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Coach Flip Naumburg's Journal
Tuesday, July 13, 2004
HELLO (AND GOODBYE) CAMPERS
We ended our 4-day High Altitude Lacrosse Camp held on the campus of Colorado State University yesterday. We had very close to 150 players attending, and the staff was made up of pretty much exclusively CSU players past and present. Things went really well, as in "happy campers". I got some nice emails today. I think we pleased the CSU folks as well. These were good kids, lacrosse lovers all. The skill and age group breakdown was great, with the exception of not having enough goalies. Next year, in '05 I want to make the HAC with a Goalie part, a special section of instruction to hopefully attract more goalies. We didn't have enough. I'm not sure if it is possible to have too many goalies at a camp.
MONDAY MORNING YOU SURE LOOKED FINE
I admired the way many of them brought in their mothers to clean dorm rooms on Monday. Did so much really change in the newly liberated generation? Some things remain the same it would seem.
WHAT ARE WE?
I really feel like the "character" of the camp has developed to the point where the "family" thing that we work so hard on really has made its mark and it is fully the trademark of this camp. There was an absolutely great camp "vibe" for 2004. I may be just an old hippie or whatever, but that particular atmospheric feeling capable of transcending the hum drum gathering is unmistakable, and it was there at CSU over the weekend, and pretty much from start to finish.
It has never been my intention to have a team style camp, when players come in as teams and compete together against other team groups. It has never been my intention for this to be any kind of a recruiting camp either. We don't bring in coaches to look at players, etc. I admit that I openly coveted (recruited) one sophomore Regis (Denver) kid because I liked him so much.
MUSICAL LACROSSE PLAYERS
Instead of keeping players on the same team throughout a camp, we constantly force them to change teammates and teams, and to become good at working and communicating with others quickly because the basic team "plan" is understood. I like the dynamic that this gives the camp. I like the emphasis for each individual to often be on becoming better at being a teammate. It seems simplistic, but I believe it to my core, and I believe that my teams can only be good if there is a significant number of core of players who share that belief.
L(lacrosse)SAT's
As a camp "director" I ask a ton of open forum style questions. The way that responses came with more eagerness as the camp progressed told me as much as any systematic sociology survey ever could. On the last day they all couldn't wait to tell me what part of their individual or team game had improved over these 4 hot, mid-summer days and nights. What more would I want than that?
The scrimmage that I refereed Monday morning (11th and 12th graders) was far more gratifying for me (and I hope others) to watch than was that first mess I witnessed three days earlier on Friday afternoon. The CSU coaching staff was far better and more assertive than ever this year. This allowed more and better to happen. Most all things going on had my feel of approval. The fields were pretty spread out. I assigned first, and then I gave autonomy to the "troop leaders" at each site. They responded perhaps even better than I had hoped, basing my expectations on what had occurred during previous years.
I often spent my time cruising from field to field and age group to age group. I also spent at least one full two or more hour session with each of the age splits (there were 5, covering 4th to 12th grades), although I did spend a little more overall time with the 11th and 12th graders.
PARTING IS SUCH SWEET SORROW
One complaint I heard afterward was that the camp was not long enough. FOR WHOM exactly was it too short? It was certainly not too brief me, although there were a few game "parts" we didn't get to. My thought is that overall it was just about the right length. I think we need to further develop time spacing and time usage through the camp. I know that our relaxed scheduling makes for eager beavers, kids always ready for more lacrosse, and that is good with me. I think that every single kid at this year's camp really wanted to be there. No one had been pushed into attending this camp.
CHUMASH OR NOT CHUMASH – THAT IS often THE QUESTION
The energy on the last night of Chumash (3 on 3) games was great. I knew kids had to be tired from near record heat and three sessions a day for two days in a row. Still they competed very hard on 10 different Chumash fields until I blew the final horn as the warm and crystal clear blue evening faded to cool and to the black of night.
SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW
Ever since February, and really until today, there has been something that had to do with lacrosse coaching or organizing on every horizon or rise in the landscape ahead. Today, for the first time in a long while, I can step back and let the breeze hit me instead me hitting the breeze.
WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR ME LATELY
I was doing an orientation talk at the beginning of camp on Friday. The first morning was quickly warming up. I wanted to give camper/players an overview of what our "family" style camp thing is all about. I pointed out that we were trying to show them a little of how we play and what we believe here at CSU, and that we do not hold the only patent on how to do things right. At the same time a group that believes together in certain things can do a lot. and blah, blah.
At this point I chose to use our recent team history to illustrate. I asked aloud, "Who knows what we have done here at CSU lately?" I was of course thinking about the big picture of consistent quality teams and a pretty solid track record over 6 or more years. Maybe they know our record over the last 5 years (I don't, so why should they?) Anyway, after and over a moment of murmur came a clear voice, one dually diminutive and dominant. The words were clear (12-year old?) He announced with almost pride, "You came in second", and like a dagger to my heart the facts had been revealed and we had been reduced to the only thing that really mattered at this point. Hello, and ha, ha.
Have I mentioned that I don't really enjoy coming in second?
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