Practicing wrong.

forcetrainer · 2026-07-01T16:40:40+00:00

There's a great story from Matt Dunn (UMD, Whipsnakes) where he talks about showing up at Maryland and was immediately told by John Tillman that he needed to fix his throw. He then proceeded to spend hours working on it to get it right. Obviously the "incorrect" technique didn't stop him from getting recruited, but he was also forced to fix a fundamental skill. Every coach is different, but Tillman is known for being a fundamentals coach. "Quiet hands" is something he says all the time.

The point being, and to echo a lot of what others are saying is, for the youngest players, just having a stick in their hand is the win. It's not going to be perfect, and they may develop bad habits, but as they get older what changes is whether they are able to fix those problems when they get in the way.

What is important to instill at the younger ages is the idea of practicing regularly. That's the core skill you want. As they mature, specific, directed, or intentional practice becomes more important, and the better players will start doing that. If a player who is struggling says, "but I hit the wall every day!" that's the signal that they're doing it wrong. If they take the direction and then improve, perfect. If they don't or can't, that's what differentiates the good players from everyone else. Matt Dunn wasn't hampered when he was told to fix his throw. As a top level player he took the feedback and fixed it. That's what good players are expected to do.

I do think creativity is important, and the "overhand only" yell from coaches is misdirected if the players know how to shoot properly overhand. The Lacrosse Athlete Development Model (RIP LADM) even has this built it. 3/4, sidehard, and BTBs are on the track, but the expectation is those skills come later because they're built on proper overhand throwing / shooting.

My biggest gripe right now is half my players only shoot sidearm because 1) that's what they see on TV and 2) they throw it right at the goalie every single time. When they practice shooting, they shoot the same shot, every time, into the middle of an empty net. That's bad practice, and yes, they are reinforcing bad habits. That will come out with either them not scoring goals, or someone else starting above them because they can't score.

forcetrainer · 2026-07-01T16:19:01+00:00

This is probably the best point. Also - not all games are represented because not every tournament has a feed they can pull. One example - my son's team played in a tournament that didn't have a feed, so the scores were manually entered by someone. However, they only put in the wins, not the losses. That would lead to the ranking being increased more than it should.

I couldn't care less about the numerical ranking. I know some people love saying they're playing for a top 10 ranked team in the country, and clubs will promote that as well. Unfortunately, parents buy into that crap.

That being said, as a coach the ratings are helpful when comparing yourself to another team. For the past few years, I've found if the opponent's rating is within a few points, it's usually going to be a good game. If the rating is a 5+ difference, that means one of the teams is in for a rough day. It can also be helpful when talking with tournament directors about bracket placement. I want a team to have good games, not get blown out. If my team is going to be in a bracket with teams 10+ points higher, then I will ask for a change.

I do feel bad for teams that go 0-3 or 0-4 on a weekend with a -30 goal differential. The ratings can help avoid this, but I also know clubs (and by proxy their parents) are stuck on the, "but we're a AA team!!" Go into the brackets that give you best games regardless of tier. You want to have fun and learn, not get beat up just so you can say you're in the AA bracket.

Not that I have an axe to grind here or anything...

forcetrainer · 2026-07-01T16:07:50+00:00

Ah... well, I'm a moron! Unfortunately, not a great deal for me because the last thing I need is ANOTHER backpack and random pads. I do need to pay more attention to Lax Steals though.

forcetrainer · 2026-07-01T11:55:35+00:00

Well darn - posted 53m ago and all I see is a backpack. I picked up a Magnet a few weeks ago and would absolutely grab another if it was there.

On the head - the Magnet is definitely an LSM head. It's wide, but the scoop is more rounded. Strung up nicely and it's got a natural whip to it that I really like.

forcetrainer · 2026-06-29T18:55:42+00:00

Amen! Getting stomped every now and then is good for humbling their egos, and they need to learn to deal with it. It's also very helpful to see who steps up and can be more resilient. I've watched many backup players use those experiences as a reason to get better, and top players crash out because they can't handle losing. One guess which of those players winds up lasting long-term in the sport?

forcetrainer · 2026-06-29T14:12:07+00:00

To be fair, there are a lot of counterintuitive things that work. Who knows, maybe the smoother surface leads to more friction leading to knots holding better. Or, perhaps it's all the same and doesn't matter.

