As players mature in the game of lacrosse, the number of distractions grows proportionally. The better you get and the higher you set your goals, the more you stress over decisions in the game. What team should you play for? Do I need to quit other sports and focus on lacrosse year round? Should I sign up for showcases or prospect days?
There are so many options it can be overwhelming. Some people are fortunate enough to have great mentors and coaches to provide guidance, but even so, these decisions still get tough.
Now this does not solve everything, but one piece of advice I would offer through this process is to focus on your development.
Focus on your development as a player, as an athlete, as a person, and as a student. These are all within your control. So many athletes and parents we work with are extremely focused on navigating this landscape which is understandable. However, it is critical not to shift focus from what is the most important and controllable facet - your player development. You may be uncertain about what moves to make when navigating the landscape, but if you continue to develop you will put yourself in a great position to reach your goals.
Athletically: By the time you hit high school you want to be following a consistent strength and conditioning program that fits a lacrosse player’s demands. Finding a trusted trainer in your area is a great way to build this part of your game. Hopefully you can also find guidance on nutrition and recovery through this resource as well.
Skills Development: Ensure you are developing your lacrosse skills. Working on stick skills, shooting, footwork, and other positional techniques is very important. Watching film to better understand concepts is a great way to enhance your IQ. This is something we do with a lot of our athletes. Playing games is great, but just going to club practices and games year-round does not always enhance our actual development as a player. Our online portal has been built to give players the tools to develop the skills they need as a lacrosse player.
Game-Like Feel: We do need reps and gameplay. Small-sided drills and backyard games are fun ways to implement things you work on in your training to more live scenarios. These can be things like 3by in the backyard or smaller drills in practice like 2v2’s, 3v3’s, 4v3’s, etc. This is a great transition of our skills into game scenarios.
Implement into Competition: We need to play in competitive games. I think many players get a lot of this now so I am not too worried about people getting this exposure; however, it is a very important part of the process. Ideally, competitive games will be seasonal and limited to one focused season (ie, Spring) and maybe have a few in the Summer and Fall but not full seasons. It is beneficial to prepare for the season, play in the season, and then reflect on the season. If you are constantly playing year round, we never get to build through this cycle. We talked about the difficulties of summer scheduling in a past blog.
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