Originally Posted by Anonymous
Originally Posted by Anonymous
Can you tell us why you don't like the MND 28 Coaching staff?

I don’t like how they scream at their players and the refs. Tone of voice matters. Grown men screaming at young women is not a good look, and being their lacrosse coach should not excuse this behavior. Screaming at refs, who are just trying to do their job, is like being rude to the waiter or customer service agent. Classless and unnecessary.

I don’t like how they run an offense still very dependent upon 1v1 dodging. Wins championships, doesn’t develop Lax IQ or how to move off ball.

Overall, they have a good team with nice families. They play hard, but not overly aggressive defense. Their draw game is solid. The program knows how to get kids recruited.

As a parent with a child on a team, I can concede that the tone takes some getting used to, but that's true about a lot of coaches communication styles on and off the field. Choosing a new team is always scary because you are putting your child in the hands of coaches who they may or may not mesh well with - so this is always something to consider.

What I can tell you based on our family's experience is that the coaches have good relationships with the girls. They will generally take care to follow up with girls off the field if they know (or can sense) a player is questioning themselves or has taken something hard. As far as ref interactions, I'm not on that sideline, but I think you may be exaggerating that a bit.

In terms of offense, they've been working on developing all the girls and their lax IQ since day one. Whether you think they run 1v1 more than they should or not, something that is great about their team is that everyone is involved in seeing their offense succeed. If they score 10 goals in a day, 7 different girls may have scored them. Ultimately, they're all learning and developing, and that's what matters.

I'm obviously biased. As I said, I have a kid on the team. But if you are genuinely considering a team, the best thing you can do is talk to people who are a part of it. Or, even better, reach out to the coaches and ask to attend a practice.