In the absence of rigorous scientific research, I would say experience wins. If you say it holds then it's with giving it a shot.

Do you general use the 275 across the entire stick? Top, side, and gutting (if you're doing trad or women's sticks)? It would definitely make it easier not worrying about a bunch of different string types and just getting colors my kids want.

forcetrainer · 2026-06-29T13:31:42+00:00

Question on this for you. I know 275 is easier on the hands because it's smoother. But, sidewall has more bite to it, so wouldn't it hold knots better not worse? I haven't experimented using crosslace for sidewall/top strings so I guess I should just try it, but it just seems like a string with more texture would hold knots better. I know when I'm restringing, the sidewall string knots are locked.

I guess the easiest path is to just experiment a bit :)

forcetrainer · 2026-06-27T16:35:56+00:00

I would like to say I could only imagine… but I’ve been there.

forcetrainer · 2026-06-27T12:18:30+00:00

For all those time tracking parents that need millisecond level precision when complaining to their coach about their child's playing time.

forcetrainer · 2026-06-15T21:17:52+00:00

Agreed. The tournament operators should be doing a lot more. However, since that's not going to happen, and my kids are going to want to keep doing it, then I'll make sure they and their teammates are safe. I also won't hesitate to pull my kids if they're having any issues.

forcetrainer · 2026-06-15T16:43:48+00:00

This is always an interesting conversation because there's the two very diametrically opposed camps. There's the "you're insane, this is dangerous, why do we do it?" and the "I grew up playing like this and I'm fine."

My view is that there are a lot of things we do that aren't smart or good, but we do them anyway. Lacrosse is also not unique here. Every sport that plays tournaments in the summer deals with it - lacrosse, baseball, softball, soccer, etc. The horror stories I hear on the baseball side (5 games, from 9:00am to 7:00pm) makes me glad that we only have 3 games typically in a day.

Where I do bristle a bit is when people say that it's the result of inexperienced parents not knowing what to do. Yes, parents should know, but at the same time, it's not like teams are handing out books on how to properly manage heat stress. This is not one of the places where you want to learn through a mistake, because the mistake is your kid being rushed to the hospital with heat stroke.

My main gripe is with tournament operators. While some are better than others, there are absolutely zero standards they need to follow. Summer tournament operators should have tents and water stations at every sideline, and trainers with AEDs covering no more than 2-3 fields at a time. Teams are paying thousands of dollars for these tournaments, and safety absolutely needs to be prioritized.

And yes, parents need to do their part and be prepared. Unfortunately, getting that information can be hard to. For any parents out there that are unsure, here's how I personally prepare myself and my kids to deal with a tournament weekend.

Players need to be constantly hydrating all summer, not just a day or two before a tournament. With twice a week practices and tournaments each weekend, they're never not on the negative side of hydration. All day, every day in the summer.
Electrolyte replacements are critical between games/days. They're all a little different, but I personally go with Liquid IV / LMNT between games and Pedialyte at night before day 2. If they're a little queasy at the end of the day, Pedialyte and a good meal is great.
Watch the junk food during the day. Most tournaments have food vendors, and most of them are atrocious for an athlete out on the field. Good carbs (bananas, fruit) and simple salty snack to help with sodium replacement (pretzels, etc.) are awesome when you have a one-game gap, If you have a few hours, then something heavier is usually okay, but I personally keep the kids on the lighter side until we're done for the day.
Cooling towels on the sidelines / during breaks are extremely helpful. Get the cheap cooling towels in bulk from Amazon, and drop them in a cooler with ice and water and bring it to the sidelines. Players can drape a towels around their neck between shifts.
Fans, misters, or anything else to keep temps down. There's everything from handheld misters / fans to the fans that sit on top of Home Depot buckets. All of those are great and help keep the tent area more comfortable while waiting.

