that includes video, audio and PowerPoint slides. Dean recalled a difference-making session on stick skills conducted by Johns Hopkins coach Janine Tucker.
56 LACROSSE MAGAZINE November 2013 >>
“We always had athletes here, but we needed to improve our stick skills,” Dean said. “I took back what Janine and her players did. We focused on those for the next two or three years and brought our stick skills up to where they’re comparable to other areas of the country. That really contributed to our success. Phil Barnes from North Carolina also has had some great talks on offensive strategies.” The Indians’ run atop Florida has been well documented, and they’ve won some of those title games by
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©SCOTT MCCALL (SD); ©JOHN STROHSACKER (KH)
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