2012 NCAA Lacrosse on TV – Watch it! (and learn!)

As we approach the start of our Spring season, I hope all Chiefs Lacrosse players are already getting in shape and getting their equipment ready, etc.  While nothing beats actually working on your lacrosse fundamentals, there is a lot players can learn from watching the best of the best play the game.  Once again the ESPN networks will be broadcasting a ton of top-notch Division I lacrosse this season.  Below is this season’s line-up.  All players should make an effort to watch some of these great games and pay attention to the way the players move on the field – those with the ball AND those without the ball.

ESPN 2012 Telecast Schedule (subject to change; all times Eastern)

Feb 17   5:00 p.m.         Towson at Johns Hopkins              ESPNU
Feb 18   1:00 p.m.         Duke at Notre Dame                   ESPN3
Feb 21   5:00 p.m.         Delaware at Johns Hopkins            ESPNU
Feb 24   7:00 p.m.         Maryland at Georgetown               ESPN3
Feb 25   12:00 p.m.        Stony Brook at Virginia              ESPN3
Feb 25   3:00 p.m.         Siena at Johns Hopkins               ESPNU

Mar 2    5:00 p.m.         Johns Hopkins at Princeton           ESPNU
Mar 3    1:00 p.m.         Duke at Maryland                     ESPN3
Mar 4    4:30 p.m.         Syracuse at Virginia                 ESPN/ESPN3
Mar 6    7:00 p.m.*        Manhattan at Johns Hopkins           ESPNU
Mar 7    5:00 p.m.         Towson at Johns Hopkins (women’s)    ESPNU
Mar 10   11:00 a.m.        Princeton vs. North Carolina         ESPNU
Mar 10   1:30 p.m.         Cornell vs. Virginia                 ESPNU
Mar 10   4:00 p.m.         UMBC vs. Johns Hopkins               ESPN3
Mar 16   5:00 p.m.         North Carolina at Duke               ESPNU
Mar 17   2:00 p.m.         Penn at Princeton                    ESPNU
Mar 17   4:00 p.m.         Syracuse at Johns Hopkins            ESPNU
Mar 18   1:00 p.m.         Denver at Notre Dame                 ESPNU
Mar 24   12:00 p.m.        Maryland at North Carolina           ESPNU
Mar 24   12:00 p.m.        Duke at Georgetown                   ESPN3
Mar 24   2:00 p.m.         Johns Hopkins at Virginia            ESPNU
Mar 31   12:00 p.m.        Virginia at Maryland                 ESPNU

Apr 1    1:00 p.m.         Notre Dame vs. St. John’s            ESPN3
Apr 1    4:00 p.m.         Duke vs. Syracuse                    ESPNU
Apr 1    6:30 p.m.         North Carolina vs. Johns Hopkins     ESPNU
Apr 6    6:00 p.m.*        Albany vs. Johns Hopkins             ESPNU
Apr 7    12:00 p.m.        Virginia at North Carolina           ESPN/ESPN3
Apr 11   5:30 p.m.         Virginia at Johns Hopkins (women’s)  ESPNU
Apr 13   6:00 p.m.         Duke at Virginia                     ESPNU
Apr 14   11:00 a.m.        Rutgers vs. Syracuse                 ESPNU
Apr 14   1:30 p.m.         Hofstra at North Carolina            ESPNU
Apr 14   6:00 p.m.         Maryland at Johns Hopkins            ESPNU
Apr 20   5:00 p.m.         ACC Men’s Semifinal #1               ESPNU
Apr 20   7:30 p.m.         ACC Men’s Semifinal #2               ESPNU
Apr 21   3:00 p.m.         Georgetown at Syracuse               ESPNU
Apr 21   5:30 p.m.         Notre Dame at Villanova              ESPNU
Apr 22   3:00 p.m.         ACC Men’s Championship               ESPNU
Apr 23   7:00 p.m.         ACC Women’s Championship             ESPNU
Apr 27   7:30 p.m.         Virginia vs. Penn                    ESPN3
Apr 27   10:00 p.m.        Duke at Denver                       ESPNU
Apr 28   5:00 p.m.         Syracuse at Notre Dame               ESPNU
Apr 28   7:00 p.m.         Cornell at Princeton                 ESPNU

