Breaking out of B team cycle
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Anonymous
| This was us on BLC orange in 3rd grade. There was a clique on blue that we could never get into, even though my dd was equally skilled. We found a club that needed her for 4th and worked on her skills until she was a standout, BLC was calling us to try out for blue a year or two later. She needs to play more lacrosse than any of her peers, wallball, clinics, extra time on rec teams, just have a stick in her hand all the time. BTW now we're in high school and none of this matters |
Anonymous
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Stick skills are definitely great. The generically prescribed "wall ball" is an ok idea, but you really want the the kid to be doing as game like practice as possible.
Find an actual wall, not a rebounder. Have her moving laterally to pass and catch on the move. The farther away from the wall the better, pass the ball hard, catch hard passes. If you can get out and throw with her (you can use a baseball/softball glove if needed) that's great too. Kids aren't really allowed, stupidly, to get together and play for fun. But that's what will make the biggest difference. Having fun, playing with friends/teammates. You can go to a tennis court and do pick up with tennis balls or a swax lax ball. You don't have to get a coach to help with speed. Time the kid running a sprint. It can be the flying 10 yard sprint, or just do a 40 and time it. Rest 3 minutes. Do it again, time it. If the time drops off, stop. Come back in two days. Do that 3 times a week, for 3 months. Your kid will be faster. You'll save hundreds and hundreds of dollars. |
Anonymous
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I couldn't disagree more about not having a speed and agility coach.
it's not just to go faster, it's also injury prevention and footwork. Stick skills mean nothing if you can't run past anyone, or create separation. If you practice running sprints and your kids form is horrible, they wont get quicker. If your kid wants to move from the B team you are going to have to put the extra effort and money in for outside coaching. Lacrosse in this area is super competitive and sadly that means additional support outside of just practice. |
Anonymous
Most people don't need form work, they need to train the body to move faster. You won't get injured as a 12yo sprinting. Speed and agility are two totally separate frameworks, footwork is not a speed thing. Dancing around cones is a fine, rudimentary, level tasks to improve agility. But if you're not incorporating decision making you're just rehearsing. |
Anonymous
| The fastest athletes typically remain the fastest due to genetics influencing their maximum potential, although most people’s progress toward that ceiling depends more on their efforts. Improving speed takes years, while stickwork can advance much more rapidly with consistent practice. If this is a player aiming to make an A team soon—perhaps this summer—they should focus on actions that offer the quickest return on investment, which would be stickwork. |
Anonymous
The form not fixed before 12 will lead to injury later. You do you, but I have been lucky enough to witness some success in the sport and the big differentiator is always speed. There is a reason why every tryout at every level starts with a run test. |
Anonymous
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If it makes you feel any better, my daughter was straight B teams until she tried out for Capital and made blue. She tried out the first time in fourth grade after moving gear and playing one season in rec. We didn’t do anything crazy, like get a personal trainer or strength and conditioning coach. We did spend a little on some one-on-one lessons (a lot more in high school though). However, never more than once a month when the weather was warm. The biggest thing we did. was watch her go through puberty. She is now a division, one lacrosse player, while many others that were in the same club, and on the A-Team in middle school are either not playing or at a lower level. There’s actually more opportunities with boys to do this since there are so many more teams, and moving around is the norm.
Your child will rise to the level, more or less, where they should be at. If I was to recommend anything, it is one on one position specific coaching lessons. Not only did they get better with that type of attention, but it is its own CrossFit workout. |
Anonymous
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Its 3rd grade, relax, and make sure she enjoys the game. Im terms of improvement here are my thoughts:
1. Wall ball and lots of it. 2. Find local track program to run in the spring/summer. 3. When she is gets older (like 5-6th grade) find a good private trainer that can teach the nuances of each position. |
Anonymous
| It really doesn’t matter what team she’s on until maybe 6th grade. You’ll see that the 3rd grade stars peter out by 7th and vice versa. The best thing to do is play on a rebounder and do a ton of reps each day. |
Anonymous
I agree with this. If I could do it all over again I would have invested in something with a more wall-like bounce than the standard trampoline-style rebounder. Those are more expensive but worth the investment if she sticks with it. |
Anonymous
| A few things from your post stood out to me. 1. Tell the club that if you pay the same as the players on the A team you expect the same level of coaching. Point out what you see comparatively. 2. If you aren't ready to commute, then you aren't ready for real travel sports, which is OK, just don't be bothered that your kid is on the B team. 3. Consider your expectations. Two clubs in two years for a 2nd/3rd grader is a lot. Maybe you need to be happy where you are at. Her level of play now is by no means indicative of her level of play in high school. For now, you want her to want to play, not play so much that she burns out. A teams probably play more than B teams. 4. What doe she do on her own to get better vice expecting it to all be learned during practice? |
Anonymous
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My daughter started out on Blc Orange and worked her way up to Blc blue.
If your daughter is exceptionally athletic, she will make a blue team even if her stick skills are behind because you can always improve your stick skills. You are either born with speed and athleticism or you are not. Other than that, she will look like every other girl on the field and it’s hard to stand out unless you have a connection to the Coach (i.e. You are personally friends with the coach or the kids go to the same school or your children are friends). Put in the time with coaching, clinics, wall ball and sixes events, as much as you can. But they will come a point where your daughter burns out if you do too much at this age and then they will want to play softball. Play more than one sport. Gives them a mental break. |
Anonymous
Your kid must have had insanely shitty form then, because almost no 12yo really needs help with that. |
Anonymous
Your kid must have a really shitty father, who isn't smart enough to take good advice from someone who has been through it. Lacrosse is called the fastest sport on turf not the most "stick skilled" sport on turf. Good luck getting off the B team if you fail the run test...... |
Anonymous
You should stop drinking, it's too early for that. |