Friday, May 2, 2003

FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION

When we are truly successful as a team we are also a cohesive family. It might sound strange to say that I demand that we function as a true "Family" unit, but I do. Within that I am Papa. We are only as good as we are all together. I preach it. This doesn't change even as the faces do.

Practice today was another excellent one, except that I forgot to do one or two drills that I had really meant to do. I will sneak them in somewhere in some shape or form over the next few days. Even this late in the season I remain big on muscle memory training.

THE ANSWER MY FRIEND IS BLOWIN’ IN THE WIND
Or maybe it’s my practice plan……….

Sometimes I stare at and exactly follow my practice plan that is somewhere….. here… in my.... pocket. Other times I purposely almost ignore (or lose) my somewhat crude, color coded, timed "practice plan" print out, and I just run around, blowing my whistle and yelling changes intermittently. I just fly by the seat of what my pants perceive to be the thing we need to be working on at that moment. What I base all that on, I am not always exactly sure. I work on strengths, weaknesses, and the fear of weakness.

ALOHA. WHAT TIME DOES THE LUAU START?

When you mix the ease of a warm Friday afternoon with the type of family feeling that this team has taken the time to achieve over almost a year you get everyone staying around after practice as it becomes evening, hanging out as a team for every possible second. That’s what happened today. It was as if the party was on the field, even though the only libation available was water. I am very much comfortable with our team and the way we are preparing. We have a Saturday scrimmage tomorrow, and then still one more practice on Monday before we leave Tuesday morning.

THIS OLD TEAM

In my youth I wanted to do all my own "stuff". I was a jack of all trades, master of none kind of guy. I fixed my own truck. I designed and built furniture, and I was a carpenter or plumber or whatever I needed to be. On a good day I thought I was "The Renaissance Man". On a bad one I was the "Ne'er do well". In retrospect, the line could be very fine indeed, but because I was young, I didn't care. Tomorrow was always another day, either way. Then, much to my surprise, I got older, and I was still nowhere in particular. My personal long range goals were ambiguous at best. I was in fact doing many cool things, and I was living in Santa Barbara, California. It doesn't get much better than that in many ways, yet I yearned to be part of some things that were bigger than ME. It was a shared mission that I seeked. Talk about careful what you wish for. Seven years later I am back in Colorado, I am married and we have 2.9 children, and I am more or less running a real (more or less) lacrosse program with about 40 players.

The thing that I like to do the most now is build lacrosse teams. That fact sent me on my late middle-aged coaching odyssey almost seven years ago. It seems to be ongoing for now. I'm sure that I am not as good of a coach as I can be, and I still have an almost burning desire to learn more about all of it (except perhaps recruiting). Meanwhile, I haven't peeked under the hood of my Tundra since I leased it almost two years ago, and my very "old school" power tools sit silently in my garage, but I still get excited to go out and work with "my" team every single day. While I am so excited for this week, I am mixed, knowing this "family" only has one more week together.

I was a woodworker by trade for many years. My income tax forms even said so. Deep down I remain ever just a craftsman; no more, but no less. I believe it is still my job to build things solidly, and to bring out the best in my raw materials. If I do that well, then the "piece" will take on a glow that comes from within, a look that makes it unique, different from others of its kind. I guess we shall soon see how good the finish looks on this CSU lacrosse team.

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