Coach Flip Naumburg's Journal

Wednesday, July 21, 2004

CAMP AND CSU TEAM GROWTH

Perhaps I often wear my thoughts out where everyone can see them (sleeve). One player’s button was "pushed" by something I had off handedly said during the camp last week. With things like the camp and Vail happening, hopefully we can continue to grow as a team during the off seasons too. This would be preferably regardless of what I write in the journal.

HELLO MUDDA, HELLO MIDDIES

The player in discussion proceeded to write me an email with questions about what he could do to make himself better or more noticeable to me. I answered. The answers seem easy and clear to me, at least right now, and not just for said player. When I finished I realized that I could send this to any of our middies, because it is a general path that will later lead us to a specific road, and it is what I want to see from all of our middies.

ANYWAY THIS IS WHAT I WROTE:

(Dear Middies:)
You need to be more of an athlete (faster, stronger). Pete can help there. I want to see a groundswell of guys working out together regularly, and with Pete leading the way.

You need to play more consistently and make more consistent decisions, ones that you can trust to serve you well in big game moments.

You need to work on your personal "style" by taking your abilities (skills) a little bit higher. You have to ask yourself empowering questions like, "What can I do to help my team be better today than it was yesterday?" The answers come. They really do. "Why do I suck?" is, on the other hand, not a good question. You get crappy answers when you ask crappy questions.

Yes, I want hunger and improvement from you and everyone, and it is not something anyone or I can give you. You must do the work. Passion in practice can make for great games. Collective stuff is contagious.

You need to (individually) commit to team defense as your #1 priority. I want middies that recover, and slide and recover so fast that we can do more things defensively. We must be committed defensively as a team. I want to press the ball at times like never before.

Finally, the speed of your shot doesn't concern me. It is your ability to play the game at a high rate of speed that I want. I want us to whip it (ball) good, to collectively have great field awareness. This comes from work and from trust.

Individual skills that are improved by individuals add to the team soup as well. You can always make yourself better on a wall. It's the work you do with yourself now that makes all the difference later.............
I hope this gives you food for thought and fuel for your physical endeavors.
Flip

SWEATING TO THE YOUNG ONES

I have discovered the "latest" in personal cross training. It is called chasing and carrying around Jordan and George.

George’s first collection of words are agua (water or anything liquid), Ada (Mom or Dad), and ball. He loves balls. Although he often appears to be under the influence of something, especially when wearing shoes, he now fully walks under his own power.

My mother-in-law is leaving Saturday to go back to Lima for a while. I am terrified of what this means for me.

RE-NIECE - SSANCE

My recently Bates College graduated niece Tahlia had been here with me since before Vail. Now she is gone. Tiny little tears trickle down my cheek. When she is with me it is like having a personal assistant to do and remind me of things. Then there are all the crappy jobs that I can give to her, tasks she often will complete while relishing the process (reorganize leftover t-shirts and stuff from Vail into color coded, labeled plastic boxes for example).

Plus, she never stands around waiting for me to give her pieces of paper with pictures of dead presidents on them. This is always a great quality in a person from my point of view. Ahhh, Family.

ON TAP

I have scheduled zero games so far for CSU lacrosse. That puts me about half of a season behind, because by now I am usually making plane reservations for the fall and spring.

I decided that I was going to let things, including the schedule, come to me more. Last year I was really aggressive and we ended up with a novel season all right, but one longer than War and Peace.

It looks like Sonoma State is planning on coming here, so we should have at least one home game at the Fort. We are looking at trips to Texas and Utah so far. The fall trip will be EITHER Hawaii (not likely) or Las Vegas (more likely).

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