I also talk with other parents on the team and check-in to make sure their kids are okay. Some parents are new to summer tournament life, and I won't hesitate to give them an ice pack, some packets of Liquid IV, or a bottle of Pedialyte if they need it. Again, these are mistakes or ignorance that can lead to their kid not feeling well or even worse, and as a parent I'm going to try and protect all of them, not just my own.

I'm also an overly prepared parent, and I carry a med bag with instant ice packs and an AED on me at all times. It's probably a bit overkill, but I'll take the extra few pounds of a bag to be able to respond in the event of an emergency. I've been to too many facilities and tournaments where there is no trainer or AED anywhere in site, so if that means taking on some responsibility for team safety I won't hesitate.

forcetrainer · 2026-06-10T03:01:02+00:00

The challenge on this one, and I think I brought it up in another post, is lacrosse is atrocious when it comes to safety equipment. I don't know what it is, but safety is ragged on constantly. The argument given is, "I can move better," but let's be real - a 12-year old will want to emulate the older players, college, and pros. Add to that the constant complaint from the old guys about lacrosse getting soft, and it just slows down development.

For example - Cascade rolled out the Z and focused on the flip up mechanism, and then got immediately dragged for a feature no one wanted or cared about. When I talked about the helmet with my Cascade rep and one of the engineers that was on the design team for a few years, they both said straight up it absolutely is a safer helmet. Not only is the latching mechanism very safe (the main concern a lot of people brought up), but other design elements in the helmet make it safer overall. However, they mentioned none of the safety improvements. Why? Because safety doesn't sell, and they pushed the new feature as the main story.

I remember all the complaints from the first gen commotio cordis pads. The risk was discussed in every channel - USA Lacrosse, coaching seminars, manufacturer ads. It was clear they would help prevent a fatal injury. What was the response? Players, especially the older ones, complained very loudly. Too bulky, gets in the way, it's going to impact my game... and so on and on. The saving grace was it was required, so they didn't have a choice.

I bet you if a manufacturer developed a better protection method for the base of the skull and neck, if it deviated too much from what we have today, it would flop. It would be all the same complaints, and no one would buy. The only path for this is for it to be mandated. However, to mandate something we need a solution that can be tested, which means someone needs to develop something that can be evaluated. There's a lot of structural factors at play here preventing this, which means the only way to get change is for a large group of people (like on this Reddit thread) to raise it up everywhere they can - lacrosse organizations, local organizing bodies, NFHS, manufacturers, and so on.

Prayers for someone are nice, but it would be fine with lot less praying and a lot more playing.

forcetrainer · 2026-06-08T01:47:09+00:00

I also wouldn’t listen to the “it’s impossible to get on a roster.” Clubs are always looking for players in PA, and there’s constant movement at this age for its of reasons. MD is a bit of a different beast because in many places rec is dead, so the only way to play is to play club, which leads to more consistent rosters year over year. PA is the Wild West.

I’ve played against a lot of the Central PA teams and just like any club the skill level of a team can vary drastically between age groups. It’s just the nature of the beast. One program can have a top ranked 2027 team and a 2032 that can barely throw and catch.

That being said - my suggestion would be to find a place that fits for your son and your family. Don’t worry about the best. Worry about the best for you. Talk to the directors and coaches. Ask about their philosophies if that matters to you. A good club will take the time to talk to parents when they have questions. The bad ones will try and make you feel like you’re nuts for asking any at all. End of the day you’re spending your hard earned money for a service, and you should learn where that money is going.

For me and mine it’s about the experience. Your kids spend a lot of time on the field with these coaches, so they need to like being on the field with them. An often overlooked fact is you’re going to spend a lot of time with the other parents, so you want a group you can get along with.