May 3    4:30 p.m.         Big East Men’s Semifinal #1          ESPNU
May 3    7:00/10:30 p.m.   Big East Men’s Semifinal #2          ESPN3/ESPNU*
TBD      TBD               ECAC Men’s Championship              ESPN3
May 4    5:00 p.m.         Ivy League Men’s Semifinal #1        ESPN3
May 4    8:00 p.m.         Ivy League Men’s Semifinal #2        ESPN3
May 5    12:00 p.m.        Big East Men’s Championship          ESPNU
May 5    2:00 p.m.         Army at Johns Hopkins                ESPNU
May 6    10:00 a.m.        America East Men’s Championship      ESPNU
May 6    12:00 p.m.        Ivy League Men’s Championship        ESPNU

Additionally, for the sixth straight year, ESPN networks will provide exclusive coverage of all 15 games from the NCAA Division I Men’s Lacrosse Championship. Coverage will be in high definition across ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU beginning Saturday, May 12 and concluding with the national title game on Monday, May 28. ESPN3 and ESPN Mobile will also feature select games.

Lacrosse Players MUST Use Their Feet!

Over the weekend I was watching the Cornell vs UVA lacrosse game on ESPNU.  During halftime of the game they had the Warrior Lacrosse pros talking about what they felt is needed for each to play their respective position.  When they came to Ken Clausen, the former All-American defenseman from UVA, he didn’t say that defenseman needed to be huge and powerful to make big hits.  He also didn’t say that a defenseman needed to have stellar stick skills.  Now, undoubtedly, to be a great defenseman some size and aggression helps.  Top notch stick skill are surely necessary as well.  But what Ken Clausen said resonated with me in a big way.  He simply said that to be a successful defenseman, a player needs great footwork.

No matter what position a lacrosse player excels at, he needs to be quick, fast and demonstrate great footwork.  On that same halftime segment, although the other position players (Danowksi and Crotty at Attack, Geoff Snider at Middie and Jesse Schwartzman at Goalie) mentioned other essential skills for their positions, all alluded to the need for having great footwork.

An Attackman must be quick and shifty to beat his defender, find space and get his shot off.  Middies who run up and down the field obviously need great speed and the ability to accelerate quickly but also need to master great footwork skills to be able to dodge.  Goalies need to be quick and light on their feet to stop shots coming at lightning fast speeds and at odd angles.

To this end, enhancing foot speed is a big part of the work I do with my team every practice.  We do spend a great deal of time on drills that work all the fundamental skills but we also try to incorporate footwork drills within everything we do.  We use a lot of cones at practice and we have players at all positions doing a lot of stop and go and cutting drills to increase their foot speed.  We also use speed/agility ladders as part of our conditioning drills.  The speed ladders and the footwork drills we do help our players not only become quicker but also more agile and increase their stamina and endurance.  Another way we help our players to increase their foot speed is to have them run as many drills as possible without their sticks.  This forces them to use their  feet and their speed to position themselves properly rather than rely on the length of their stick.

My players often complain about the amount of footwork drills we do but when the games start, they see almost immediately see the value of doing these footwork drills.  So… my players endlessly hear me and my coaches telling them to “play with their feet!”  It sure worked for Ken Clausen!

NCAA Lax has started – Watch the games on TV to learn!

In my December 20th 2010 post (you can access it by scrolling down), I posted a list of all the NCAA lacrosse games that will be broadcast on the different ESPN channels this Spring.

NCAA lacrosse has now begun!  The first game on ESPN is THIS Saturday (February 19) at noon when Johns Hopkins takes on Towson.  This game can be viewed live on the computer at www.espn3.com. 

THEN, on Sunday ESPN will broadcast live the Duke vs. Notre Dame game (a re-match of last year’s National Championship game!).  A top caliber game to get the season rolling!

I’ve added the entire ESPN Lacrosse TV broadcast schedule to the top of this blog.  The page is named LAX 2011 ON TV. 

As I’ve said time and time again, there is a lot a player can learn by watching top-notch players in action.  Parents: if your player cannot watch while these games are broadcast, set the DVR for them to watch it at a more convenient time.  The guys who play for these NCAA teams started out just like our Chiefs!!

HONOR THE GAME!

Middie (and Attack) Defense

As a former Defenseman I often spend a great deal of my coaching time working with the longpoles.  I am, however, of the strong belief that every position on the field must understand how to play defense.  With particular respect to Middies and Attackmen, scoring is only 50% of their “job”.   The other 50% involves playing DEFENSE!  When the ball is in the opponents’ possession, the Middies must play defense the length of the field.  When the opposing goalie clears the ball, the Attackmen must ride their defenseman all the way to the middle of the field.  Remember the old sports adage: DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS (or at least wins games);  I wholeheartedly agree!

