US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums Like Post

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. [/quote]

Well this is one that I find cropping up quite a lot. The idea that stick skills somehow are a small part of the game and don't somehow require "athletic ability". Had one dad whose daughter was a sophomore in high school going on and on about how college coaches don't care about stick skills just want athletes etc etc. Of course his daughter had crappy stick skills and wasn't getting any D1 sniffs the way he was sure she should be.

I do know that what the poster is saying is that the kid that can stand around and do all kinds of great things with her stick won't get to top levels if they are slow, passive, can't see the field etc.

But great stick skills are a part of being a great athlete, and in today's game they are getting more important, not less. Know LOTS of girls who are great "athletes", can run fast, are aggressive etc. They can't see the field and have horrible stick skills. The "great ones" have all of it. So yes it isn't the little kid with great stick skills unless they have speed and vision, and it's not the big fast kid, unless they have stick skills and vision.

In fact THE GREAT ONE himself, Wayne Gretzky, was that little kid who wasn't a "great athlete" that had the ultimate stick skills and vision.

When I think of the best women's lax players, they all have amazing stick skills and vision. Some have elite speed, others like Kayla Treanor and Selena Lasota do not. But they do have sick stick skills and great vision and are aggressive.

My point is I see it on both ends, the daddy that thinks his daughter is awesome because her stick is great but she is too slow etc, and the daddy who thinks his daughter is great because she is 5'9", has thighs like Earl Campbell and can run and is aggressive, yet has crappy hand eye and no sense for the game.

So can we warn all of those parents too? The parents of the "athletes" that there is way more to being an athlete than just size and aggressiveness? In fact if you ask me, the things that separate the great from the good in most sports is vision, anticipation and desire. And in order to have those in lax, you need great stick skills. It is only then, when the stick becomes an extension of your body, that you are able to see the way an elite player does.