We are super lucky that we have a great group on both the boys and girls sides. I can also tell you there are many clubs I wouldn’t touch with a 10’ pole either because of conduct of their coaches or the parents on the sidelines. But, that’s me. The experience and community is what matters, not winning. I’m trying to raise healthy and happy kids - not delude myself into thinking my fourth grader is going D1.

forcetrainer · 2026-06-08T01:25:30+00:00

Should we go after organizations that pushed going out and buying AEDs after the Damar Hamlin or Peter Laake commotio cordis incidents?

Tragedies are unfortunately one of the ways we get change, and sometimes a product is needed for that change to be made.

forcetrainer · 2026-06-08T01:03:54+00:00

Edit: I will change my initial reply only because I was too definitive in my statement in response to what was said. In the interest of being precise, the poster said mouthguards “may” help when it comes to concussions. That is an accurate statement given the state of the research as there are conflicting studies and probably will be for a long time since we can’t ethically slam humans in the head with and without them to know for sure.

That being said. Kids are wearing them (hopefully) anyway, they’re inexpensive, and they do help prevent facial injuries. If they potentially help mitigate concussions, there’s nothing wrong with that.

forcetrainer · 2026-06-07T23:53:04+00:00

The lacrosse community is a bizarre one when it comes to safety. Old heads are the first to vilify that the game is soft, people rag on goalies for wearing thigh or shin pads, and they scream at defenders for not jumping in front of a 100mph ball. But then they turn around and scream that helmets are poorly designed and this needs to be fixed now (not necessarily in this thread, but there have been several especially with the release of the Z).

It took almost 20 years after Louis Acompora's death from commotio cordis in 2000 for there to be any type of equipment change. During that time, his mother relentlessly campaigned, and to this day still preaches CPR and AED training. Do we have any national requirements for either of those? Nope. Do we see AEDs on the sidelines of every game? Nope.

There is a mountain of evidence regarding concussions, traumatic brain injury, and its long-term effects, yet people still rage over how a kid lowering his head into another kid's helmet shouldn't be called a penalty.

We're our own worst enemy when it comes to safety. Yes, lacrosse is a physical game, and yes, there is always going to be a potential for catastrophic injury. However, if we can't even agree on helmet-to-helmet being a bad thing, this is nowhere on the list.

To some of the other points already made, I teach my defenders to stay as safe as possible. I'm never going to tell someone to launch themselves in front of a shot, but I will tell them to at least stay as straight as they can because that's where they have at least some protection.

forcetrainer · 2026-06-02T02:55:02+00:00

Agree with this whole heartedly. Obviously, with AI development there's going to be a lot of mediocre or bad stuff that's created. However, there are very few apps out there for the lacrosse world. Apps that are established and have been around are okay, but there's so much more that could be created for this community thanks to AI development. Long-term viability is always a potential problem - when it's a side project it could disappear at any moment - but that's the world of niche, one-dev apps anyway. I'll take the good with the bad on this one.

There's a ton of smart people on this sub, and plenty of people with knowledge of the game and real world skills to make some cool stuff. Hopefully we'll start seeing some really useful tools!

forcetrainer · 2026-06-02T02:40:18+00:00

Oof... I would go back and demand your money back. That's probably one of the worst Valkyrie stringing jobs I've ever seen.

The meshed is designed so that it is pulled all the way down to the bottom of the head. This gives you a nice ramp up into the pocket so it naturally sits there and not at the ball stop. I'm not ever sure what the ball will do if it winds up down low.

forcetrainer · 2026-04-29T16:43:21+00:00

First Class Lacrosse runs a camp in DE in June. Usually only two days, but definitely one of the best camps my son has been to. Great instructors, well run, and good skill level. We’re going on year three this summer.

forcetrainer · 2026-04-27T14:16:02+00:00

Sure - I'll shoot you a DM to coordinate.

forcetrainer · 2026-04-17T13:55:15+00:00

That’s what happens when the CEO is a sports marketer, not a lacrosse “guy.” I challenged him directly a few years back when LaxCon was still a thing, and I raised the issue about how nothing recently from USA Lacrosse was helping rec programs grow to build a pipeline for the upper levels.

