Friday, September 5, 2003

Practice today was low key, but somehow great at the same time.

HANG ON SLOOPY

I don’t worry as much as I used to about kids becoming discouraged as players due to my peculiar, demanding, tough love oriented coaching "style". They sort of have to "earn nurturing" from me as it were. The key for me is not so much in getting a player to believe in himself. That is often easy. There is lots of talent out there running around these days. The hard part is the getting them all to believe in one another, and to keep on believing even when there are grenades landing everywhere.

LINE ONE, YOU’RE ON THE AIR

A friend called me out on comments I made in my last journal entry. What I wrote was, and I quote, "I no longer do things like encourage people that have never played lacrosse before to come out and give it a shot" on this CSU team.

Friend Tony pointed out that I, in fact, had never played very much organized lacrosse prior to my college days (daze). Therefore, by logic and the above quote, I assume I wouldn’t even actually exist as a lacrosse guy today if I were to have been my own coach. I would have made me feel that I would never be able to play in college, because I probably wouldn’t have enough time to develop the necessary skills. Therefore, I guess I would have quit playing, and never have gotten fascinated with the lacrosse pocket and all that, and no doubt would have ended up rudderless and pitiful.

I wouldn’t have been that hard on me, would I have? Not that it would have mattered, because no doubt I wouldn’t have listened to me anyway……. Now I’m confused.

So then Tony offered up partner Jim Soran as an even better example of why to "never say never" to a hungry, albeit new player. Jim had walked on and played at the Naval Academy as a total rookie. With that team he played in the first lacrosse game ever played in Houston’s "Eighth Wonder of the World", the Astrodome. He had never played before, and then all of a sudden he was playing on and scoring goals for one of the two or three best Division I lacrosse teams in the country (speed was his deal, but ultimately it would seem that boats were not).

I know where I/we came from. Really, I vaguely remember 30 years ago. Jim and I fell in love with the game together. Our stickwork (especially mine) was far behind the "good" players back east when we first met as transfers at CC in 1972, and we both didn’t want to stay where we were at real bad. I search for players with that kind of passion mixed with hunger all the time. I know what it looks like.

TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE HEART

I expect a huge commitment from your heart, and to the team once you sign up as a player here. The team owes the player nothing. The player owes the team everything he can give to it. In the end the team will return the player his investment, and tack on a tidy little capital gain for him to take as a grubstake into "Real Life". At least that’s my little metaphor.

TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE CHECKBOOK

It is a fact of life that these kids have to pay their own ($) way if we want to continue going to different parts of the country masquerading as a varsity program. Progress always has its price. We are losing a few very good players right now because the money is a problem.

Next Entry | Previous Entry


Flip Started Blogging Before it was Cool, Read Over 400 of His Entries Since January 2001
Jump to a Period:
2006: Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov
2005: Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec
2004: Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec
2003: Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec
2002: Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec
2001: Jan Feb Mar Apr May Sept Oct Nov Dec