Well, not exactly. I could say we do not schedule team practices during Fall Ball because Coach Lou says no practices. Yet, that is still short of the mark.

I could say there are no set practices because that is how we always do things during the fall at AYL. Still, repeating the mantra of tradition for tradition’s sake is a painfully weak argument.

I need a good theory that I can back up and will address player and parent concerns during the fall. Since we are close to starting our Fall Season, it is pertinent to state the AYL position on this issue directly.

Your league should have practices during Fall.

• Occasionally, I am confronted with this statement before or during the fall season. We at Atlanta Youth Lacrosse believe Fall Ball is just that, Fall Ball. It is a time for players of every ability level to share the field and learn lacrosse through game experience. We believe set practices should be reserved for the competitive season, which, for lacrosse, is during the spring.

I am concerned my child will be intimidated or not learn as quickly because they are a beginner.

• Believe it or not, your child is going to get a lot of practice. Our goal during Fall Ball is to be very intense about being very laid back. Players go out to win games, but their primary focus should be on working on new skills. So the experienced factor lessens a bit as the more experienced players work on their left hand, or weak-side dodge. This provides a more level playing field for the new player who is learning to play with their strong-hand and get a feel for the game.

We only see our coach once a week, and that is during the game. How can he learn what is best for my child?

• Fall equals fundamentals more than any other time of the year. Because coaches spend less time in organized practices, they use what time they have before and after games to stress the basics of proper play. New players should go up to their coaches and request different positions each week so they can get an idea of what they like to play. Once they settle on a position, the coach can tailor their lessons to that player’s position.

My player is brand new and is nervous about starting a game.

• Perfect! Nervousness before the unknown means your child is completely normal. We have staff and S.T.A.R.s at every game, which allows us to have eyes on lots of players at the same time. Each of our adult and high school staff members have the freedom to go up to a new player who is struggling and give them one or two pointers for the rest of the game. This is individualized attention on a very large scale. For instance, by the end of the season I probably help at least fifty kids with picking up a ground ball, to throwing, to playing defense. Add Coach Lou, Shaun Lux, Kevin Lux, Andy Halperin, and all of our high school and middle school volunteers, and that is a lot of attention from experienced lacrosse players.
• If you or your player is especially concerned about starting the first game, or any future game, please tell a staff member. We are there to help.

Players cannot improve without practice.

• Yes and no. Practice at it most basic element is the separation of game components. Fall Ball allows players to experience the flow of the game, which no practice or scrimmage ever gets across. We keep the body checks down so players focus on throwing stick checks and dodging against a defender throwing checks. We keep the atmosphere relaxed so kids do not feel the overwhelming pressure to win at any cost. We do mandatory substitutions at specific intervals to ensure everyone is getting game time. Ultimately, Fall Ball is practice for the spring.

I want my player to get some practice in. Are there ways to get instruction on non-game days?

• Atlanta Youth Lacrosse will offer beginner clinics during the first few weeks of the season. These clinics are still TBD, but they will focus on fundamental skills that every player needs in their back pocket. We also have the Lux brothers at Lux-Lax.com. You may view the Lux’s basic information on our Biographies page. These two brothers do great work with players in individual and group lessons.

The overarching theory is keeping the games fun and relaxed while recharging the batteries for new and experienced players alike. Every player can suffer from burnout if games feel like life and death every weekend. We at Atlanta Youth Lacrosse want to eliminate the burnout factor in the fall so players feel recharged and excited about the competitive Spring season.

Featured Image Credit – www.trialx.com

Cheers,
Gordon

Because this criticism ranked highest among the things AYL could improve on, I set out to find a quality program that would allow us to provide all members with a Master Game Schedule. Well, I lucked out tremendously with League Toolbox. This company creates and continually improves upon a host of league management software tools. On top of ridiculously good and timely customer support, League Toolbox knew more about creating schedules than I thought possible.

Because of League Toolbox’s tools, this season we offer three distinct methods of viewing the Fall Ball Schedule:

• Download the Master Game Schedule
  • Perfect if you want to cross out games as we move through the season.
• Dynamic Master Game Schedule: http://ayllax.leaguetoolbox.com/league/schedule.php
  • This schedule allows you to select “division” and “team”
  • For example, select “3/4th Grade” and “Outlaws,” and you will be directed to the Outlaw’s Individual Team Schedule
• Individual Team Websites Next Game Banner
  • Get familiar with your team’s website. Every time you visit the homepage you will see a list of upcoming games on the left, and a large banner displaying your team’s next game, opponent, location, and time.