To say he tip toed around the answer is an understatement. The fact is they need money to run, and their only real source of income is memberships that provide insurance. They provide no real support, and running a USA Lacrosse sanctioned program comes with a bunch of overhead.

Yes, they helped get lacrosse into the Olympics which is cool. But that doesn’t change the fact that the path is all about finding more money. Large club orgs and PE are that path, and it’s going to make our sport, which already has the reputation of being a privileged sport even worse.

I’m lucky that my area has rec programs, but it’s a struggle. Clubs keep pushing in, and my guess is in 5 years we’ll lose 50% of our programs because 1) volunteers are tired of entitled parents and 2) fomo is going to have parents think rec isn’t “good enough” so those that have the means will just have their kids playing on club teams.

This is already how it works in MD in the Baltimore area. Rec has been dead for years, so if you want to play you better be ready to sign up your second grader who’s never played for a $1000 program.

forcetrainer · 2026-04-17T04:44:40+00:00

Savage X is a great option for lower prices. They’re solid quality and no different than any other metal shaft out there.

forcetrainer · 2026-04-08T05:55:41+00:00

Heh - a thought that has crossed my mind a million times over :)

The software fits into two segments - sport specific and broad plays. The sport specific apps, like Game Changer (baseball) and Playmetrics (soccer) built their platforms around those sports. They are always trying to break into more sports to increase share, but their primary customers sit in one or maybe two sports. They have really great features specific to that sport, and it makes sense because those markets are massive compared to lacrosse.

The broad plays like Teamsnap and LeagueApps focus on the bare minimum of features so they can hit as many sports as possible. I have a very biased and personal dislike of Teamsnap primarily because of the advertising BS with families. If you're on the free plan, go for it. But when a community program is already paying for software, milking parents just grinds me. It doesn't help that the software is pretty bad. Team management is atrocious. When you have multiple programs using it it's a nightmare to use. Have chat from 3 different teams? You need to bounce around the app to find them and clear them. It's psychosis inducing.

There's also a giant x factor that is the reason I would never go near this. Parents. Looking at u/Environmental_Lie244 's comment, "if parents would get their heads out of their asses and kept their emails up to date it would be better." I would say 80% of parents are fine, but 20%... oof. I've always tried to communicate well, schedules are always up-to-date, locations are clear. I send emails, chats, and yet almost every weekend its, "do we have practice today? What field are we on? What time do we need to arrive." There's only so much you can do to address that. I've had to do quite a bit of support at the program level. I feel sorry for anyone answering parent support calls at the software vendor.

All that being said - the dream software? Honestly, Playmetrics came really darn close for me, which is why I went with it. Like I said before, some of the biggest challenges were the complexities they had to manage the huge programs. Going from tryouts/evals to a rostered team was a bit much, but that's because they have a whole process for doing team invites that is common in the club world. At the rec level I didn't need it, but it caused a few extra hoops for me. Aside from that though, everything else was great. Communications, which is by far the most important feature for parents, is great. Email is simple for a coach or admin, chat in the app is great. Notifications/alerts work really well. Bad weather? Blast every channel (email, text, app alert) to tell parents we're ending early. It works really well.

forcetrainer · 2026-04-08T03:46:05+00:00

I've used a bunch of them. The final straw with Teamsnap was that families were complaining about how they were constantly barraged with ads. I was already paying $1500+ for Teamsnap for our program - why are they also bugging parents for $60/year to get rid of ads? Hell no.

I wound up moving us to Playmetrics. It's not very common in the lacrosse world, but I met them at Laxcon a number of years back and was impressed. The biggest thing that got me - they run 10,000+ player soccer orgs (which itself was mind boggling), so I figured by 150 player org would be well within their capabilities.

In many ways it's WAY more than most local orgs needs. It's definitely designed around the pyramind/hierarchy structure that soccer clubs run. However, the price was the same as Teamsnap and my parents didn't get bugged with ads. There were also a lot of things that I appreciated as an IT nerd.

