Friday, January 2, 2004

WE BE BOXBOYS

Many Head lacrosse Coaches use a special Box Coach who runs people (mostly middies) in and out of the game through the substitution box.  Changing players well throughout a game is extremely important if for no other reason than it is ugly and embarrassing for a team when they don't substitute smoothly.  There are many other reasons to be seamless, but it is not important to detail them all here. Suffice it to say that if you don't change proficiently, bad things tend to happen to your team.  Coaches pay Box Coaches pretty good because they can help make the Big Kahuna look good when they do their job well, and it is not the easiest job in the world to do well.

I know all this, but I don't really like to employ the use of a Box Coach anyway.  The players and I sort of work out how the rotations should or might work, and then I want them to go out and make it look like we have it all planned all the time when in fact we don't.   My vision is for this team to look like it does not need a Box Coach.  My aspiration is for us to never look wanting for one either.  We are not there yet 

No one person has ever run our box.  My need is for them (players) to all be in the game mentally for every second of every game.  That seems to me like something that would be helpful to any coach.  By having everyone really be "in the game" my plan is that ultimately we can practically eliminate the middleman from the substitution process, allowing players to go in to and come out of the game as a natural part of its flow.

I often change things up, too, when I want to see someone playing more than he is or whatever.  I like to fly by the seat of my pants during the game itself, using dead reckoning sometimes rather than the compass.  If I map it all out for myself too much, then I can tend to forget to feel the rhythm of the game.  It (too much structure) often doesn't work for me.

APOCOLYPSE NOW

I have a disdain for the basic hierarchy built into the chain-of-command concept.  This disregard can often leave me with a high potential for anarchy.  Just the same, I want players to really feel and understand different game situations, and to become excellent at reading those situations.  As a result the theory is that they will become excellent at rotating themselves in and out.  If only it were that simple.  Some players will do anything to get themselves into the game, while others will not fight at all to get in there ever, so the store does need to be minded.  I have to make sure players are aggressive and hungry on the one hand, but also smart and gracious with one another on the other. 

I don't like having players standing on the sidelines just waiting for a coach to tell them when to go in.  This leads to idle time, and as we know this is the Devil's playground.  I want players who pay attention to what's going on and are ready to go at all times.  I sort of "structure" it so players get good at playing with as many different personnel combinations as possible.   I feel this serves our team the best.  Besides, you (they) never really know where I might just go during the course of a game.

WHAT'S MY LINE?

For the most part I have survived all these many years pretty much without using true midfield lines that run as units.  It all started at Pepperdine almost 15 years ago. We had like 12 players on the whole squad.  I got used to plugging individuals into multiple roles and states of affairs, because I didn't have the luxury of numbers that I sometimes do now.  Of the 12 players on those two Wave teams I coached in Malibu, only about 5 could catch as it was.  My main coaching goal was to hide that fact.  It wasn't that easy, but we did okay.  Our first motto there was, "We may stink, but the view is great."  After a little while we didn't stink too bad.  Things have changed for me.  I enjoy having 30 or 40 of them now that can catch, and I want to actually use as many of them as possible.

I foresee that the way we rotate for this year will be more important than ever with our brutal schedule.  There is probably a slimmer than ever likelihood of us being able to have consistent midfield lines.  There are a variety of reasons why I see things shaping up this way. 

We will always do certain things with only specialized personnel on the field, both defensively and on offense too.  My overall coaching intent, however, is for us to develop a tangible team style first, and after that to become as generic as possible in the way we present it on the field, as in it doesn't matter who is in the game, we are still going to try to do the same kinds of things.  The plan is that our team will resemble itself no matter who is in the game at any given time.

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