Courtesy of
24/7 Lax. 25 great things every young lacrosse player should know. If you're a young lacrosse player, no matter what level - youth to high school all-american - you should take all of these points to heart. Read up!
1) When shooting with your friends, don’t stand
around.
Practice shooting on the run coming out of dodges. Time and room
shots in games are few and far between.
2) Work on your off hand. Only the elite talent/athlete gets by with one hand. Chances are you do not fall into that category.
3) Celebrate with class. Thousands of players before
you have scored more clutch goals than you.
Act like you’ve been there
before. Same thing goes for dog piling on the field after a win.
4) Get low and use two hands on ground balls.
Nothing makes you look softer than a failed one-handed scoop in traffic.
5) Just put the ball in the net. You can
be the kid
with 3 goals in the box score or the the kid with 1 goal, a missed
behind the back, and a sweet crank that missed top cheddar. Overhand and
off hip work well.
6) Respect your coaches. You may not be the
All-American you think you are. Make eye contact when your coaches are
talking and keep your mouth shut. You might learn something.
7) String yourself a nice gamer and a good backup if
possible and be done with it. Don’t try to keep up with the Jones’s and
feel like you always need the next best thing.
Spend that time and
energy working on your fitness and skills.
8) If you are on a budget,
buy last year’s head and
shaft on sale. You’ll get great deals on products that are not much
different than the latest and greatest. Spend your money on a good
pocket.
9) If you limit your circle of friends to only other
lacrosse players, you’re doing yourself a disservice. The lax bro
culture isn’t very cultured at all.
Be your own person.
10) Be responsible for your gear, uniform, cleats,
mouthpiece, etc.
Take inventory well in advance of practice and make
sure you have everything you need. Police up your gear after the game.
Mom and dad work too hard to pay for replacement gear you lost track of
because you were too busy squirting water on your teammates after
practice.
11) Getting stripped of the ball creates a sinking
feeling. It happens to everyone.
Don’t sulk, work to get the ball back.
There’s nothing worse than seeing a kid hang his head and kick rocks
instead of getting after the ball that is five feet away.
12) Recognize that lacrosse is a team sport.
When a
teammate is open, get the ball to that player regardless of who it is.
Make good decisions and let the coach worry about who he puts on the
field.
13) Take pride in the little things.
If you’re an
attackman, ride hard. If you’re a middie, play tough “D”. If you play
defense, move your feet and value position over the home run check.
Hopefully, you’re trying to help your team, not make a highlight reel.
14) Respect your parents. Being disrespectful to
your parents reflects poorly on you and embarrasses your family. Your
parents don’t owe you anything.
15) Don’t be a twit on Twitter, Facebook, etc. It is
mind boggling what kids will put out on the internet for public
consumption. Don’t let a screenshot of an ill-advised internet rant ruin
you. It has and will continue to do just that to all too many kids who
post before thinking.
16) If it were up to most kids, they would always
have new gear and clothes. Not everyone is in a position to indulge in
the latest and greatest. Be deeper than judging a kid based on their
appearance.
Judge kids for what kind of teammate or person they are.
17) Don’t be a black hole. No matter how good you
think you are,
your teammates don’t want to see you dodge through double
and triple teams while passing up good looks to open players, whether
you score or not.
18) Show up to practice (on time) with the mindset
that you are going to work to get better, not just because it’s what you
have to do. Push yourself.
19) Lacrosse is a small community.
Act the fool, be
uncoachable, or have meddling parents and you’ll find it tough to shake
that reputation.
20) From time to time, a coach is going to correct,
yell, or bench you. Justified or not, get used to it and
be open to the
fact that you may not be as good as you (or your parents) think you are.
21) Stick tricks will do wonders for your game.
You’ll wonder where your playing time went because you were wasting time
trying to perfect the “Triple Lindy” or something equally ridiculous,
instead of working on actual skills.
22) Don’t twirl or spin your stick. It’s a horrible
habit that some kids can’t shake.
A kid who can’t move the ball quickly
because he has to twirl his stick every time he touches the ball will be
twirling his flow on the sideline instead.
23) Put as much time getting your body in shape as
you do on honing your stick skills. Those stick skills don’t mean a
whole lot if you’re gassed after 10 minutes.
24) Play other sports. This has been said before, ad
nauseam, because it’s good advice. Don’t burn yourself out and
learn to
be an athlete and not just a lacrosse player.
25) Have fun and play because you enjoy the game.
