“If I only had the racket and access to the park, I wouldn’t have gone into the court,” King said. “It’s about the people.” Sound familiar?
More than 26,000 coaches
have utilized US Lacrosse education resources and more than 5,000 have been certified through the nationally recognized US Lacrosse Coaching Education Program. Tom Farrey, executive director of The Aspen Institute's Sports & Society Program, discussed “the lure of the myth of the scholarship” in a baseball context. Chris Marinak, senior vice president of league economics and strategy for Major League Baseball, touted MLB’s Junior Homerun Derby as a way to encourage free play while providing the structure and safety required of a more vigilant generation of parents.
Ken Martel, technical director of USA Hockey and driver of its American Development Model, hopes to revitalize sports sampling starting with a pilot program at a school in Cheyenne County, Colo. Students will be exposed to a different sport each day for an hour and a half after school, with focuses on physical literacy and team play. Lacrosse will be one of the 23 sports, with US Lacrosse providing resources.
So no, lacrosse is not alone. Smith was quick to correct moderator Kevin Martinez, vice president of corporate citizenship at ESPN, when he pivoted to her by calling it a “brand new sport.” “Actually, it’s America’s oldest
sport,” she quipped. “It’s the oldest sport native to this continent.” Origins aside, lacrosse is ideally suited for multi-sport athletes, Smith said, and sharing spaces with other sports is part of LADM — every aspect of which seems to return to a grassroots commitment to small-sided games. “How can we peel our game down? We started looking at it from a development standpoint,” she said. “Not only are their skills getting better, but they’re just having fun. They’re never more than one pass away from the ball. … Those little guidelines spurred a movement of people saying, yes, we want to do this.”
laxmagazine.com
PARENTS
COACHES ADMINISTRATORS
PARENTS: PLAY WITH YOUR KIDS.
OK, that sounds obvious. But really play with them. Don’t just send them outside, go through the motions or set up a chair. Dr. Neeru Jayanthi, director of tennis medicine at Emory University, called it “family free play.” If you exercise with your child, he said, “it gives you that supervision, but it’s still fun.” Former NBA player Jason Collins played in his father’s pickup basketball games as a youngster. “Yeah I got beat up, but it definitely helped my game,” he said. Turn your driveway into a tennis
court. Stage a Wiffle ball homerun derby and challenge your kids to crank one over the roof, and then show them how it’s done. How about some lacrosse wall ball? Join your son or daughter in the #Wallball Challenge get in your 10,000 reps this summer (see ad on page 3).
Fiddle sticks are awesome, by the way.
COACHES: MAKE WAY FOR FREE PLAY.
Traditionally, youth lacrosse practices involve a lot of skill instruction, labor-intensive drills and too much standing around. Some of that is necessary, but incorporate free play into your practice plans. Break up your team into smaller groups, shrink the field, flip the cages, pull the goalie or strap up a target and just let them play. How do you think Miles and Lyle Thompson developed those physics-defying moves? It certainly didn’t come from waiting in line swatting grass with their sticks while some coach tried to orchestrate
a child-sized version of a 4-on-3 fast break set. Dean Kriellaars, an associate professor at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg and expert on physical literacy, cited a 90-minute circus class in which the athletes did all activities in handstands. “You can embed free play in a structured environment,” he said.
LEAGUE
ADMINISTRATORS: BE BOLD. BE BRAVE.
Doesn’t this small-sided stuff sound great? 3-on-3? 6-on-6? 8-on-8? Lots of touches for everyone? Age-appropriate equipment and rules? Minimal adult interference? A scalable model that requires only a 40- to 60- yard field, rather than a 100- yard field? Oh, the possibilities. No doubt, though, you will encounter resistance from parents or coaches who watch college lacrosse on TV and think that’s what their 9-year- olds should be playing. Because that’s the way we’ve always taught lacrosse here in the U.S. of A.
But then why are Canadian box players taking over in the NCAA? Could it be because their introduction to the sport occurs in a 5-on-5 setting within boarded enclosures? Maybe that could be your counterargument. However you need to convince your constituents, commit to small- sided competition, implement US Lacrosse guidelines and you’ll be a leader for better athlete development.
— M.D.
July/August 2016 » LACROSSE MAGAZINE
49
©SHUTTERSTOCK
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68