Remember, all of this information is accessible at: www.ayllax.com/master-game-schedule. If you forget when to show up for a game just check the schedule, and it will be there waiting for you.

Finally, I put together a short video tutorial. This video details how to access the Master Game Schedule, and all the different formats it is presented in.

As always, if you have comments or questions, please post them below in the comment section.

Cheers,
Gordon

Atlanta Youth Lacrosse upgraded to League Toolbox over the offseason. Here are a few of the many services League Toolbox allows AYL to give to our members:

1. Register your family only once – and enter information only once – Once a parent has registered, they register their children with ease. Family discounts and price breaks for multiple children can be setup and are automatically applied.
2. Individual Team Websites  - Each team in each division gets their own website! For example, gorillas-ayllax.leaguetoolbox.com
   
3. Master Schedule, Team schedule, and Family schedule - View the schedule in three different ways. A complete master schedule will always be available, but the individual team websites lists the dates and times for your team’s games. Also, you can login to your League Toolbox profile and view your personalized family schedule, which lists every game that your children are playing in!
4. Communication - if a game gets canceled, or a field is rained out only those affected team players, coaches, and parents get an email.
5. Team Standings and Scores - we’re keeping better track of scores and standings than ever before. By Monday afternoon, all of the weekend games’ scores will be entered into the system. You can see how well your team is doing compared to other teams in the 3/4, 5/6, 7/8, and HS leagues!
6. Your Profile - here you can view:
1. Your username and password
2. Your family schedule
3. Your children. Plus what division they are in and what team they are on
4. Your information. Change your personal information
5. Invoices from everything you ever registered for at Atlanta Youth Lacrosse, starting with Spring 2012 Registration (wink, wink)

To register, click the Large Green “Spring 2012″ Registration Button at the top of our website www.ayllax.com. From that registration link you will be able to login and register for a season, camp, clinic, or AYL event. We even streamlined the registration process so you don’t have to click as often or as much! If you are prompted, please click allow or trust, when directed to registration page for the first time.

We hope everyone likes the new registration system, but we realize this change may cause confusion and more than a few questions. If you are having trouble with registration, would like to know more about it, or want to discuss the benefits of the new system, please contact our Head Official and registration director, Gordon Corsetti at rules@ayllax.com.

Featured Image Credit – www.hd-wallpapers-widescreen.com

Cheers,
Gordon

Please note that we are moving to League Toolbox’s Online Registration System for Spring 2012 registration and phasing out our old registration system. If you registered for the 2011 Fall Season using Sports Signup – you do not need to do anything! I will be pulling each player’s registration information into the new system for the 2011 Fall Season. Your spot is still secure. We will let everyone know when AYL moves entirely over to League Toolbox Online Registration.

New Feature Rollouts

• Fall Season 2011
  • Individualized Team Websites
  • Master Schedule
    • Family Schedule (Your profile updates with games depending on how many players are signed up from your family. No more hunting for you child’s games!)
  • League Standings and Team Win/Loss Record
  • 3rd Backup for Field Closures (Along with Status Me and Twitter Feed)
• Spring Season 2012
  • New Registration System (will open in August, along with step-by-step video tutorial)

The main goal of rolling out these features is to get all of our parents and players familiar with the new system, without overwhelming everyone. The features I am really happy about rolling out early are the Master Schedule and Team Websites. Each team in each division gets their own website that lists the team’s: schedule, win/loss record, standings, game results, team roster, photos, and sponsors. I believe each of these tools will allow all of our members to better organize their travel plans and carpool assignments. As well as feel more connected with their team through their team’s website.

To better cover all the features the team websites provide, I created a 5 minute video overview. After watching this video, I hope will be as excited about League Toolbox as I am.

To view this video at it’s highest quality please change 360p to 720p on the video menu.

If you would like to check out the High School team websites:

• Team Gorillas
• Team Bears
• Team Wolves
• Team Cheetahs

The team websites for Pre K – 2nd, 3/4th, 5/6th, and 7th Grades will be created once Fall Registration concludes.

Cheers,
Gordon

“Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn’t learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn’t learn a little, at least we didn’t get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn’t die; so, let us all be thankful.” – This quote is attributed to Buddha.

