Blog

The saying practice makes perfect is simply incorrect. I’ve seen many players and teams practice and practice hard. Yet, even with their intense practices they collapse on game day. I’ve watched the game for so long that I can tell which team will come out strong after watching a team warm up before the game. One team will be uniform in their warm up. Crisp passing, effective communication, and an intensity for perfection is what makes these teams succeed against the team that just goes through the motions.

Perfect practice makes perfect. The individuals and teams that dedicate themselves to showing up at practice to improve their technique will succeed greatly over time when compared to the team that practices hard, but imperfectly. A solid practice has the following:

• Emphasis on technique above all else
• Focusing on the off hand equally or greater than the strong hand
• Communication between the defense and the offense (these are always the strongest teams)
• Intensity for the sake of perfection not for intensity alone.

The last bullet bears greater examination. Players at each level of the game should be capable of doing a passing drill without dropping five passes at minimum. This is how it goes: “We don’t get out of this drill until five passes are completed in a row,” or “Ok, you all got five passes now we aim for ten.” A good coach will keep going higher and higher until the players are so focused they will not dare drop the ball and they will put all of themselves into catching it. That is the level of intensity that should be cultivated in a practice. At the end of the day the players should know they put in some hard work to improve a small part of their game. It will never be perfect but by chasing that perfection a player or a team can get close to that elusive goal.

Yours in Lacrosse,
Gordon