Prepping For 2010
With schools around the country kicking off in the next week or two it’s time for the return of High School athletics. That means it’s time to start preparing for the next year. The spring of 2010 will mark my first year has a head coach and I’m pretty excited about it.
I’ve been doing my best to gather all the information I can about scheduling, uniforms, and practice gear. One thing I’ve learned from my two years as an assistant is that if you need something in February you better get on it no later than October.
I feel by getting a lot of this out of the way now, it will allow me to really focus on off-season training in the fall and pre-season come January! Plus if everything rolls like I’d like we are going to look sexy this spring!!
The Ambiguity of Playoffs
No matter what level, what sport, or what system of calculation is used, someone will always be upset about the results of a playoff bracket. The biggest gripes are usually about who gets in versus who stays at home, but other times there is also debate about who is seeded where.
I coach lacrosse in North Carolina and our post-season starts later this week. In the 4A division there is a 16 team playoff based completely on an RPI system (.25 x your win % + .5 x your opponents’ win % + .25 x your opponents’ opponents’ win %). Not the best system obviously with SO much weight being put on the strength of schedule and no checks like making sure that a team has at least a .500 record. With this system I admit I’m more upset than some since my team came in #17 and the #15 team had a (5-9) record. There were also some seeding issues, similar to Notre Dame in this years NCAA Div I bracket , in which an undefeated team was ranked #11, below a team they’d beaten twice.
In the end all the speculation and arguing won’t get you anywhere. Everyone had opportunities to scheudle tougher or win a close game, and now you play the hand you are dealt. For some that means it play until you lose. For most of us it means preparring for the offseason and making sure we do the right things to avoid missing the playoffs in the future.
Instilling a Work Ethic
I find it interesting that with so much lacrosse on TV that I don’t spend more time reprimanding my kids for trying what they’ve seen. Maybe it’s because I’m in NC, but I know that when I was these kid’s age I looked forward to the 1 game every-other week that was televised on WMAR-2.
As such I’m finding it necessary to show my kids things they should work on, in such a fashion that it’s something they could do on their own. Even after doing that, I’ve only got a handful of kids who really have the bug. True Lax-rats, and it’s exciting to coach them everyday.
As the sport grows here in NC I know there will come a day when we have the dedicated athletes that love the sport. For now I will continue to plant the seed, infect them with the bug, and otherwise do what I can to instill a work ethic and a drive to be the best.
Good luck to me!
Bouncing back
It’s always difficult to take a bad loss. In my playing days I would meticulously pick through all the bad plays I had made, or hustle plays I missed. I would then strive to fix those same mistakes in the following days of practice.
As a coach I find it frustrating that I can only review and fix the decision I do or don’t make. And analyze the positions I put the players in to see how I might organize it different.
The greatest fault lies in that I can’t make the plays. When I make the right decision and the boys don’t execute all I can do is mark it down and plan to address it in practice. Hoping the drills I come up with will be enough to take a step in the right direction in fixing the issue.
It’s a fact in athletics that you’re gonna take your lumps. They key is never to stay down on the mat. No matter how hard you just got hit