One of my favorite professional lacrosse players is Anthony Kelly.  Anthony played in college at Ohio State and currently plays in the MLL for the Chicago Machine and in the NLL for the Rochester Knighthawks.  Anthony is known as one of the preeminent face-off specialists in lacrosse.  In the video below, Anthony discusses the importance of defense by Middies and demonstrates a number of tips and skills.  If you are a Middie (or an Attackman!), I strongly urge you to watch the video.  Click the arrow in the center of the below video to play it.

For more on playing Defense (all positions) go to my post of September 22, 2010.

Honor The Game!

– Coach B

More on the value of playing other sports

I was reading an interview this morning with Brett Hughes, a former University of Virginia standout and MLL All-Star.  Brett is one of the best longstick defenseman in the game.  In response to the question “How can D-poles looking to go to big time schools get noticed more?“, Brett answered:

Play multiple sports. I brought the thought process of basketball into lacrosse which helped me understand how plays unfolded and allowed me to see what offensive schemes were trying to get accomplished, and football helped me so much with physically playing defense… staying low, being a different type of athlete, and helping me with my overall aggressiveness. And it kept me fresh. I hear of so many kids burning out and I just don’t understand how you can burn yourself out on any sport if you are playing a couple different ones. Lacrosse is my favorite sport, but I absolutely miss football everyday.

Excellent advice!!

Great Post from New England Lax Journal: It’s up to the player

The article in the below link is a great read.  It is written by Bill Daye, the head coach of the Boston Cannons professional lacrosse team.  Coach Daye was an All-American at UNC in the early 1990s.  A lot of what Coach Daye says in the article mirrors what I and the rest of the coaching staff has been telling our players since the first day of practice.   I’d suggest showing it or printing it for your player to read.

Click link to read article: New England Lax Journal: It’s up to the player

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The 11 Commandments of Lacrosse

I added the “11 Commandments of Lacrosse” as a separate page to this blog.  You can click and access it from the link at the top of the blog.  The 11 Commandments is a “must read” for all lacrosse players!  I highly suggest that you print it out for your lacrosse player and tape it on the wall so it gets read over and over!!

Playing Goalie

When you sign your son up for the CHIEFS team for the Spring season, the CHIEFS will enroll your son in the U.S. Lacrosse Foundation (part of your fee to the CHIEFS) [website for U.S. Lacrosse is in the Blogroll on the right side of this webpage].  U.S. Lacrosse  provides a wealth of information about the sport at all levels and you receive the very informative Lacrosse Magazine. 

For those boys who have expressed an interest in playing goalie, take a look at the article and embedded video in the link I recently received from Lacrosse Magazine online (http://www.laxmagazine.com/tips/players/2008-09/081009_scherr_goalies).  Goalie is a tough position as well as an important one and one that is really a fun to play.  It takes some getting used to and some learning a few fundamentals.  I will try and teach as much as I can before the winter games start but for the spring season we will have a good 2 months before we start our competitive season. 

The article in the link and the embedded video provide is very simple to follow and it communicates that basics of playing the goalie position.  Please show it to your son.

– Coach B

The Positions of Lacrosse

A quick note: for those of you visiting this website/blog for the first time, the newest post is always right at the top.  Earlier posts are below with the oldest post at the very bottom.

Some parents of the new players have asked about the different positions in lacrosse and what they require, etc.  Unlike baseball or football which have numerous positions, there are only 4 positions in lacrosse.  Attack, Midfield, Defense and Goalie.  A short description of each position follows:

Attack – Simply put, the Attackman’s responsibility is to score goals.  The Attackman generally restricts his play to the offensive end of the field.  A good Attackman demonstrates excellent stick work with both hands and has quick feet to maneuver around the goal.  A team has three Attackmen on the field during play.

Midfield (Middie) – The Midfielder’s responsibility is to cover the entire field, playing both offense and defense depending upon which team has possession of the ball.   The Midfielder is the key to the transition game, and is often called upon to clear the ball from defense to offense.  A good Midfielder demonstrates good stick work including, throwing, catching and scooping.  Speed and stamina are essential.  Each team should have three midfielders on the field during play.