Applied to youth lacrosse we get this:

“Let’s rise up and cheer, for if we didn’t win today, at least we learned something, and if we didn’t learn anything, at least we didn’t get injured, and if we got injured, at least we didn’t go to the hospital, and if we went to the hospital, at least we got ice cream.”

If nothing else, that quote provides some useful perspective in the aftermath of a tough game. Always keep in mind that winning and losing are all part of playing the game. The best part about either one is you played, and hopefully, played well.

Featured Image Credit - www.kingfishers.ednet.ns.ca

Cheers,
Gordon

Angry Fans

There are a lot of youth lacrosse programs in the United States that encourage positive sideline behavior, but there are also a lot that turn a blind eye to anything said from the stands. I find that disheartening because, at the end of the day, all of those negative comments are heard and internalized by the young players. Now, there are some people who say that mean words from the sideline toughen up kids. When a fan tells me that I immediately conclude that anything else that comes out of their mouth is not worth the energy to listen.

Imagine how productive would you be at your job if every five minutes, someone, who has no idea how to do your job, called you a stupid insert curse word here? That is what all negative comments at youth sporting events boils down to. There are one or two individuals who never played the game yelling at their kid or someone else’s kid, when they have no idea what they are talking about.

Case in point, I was officiating an in-state tournament this past summer. The horn blew for halftime and a dad vaulted over the barricade by the fans sideline, ran onto the field, and started berating his son, the goalie. He gave a verbal dress-down about how terribly he was playing, and how he was letting his whole team down. Before it escalated any further, I walked over and informed him that he was not allowed on the field. I spent the remainder of the day angry because this individual, who I am certain never played goalie in his life, believed his knowledge of the game was so vast that he needed to impart it in the most heinous and memorable way possible. As I said in the Language post, all he did was reveal his own ignorance.

So the big question here is: how do youth programs promote responsible and positive sideline behavior. There are two methods out there, one of which I prefer to use. The first is the US Lacrosse Sportsmanship Card. Which states, in very polite language, that the offender is acting against the honorable traditions of the game. Many organizations use this card by handing them out during games to fans who forget that the game is about encouraging sportsmanship, respect, and honor. While I like the concept, I believe it lacks teeth. Which is why we use a different method to enforce good behavior at Atlanta Youth Lacrosse.

Whenever I am officiating a game at our league and one or more fans becomes belligerent or very negative, I stop the game and walk to the sideline. I calmly look up and down the row of parents and fans, then state the following:

“There are some individuals who are not contributing to a good, sporting atmosphere. I do not know who you are, but you, and the people around you, know who you are. The next time I hear a comment that negatively impacts this game I will stop the game, come back to this spot, and turn on my stopwatch. I will burn two minutes off the game time, and every player will sit at the bench because of your actions. If I come back again it goes up to three minutes, then four, and so on. Thank you for your support in honoring the tradition of this game.”

I'm gonna make you an offer you can't refuse

I have used this threat three times in five years, and I have not had to follow through on it yet. When you threaten to eliminate the playing time of everyone, each fan on the sideline looks at the offender(s) and quietly tells them to zip their lips. In those twenty-seconds, I enlisted everyone on the sideline to help promote a good atmosphere for the players.

Whenever our league participates in, or hosts tournaments I always get the same compliments from other coaches and parents. They consistently say our fans are the nicest fans they ever encountered. One coach remarked that AYL is “intense about being laid-back.” I like that phrase so much because it drives right at the heart of our mission at AYL. At the end of the day, it is all about the kids. We want every one of our players to enjoy their time on the field, free of any mean-spirited comments by a fan that gets a little too worked up for a youth game.

So to all of our parents and fans on the sidelines. Bravo. Please keep up the great cheering and help new fans who are unfamiliar with our sideline style.

*Note – There will be future posts on the application of Positive Cheering.

Featured Image Credit - www.beaconcareermgmt.com

Cheers,
Gordon

Slafkosky – Defensive Wizard

In tenth grade I attended a camp that Dave Slafkosky, a legendary defensive coach from Maryland, was teaching at. I inhaled his lessons about defense. He spoke about positioning, communication, and hard sliding, but he gave one nugget of information that I will forever remember. He said, “Gordon. Your first check should always be a poke check right to the guy’s stomach.” In the context of a youth game, this is very good advice. Typically, young players cradle with both hands. As a result, their stick runs diagonally across their body, which makes aiming a poke check at the stomach area a very high percentage check.

