Volume: 3, Edition (2)
Posted: Tuesday, February 25th,
2014
All Newsletters available at www.laxcoachns.blogspot.ca
Twitter: @Lawrenc70370068
“Help
them become the people they want to be
through
exceptional life experiences like lacrosse”
News: “Workbook Club”
Coaches, whether you need to complete a box/field Comm Dev/Comp Intro
workbook, an evening can be coordinated to get everyone through their online
workbooks (including setting up CLA coaching accounts and pre-clinic online
work). Get in touch with your club president and lets get this done! You will
need your manual and a laptop computer with wifi ability in order to take
advantage of this session.
News: “Coach Training”
Coaches, LNSS is always looking for more individuals to become Learning
Facilitators (LFs), especially outside the HRM. LFs lead NCCP coaching clinics,
but as of January 1st, 2015, they must have completed the general
NCCP LF module clinic. The only one scheduled at this time on The Locker is for
March 28th and 29th. You will also need to go through LF
training specific for lacrosse at some point, but without the NCCP modules, you
can’t run a coaching clinic after 2014. To register for the clinic, log into
your coaching account on The Locker (coach.ca “My Locker”) and go to the
Calendar tab. If you don’t have an NCCP number, go through the registration
process. The LF module is also a great resource for those who deliver business clinic
or courses.
News: “Great Coaching
Opportunity”
You could find yourself next to a Canada Games coach, even an Olympic
coach, which is why every coach should take advantage of the NCCP’s Competition
Development series. On March 21st and 23rd, “Prevention
and Recovery” and Developing Athletic Abilities” will be offered at Daltech. Coaches
will “identify common injuries in their sport and develop appropriate prevention and recovery
strategies so that their athletes can continue to train and compete injury-free”
in the first course. The second course will give coaches the working background
on how to “build an athletes’ fitness in endurance, strength and speed as a
well sport specific conditioning”.
To register for either or both clinics, log into your coaching account
on The Locker (coach.ca “My Locker”) and go to the Calendar tab. If you don’t
have an NCCP number, go through the registration process.
News: “Sackville
Wolves Call-out”
If you live in the Sackville area, think about coaching a minor team
this year. It’ll not only be a great life experience for yourself, but also for
your players. Those interested should get in touch with Steve Brown: coachbrown@eastlink.ca or give
him a call at 830-2710.
Technical Director’s “My 2 Cents”
You can only imagine the long-term commitment by
Slovenia’s and Austria’s men’s national hockey teams at the Sochi Olympics, who
stacked up well below the giants in relation to registered hockey players:
Slovenia 900+ (Seven available rinks), Austria 11,000+, Russia 66,000+, USA
500,000+ and Canada 600,000+. Despite their small bases, 17th ranked
Slovenia and 15th ranked Austria beat 10th ranked Germany
and 14th ranked Belarus in Olympic qualifiers: And how about
Latvia’s semi-final versus Canada?
What a great time then to reflect on the four
common characteristics of successful coaches, as listed in the US Level 1 Men’s
Field Lacrosse coaching manual. Quoting from the manual, research has found
that:
1. “Coaches have defined purpose and motivation: The coach
communicates clear purposes and objectives to his/her players”;
2. “Coaches have skill competence: The coach has a competent
knowledge of the game and is able to translate those skills appropriately to
players”;
3. “Coaches are relational: All players matter. And coaches
demonstrate that all players matter through emphasizing respect for self,
teammates, opponents, officials and others by Honoring the Game”; and,
4. “Coaches possess good character: The coach
is a powerful role model and therefore models high standard of conduct and
values in his or her own life.”
To become a giant slayer, we need to ask
ourselves then what the profiles are of the best players on the best teams,
which is exactly what Les Gilson’s IPP form addressed at the most recent
provincial coach meeting. Les is Rugby Canada’s High Performance Atlantic Manager and a tool he uses to create a
Gold Medal player is their Individual Performance Plan (IPP). The IPP spreadsheet
(Email lacrossetechdirector@sportnovascotia.ca
for excel file) has six key criteria: technical, tactical, physical, nutrition,
mental and holistic/leadership. Within each criteria there are 5-6 elements
that coaches or players rank using a colour code key system; red (weakness),
yellow (competent) and green (strength).
An interesting conversation can
develop between coach and player when the player fills out the form. Les is
charged with selecting NS players to participate on Canada Games or National
teams. When a player fills out the IPP form and uses the context of his club or
provincial team, the form can have a lot of green. It’s Les’ job then to sit
with each player and get them to reflect on their abilities in relation to
international standards.
You could imagine that the above
coach/player conversation could be a bit discouraging, but the purpose of the
IPP form is to identify strengths and set a pathway to develop weaknesses
within a reasonable timetable. And have you ever had this conversation with a
parent or player, “why didn’t my son, or I, get more playing time?” This then
is a great tool for coaches, players and parents to establish a baseline and
work to improve performance and ultimately equal playing opportunities.
Column: “Tips from the Crease”
“Slam Dunk”
Need something new for the one-on-one drill
book, then try, “Slam Dunk”. Set a bucket, pail, milk crate or whatever about
10m from the first offensive/defensive pair. The challenge for the ball carrier
is to aggressively cradle and dodge their way to the bucket and put the ball
into the container without it popping back out. If players don’t have full
gear, then run the “light” version where the defender uses hands only (and no
grabbing). For the high intensity version, go full gear, but again, start the
defender without a stick to work on defensive body positioning. This can be
quite a competitive drill and expect your players to have fun with it.
“Whitby Tips”
Nice group of seven video clips on YouTube
from Whitby Warriors. Go to YouTube put and type “WMLAcoaching” into the search
window. Great tips for those coaches just getting into lacrosse or wanting to
review some basics.
News: “Next Month”
Keep track of up-coming events on LNSS’s
website newslider.
- Provincial Head Coach Meeting, February 5th
- Comp Dev Leading Prevention & Recovery, The Locker, March 21st
- Comp Dev Developing Athletic Abilities, The Locker, March 23rd
“Players should expect the best - We can
deliver”
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