Originally Posted by Anonymous
Originally Posted by Anonymous
People new to lacrosse think travel lax does a lot to develop your daughters lax skills. This is not correct. The best players are the ones who work the most at home or in their private time and who have natural athletic ability. Work with your daughter at home with some friends. Make it fun. Don't consider travel lax until at least 6th grade.


Yeah, the only thing I agree with here is the work at home part. If your kid wants to be good (not you wanting your kid, thats different!) they have to work at home.

The rest not so much. My daughters travel coach is a stick skill beast. He looks at every little detail, details a parent isn't going to see. And he works to make it perfect. Obviously not all coaches are the same so your milage may vary. But a good coach knows the devil is in the details and will help your daughter makes them perfect. They will still have to work on them at home. A coach can only suggest changes, the child has to make them happen.

Talent is mostly [lacrosse] until the kids are no longer "kids". It really only comes into play at higher levels like HS and above when they've nearly perfected their skills and the only thing that can separate them is innate ability. Hard work and a desire to constantly get better make all the difference with children. Help them with this and they'll do great at more than just lacrosse. Case in point, I know a young girl who's 8-9 years old that blows away girls 2 years older than her on the field (and no, she's not my child). Why? She's got an older sister that she wants to be better than. She's not faster than the other kids, nor bigger, taller etc. In fact she's somewhat shorter and stocky. She lights other girls up. Why? She works hard at her skills and wants to be the best in her own little world. She wasn't born with that. She makes it happen. "Talent" is a word that should not be applied to children, unless of course you're trying to make an excuse as to why your kid got blown away by another kid because you can't face that they were simply outworked. And thats okay too - lacrosse may not be all that important to them. Just don't make excuses; maybe spend that time instead trying to find something that is that important TO THEM so they work their butts off doing it.

Lastly, there is no "DONT DO THIS UNTIL NTH GRADE." It's your kid, and as a parent you be the judge of what is best for your kid. You'll know when and if they're wanting to take their game to a more competitive level. Hopefully they'll be telling you ;-)

Quote

Here is my advice for a first grader. Buy a couple of Swax Lax soft lacrosse training balls.

1. Underhand toss balls to her over and over again. Emphasize that she catch the ball with the stick perpendicular to the ground, NOT like the pizza man putting the pie into the oven. (both hands - even better, start her as a lefty.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Hlil0hb9l4

2. Ground balls - Put a bunch of balls on the ground and using great fundamentals pick up the ball drop pick up next one. (Teach both hands)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lj5grjunuCc

3. Cradle. - Buy or make a cradle baby (saves time when dropping the ball and having to pick up the ball.). and have your daughter cradle a certain number with both hands everyday. 20x than 30x, than 40x etc. (Both Hands)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAWLE6OYp7g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uyp4JuTefLM

From experience, if you do those things a little bit every week for a year, she will be more than ready to start PAL lacrosse clinics or team. The trick to do a little every day, make it fun, make it part of a daily routine, 10 minutes before bed, after dinner, etc... These can all be done inside.


Whoever wrote this - you rule! Great content. /bow



Here's a warning about training for parents,,,,
The two year younger girl this poster describes, they exist in nearly every town, usually a coaches daughter or a kid who has been brought into the sport early because an older sibling plays. They get out to an early jump and stand out head and shoulders, even on a top travel team at a very young age. They always get surpassed when the teams get older. You will see in 7-9th grade, all the kids with the rare athletic ability finally start catching up in stick skills, these kids disappear. You start wondering why that little kid with incredible stick skills doesn't look so good anymore. This post isn't singling out any one girl or meant to be mean in spirit, it is more directed at parents, to put their kids lacrosse success into perspective, it is a long process with lots of leap frogging through the years. At the end of the day, stick skills in only a small part what makes the great ones great, much more to do with athletic ability and heart.