The other reason for throwing the first check at the center of your opponent is a mind game with the official. I usually remind our AYL coaches that my hand goes to my flag when I see a player wind up for a big check, since, more often than not, the stick is coming down hard on the helmet, shoulder, or back. When I see a wind up I profile that player as someone I need to watch, but when I see a player throw a hard poke check towards his opponent’s stick I profile that player as a safe/smart individual. Often, my first observation on a player’s behavior prove correct. So coaches, remind your player’s that officials pay attention to the high, wind up swings, and will focus on players who repeat that checking motion.

Now let’s talk about the “I’m Beat,” or desperation check. Here’s the situation:

• Red player gets burned by Blue player on a roll dodge. Blue player spins around and chases Red player with his stick outstretched behind him with one arm. Red goes to shoot, and in the process of shooting, Blue swings his stick overhead. He hits Red’s stick and then ricochets hard into Red’s helmet, drawing a one-minute slash penalty.

^ Think This is a Cross-Check?

I defy any coach to comment that none of their players have ever committed the above infraction. The problem here is the nature of youth players. They get beat so they panic. They know they cannot let the other player score, so a gigantic wind-up check might redeem them for getting beat. Honestly, I might as well throw the flag when I see the wind up because nothing good is coming from it.

For the coaches, there is a method of teaching the desperation check that will almost always prevent a flag, and there are three parts to it:

1. When your player gets beat the first thing they need to do is run as hard as they can to catch up to their opponent. The distance has to get picked up before a check can be applied.
2. Do not worry about getting in front of a shooter. Why? Because the shooter is going to do one thing, and that is draw his stick behind his body in preparation for a shot. Drawing that stick back turns it into a huge target for your defensive player.
3. Swing the final check up to the sky, not down to the ground. It is very difficult for a player to hit his opponent’s helmet checking from below the helmet. Nearly all slash calls result in the stick coming down on top on the helmet, not the other way around. In all of my private instruction sessions, I teach players to swing up on the desperation check because the chance of hitting the helmet hard enough to draw a flag is miniscule.

I have gotten beat more times than I care to remember, but learning how to properly do a desperation check saved many goals from hitting the net. Remember, the only way to eliminate the panic from getting beat is to teach effective methods of dealing with it. If coaches do not do this, the first thing a player will do is wind up and swing down wildly. So teach them the better method, and you should see your team’s penalties decrease over time.

*Note – There will be future posts expanding on this topic.

Featured Image Credit - www.ctpost.com

Cheers,
Gordon

Before going on both Tyler and his father gave permission for the publication of this essay on the AYL Blog. I hope you enjoy this essay as much as I did.

******* A Goalie Stick – by Tyler Bass *******

Many call me the eclipse, but I am a piece of art, a savior to a team, a lacrosse goalie stick.  My pocket has a beautiful channel that stretches almost all the way to my top.  My white shooting strings are loose and throw the ball with perfect aim and distance. I am the most beautiful color, forest green. I glow in the sun as all the smaller sticks stare in awe. I may have a few battle scars such as a dented shaft but I am still majestic and strong.

I am pulled out of my bag for warm ups I am relaxed and concentrated. I can’t wait for the game but it seems like an eternity away. Why can’t I just be taken to the goal and get shot on? I hate stretching; it’s so boring because all I get to do is sit in the goalie’s hand. Finally I hear the call for goalies to go to a goal to get warmed up. The goalies are talking casually above me as I sit in concentration getting ready to take some shots. I am carried into the goal. The balls come slowly at first barely hurting me but then I feel the shots coming around 60 mph into my pocket. I feel like I should scream out because of the pain but I know that no one could hear me. The warm ups are over I’m ready fore the big game. My goalie is the starter so I get to go out first! The ref blows the whistle and the faceoff begins. A struggle is seen but the other team comes up with the ball. The slowly make there way down the field.

The goalie calls out the position of the ball as I feel the pressure inside me rising to levels that can only be seen in games. I hear the goalie scream at the top of his lungs the position of the ball top left, top left. As the other team passes the ball I hear my goalie yell check and all the defenders check the other team’s sticks. The other team somehow comes up with the ball. I see the player attempting to wind up but he fakes the defender and shoots past him! My goalie yells slide and the defender who was playing crease moves up. Oh no I saw the mistake before it was made. The two slide didn’t slide down to the defender on the crease! The player sees this and throws the ball toward him. This is the big moment. The first save of the game.

