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Your edge // players


THE


MENTAL EDGE


Win the mind game with Florida Launch goalie Austin Kaut


AS TOLD TO COREY MCLAUGHLIN TENNIS BALL TOSS


WATCH ONLINE


Austin Kaut snatches cards out of mid-air at YouTube.com/LacrosseMag.


52 LACROSSE MAGAZINE » October 2015


Set up four cones along the crease that simulate the fi ve- step arc. From top center you have one step to either side and then a step out to each pipe. Your partner has a bucket of colored tennis balls that he or she will toss at you one by one.


Goalies are a special breed, they say. Austin Kaut of the Florida Launch certainly exhibits that pedigree. Kaut, the former four-time All-American at Penn State, has a personality and outward energy that is contagious, even goofy at times. During the photo shoot for this article, for example, he started juggling on command, circus music included. But there’s a method to the madness. Kaut, who made more than 27 saves each in


his fi rst three MLL starts of 2015, says that winning the mental game is as important as any part of playing goalie at an elite level — even more important than physically stopping the ball. “There aren’t many shutouts in lacrosse anymore,” Kaut said. “Being able to give up a goal and focus on the next shot is so important.”


It can be easier said than done, of course. “When I was younger, I struggled with it a lot, being able to give up a goal and not smack my butt-end on the goal, sigh or have bad body language,” Kaut said. “You have to train it like anything else.” Here are three drills to boost your mental edge. Do each three times in a circuit.


MIX IT UP


Your partner tells you which color ball — red, yellow, green, blue — goes to which cone. I don’t know what color is coming out until it’s coming at me. You have to read the color, react and toss the ball on the ground toward the correct cone.


DON’T WORRY


You won’t do this perfect. The point of the drill is to focus on the next shot, the next ball that is coming at you. The most important thing is to reset yourself and focus on the next one. If you screw up, forget about it. The next ball is coming.


A Publication of US Lacrosse


©JOSH ROTTMAN


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