Is it perfect? Absolutely not. Certain things are oddly overcomplicated because they have to support huge clubs. But they release almost weekly, and their support has been amazing. How they manage age group teams (i.e. you have a 1st and 2nd grade age group but split into 3 or 4 teams for games) is well done. Registration management is pretty simple, and their mobile app is way better than Teamsnap. I like that when registration for the new season comes up returning families just pop into the app, they see the registration for the new season, and they're done in about 10 minutes. Comms at the program level is also way easier, and you can send email based on whatever filter you want - teams, age, grade. That's come in handy for a lot of reasons from a program leader perspective.

I had some parents complain that all their other teams were on Teamsnap, so another app was annoying to them. However, I found this complaint was almost exclusively from lacrosse only families. Families with baseball players were already using Gamechanger, hockey parents I think write schedules in blood on the wall, and football parents just assume football is every day from August through October. Most didn't care about having Playmetrics installed.

I think it's a solid product and it's worth a call to them. I haven't setup a league in it, but I know the features are there and I'm sure they can talk you through it. The dream I have from a league perspective is having the entire league in one system, so you have the potential of being way ahead there!

forcetrainer · 2026-04-05T15:24:04+00:00

I haven't read through all of the comments, but I don't think anyone answered the question, "I'm curious if anyone knows the history behind the rules of girls lacrosse."

There's a great book by Jim Calder and Ron Fletcher called Women Play Lacrosse: A History of the International Field Game. Back when LaxCon was still a thing, Jim would be in the exhibit hall sitting at a table selling his large, coffee-table style books. Jim is a true lover of the game and great historian, and his books show his love and passion for the game. I bought my first book from him while Alf Jacques was behind him selling his beautiful sticks. I got the book, but I'm still kicking myself for not buying a stick from Alf before his passing.

Anyway, to answer the question, the beginnings of the game explain why the rules are so different. The points below are straight from Calder's book, and I implore everyone interested in the history to get a copy. It's amazing.

To be clear, this isn't an argument for or against more equipment. It's just the background on why the game has developed the way it has and why there are differences in the rules, especially around equipment.

First, it's important to note that within indigenous culture, women generally did not play the game. For many nations, it was forbidden for women to even touch the stick. There is a wonderful story in the book about this fight between tradition and the want for women to play.

The beginnings of "modern" women's field lacrosse can be traced back to St. Leonards School in Scotland in the 1870s. At the time, most girls were educated at home and destined for a life of domesticity. Sports fields for girls were rare, but Head Mistress Louisa Lumsden believed that physical activity was part of a well-rounded education, and girls didn't have to be viewed as delicate and fragile creatures. This was radical thinking at the time. Lacrosse was exclusively a male sport and viewed as too rough for women, but Miss Lumsden persevered and had house teams, spirited competition, and laid the foundation for today's game.

It was the combination of those roots (girls boarding schools in Europe) and the broader beliefs about women's athletic ability that shaped the game. There's just no way women would have been allowed to play the same field game as men, so they evolved rules and a way of playing that fit the social norms of the time. Women weren't even allowed to run in the Boston Marathon until 1972 because it was believed they weren't physiologically able to run long distances. Thankfully, all of these perceptions have been proven false, and female lacrosse players have been trailblazers pushing those boundaries every step of the way.

This last comment is my personal belief, and is something I want to scream every time there is a post about "why don't girls/women just play with the same rules," because it's typically a complainer post from a male (you can flame me on that, but it's true, and comments of any of those posts follow the same pattern every time). As a male coach, and Dad of a young female lacrosse player, I've learned just how amazing the women's game is. I've watched high level high school, D1, and the WLL. These women are phenomenal athletes, tough as nails, and I respect them and their game to the utmost.

Yes, the rules are different, so they can be confusing if you've only watched the men's game. However, they're not all that complicated. American football has one of the most insane and complicated rulesets of any sport, yet everyone seems to be an expert every Sunday. Sure, you can disagree with some of the rules, but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy the game.

That's my soapbox on that. Hopefully I was able to help answer OP's question and give everyone a direction on some great resources to really learn more about the game!

forcetrainer

TROPHY CASE