I see the ball flying through the air as I am moved toward the kid on the crease. Why am I being held so low when I should be high in the air so that I can make the save? The ball is floating slowly in the air towards the kid on the crease. He catches the ball and time seems to slow down. He winds up for a shot and tries to dunk it past me. All of a sudden I am thrust into the air and placed in front of the shooters stick. I get it now, my goalie was baiting the defender to shoot high so he could spring up and make the save! I am now beginning to feel the pain in my pocket from the shot. I feel exhilarated by the save. This feeling is like no other. When you make the first save of a game you never know how hard the ball is coming or where the ball is coming. When you actually make the save you are always happy because you feel like you didn’t let your team down. After my quick moment of joy I am whipped around and the ball comes out of my pocket and hits a defender right in the stick. I am lowered as the big sweaty goalie gloves that hold me calmly loosen there grip.

I watch the ball slowly progress its way down the field as I rejoice to myself about the save that I made. I do this again and again for the rest of the game. I only let a few shots past me into the goal. When I do this I feel like I have let my team down but I know that I must suck it up and give my best for the rest of the game. As the game slowly winds down I am satisfied with my performance. The clock slowly winds down from 5 seconds left. The crowd counts down the second, 5…4…3…2…1. I hear the buzzer ring as I see a group of team mates rushing towards me.

The coach calls us over and gives us a talk about our performance. As the group slowly breaks up I hear congratulations and good game being said to my goalie. My goalie is joking around with some of his friends so he sets me out in the open for a while. I look down at my self and see fresh dents in my shaft. My mesh has become dirty. I am slowly losing my beauty. I know that I am still good no matter how dirty my mesh is, but I like looking good. My goalie picks me up and takes me over to my bag. I am placed back into the dark and sweaty lacrosse bag. I wish I could just stay out! Do I really have to wait until practice tomorrow! I want to see more action so badly. I wait; bored out of my mind until finally I see a streak of light! I am being opened…

*******

Tyler, reading this made me once again remember why I love coaching youth athletes. If writing continues to give you pleasure I encourage you to continue.

Along the creative writing meme remember the Spirit Essay Competition is currently going on for all 5th and 6th Graders!

Featured Image Credit – www.furrianisfiles.blogspot.com

Cheers,
Gordon

I know everyone was given the “Trash Talk” at the first season meeting but after spending thirty minutes picking up trash yesterday I’d like to give everyone a short refresher:

We do not own any of the fields we play on. How we leave these fields at the end of each practice and each game reflects upon Atlanta Youth Lacrosse either positively or negatively. I am happy to say we keep things clean about 85% of the time but I would like to see us shoot for 100%.

Coaches, parents, fans, and players – I ask that you treat these fields like your grandparent’s living room. If you see trash that is not yours please pick it up and bring it to one of the trashcans. One of our S.T.A.R.s empties them each week so there is rarely an overflow. At the windsor fields there will always be a trashcan next to or underneath the Tribute Tower and next to the POD.

Yesterday I picked up the first layer of trash that came from the last two weeks. On Monday or Tuesday I will be out with extra trash bags going into the woods to pick up all of the plastic and paper trash that found their way into the forest. Make no mistake, we will keep these fields as immaculate as possible throughout the season.

Arg – Trash Makes Me Talk Like A Pirate

Bit of an Eyesore

I Like Beverages – Just Not On the Field!

How Did A Baby Diaper Get into the Tree?

Cheers,
Gordon

Rule 5, Section 2 – Crosse Check (NFHS Boys Lacrosse Rule Book)

“A player may not check his opponent with his crosse in a cross-check position. That is, a check with that part of the handle of the crosse that is between the player’s hands, either by thrusting away from the body or by holding it extended from the body.”

The main benefit of AYL TV is you get to see what we are teaching instead of just reading about it. So now check out the very first video tutorial from AYL TV! Please be patient while the video loads.

Hopefully this video tutorial was helpful in showing you what a basic, garden variety cross-check looks like.

I would like to thank Jeremy and Justin Garr for their excellent demonstration of a cross-check. I would also like to thank Tom and Darlene for providing their time and video equipment. Finally I must thank my sister, Caitlin, for her excellent editing and effects on the first AYL TV video.

If you have any questions or comments please post them below.

Cheers,
Gordon