Coach Flip Naumburg's Journal

Thursday, January 12, 2006

ASSISTANCE

I have come to Philadelphia and the downtown convention center at the downtown Marriott for somewhere around my twentieth National Coach's Convention.  There are some who have been to more of them, but not many who are still living. 

We arrived a day earlier thanks to some more clever planning from the master (me), and it serendipitously allowed me to spend this afternoon driving through the back roads of my Bucks County childhood, which all happened just a little north of Philly.  We drove past the condos that are now sitting in the middle of my cornfield.

NEVER TOO LATE TO BECOME PRINCE

I have become an entourage.  I am here as part of a group of six.  Basically we represent three separate but connected entities while in Philly, Rock-it Pocket, CSU Lacrosse, and the Vail Lacrosse Shootout.  Everyone of us will be busy during our about-to-begin three-day sequesterment along with 2000 Lacrossiacs in the biggest Hotel/Convention setting on the Eastern Seaboard.

PUT SOME KALE IN THE SALAD

I have one assistant coach who is great at spreading the gospel according to "us".  For example, I will talk to someone, a player, or an ex-coach of a current player in the instance I'm thinking of, but it could even be a random person on the street, and I might be saying something that I might think is profound, but sometimes it is just profoundly confusing.  A good assistant coach, like this one I have right now, will follow me in at some convenient later point, and he will proceed to talk to this person that I had been talking to, and he will tell the definitive story about where my "coaching" thought had come from.  This replaces the dangling confusion that might have been left in my wake. In this case I was looking to high school coach for secrets on how to motivate a player that I have at CSU now, and that had played and absolutely starred for this coach last year.  In the end I did get some valuable insight, which may or may not help me, but either way one can't ask for more, can one?

I consider this tag team stuff to be coaching teamwork just as much as good conversation during a time out in a game can be.

I love simple clarification and positive reinforcement.

DON'T C-C-C-C RAMP MY STYLE PLEASE

We had a meeting this morning with our extra eastern standard time to talk about and plan the upcoming 2006 lacrosse camp for kids at CSU this coming July. We changed the name of the camp among other things.  It will now be called the CSU RAM CAMP rather than the High Altitude Lacrosse Camp.  We are building a new logo that is based on the family crest concept.  This works great for us because we are the "Family" camp.  Family is the center, the apex of what we are all about.  Making one is our ultimate mission and our living and coming together as one is the philosophy we teach.

MEET ME IN DALLAS 

I best be careful.  If I could be a part of more meetings like this one I might begin to like the here-to-for dreaded "meeting" of most any kind.  It was short, animated, and everyone present contributed to the building of ideas as well as methodology.  I shouldn't get too excited.  It will get to be a very long short weekend.  Meetings and coaching clinics are a huge part of what goes on here.

By the way, apparently "they" have decided on Dallas as the next location for this year's traveling MDIA National Championship site.  If they keep moving it around enough, maybe they can get things back to where no one gives a damn about us anymore again.

Wherever it will be held is exactly where I want to go, however, so Dallas will be just fine.  I have clothes.  I can adapt.

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