The fall schedule has clinics every other weekend in Rockville. These small group clinics are limited to 6 goalies. Saturday clinics are 9-11 am so you can go to fall ball games and Sunday clinics are 4-6 pm (daylight savings time) until the time change and then 3-5 pm (eastern standard time). Price is $60 per session or three for $150. Individual lessons also available evenings and weekends. Call for an appointment to clinics or lessons
Summer 2011 - Lake Placid, OC and MLL Championships
August Tournaments - Lake Placid Tournament expanded with the 1st couple of days for HS. We got their Tuesday and enjoyed the increased vending from having them there. Playing with OWU Legends was fun again although we lost too many very close, low scoring games. Going back next year again. Ocean City was very good with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) over 45 team. Great to be with old friends. These two tournaments are two of the best in the country. See all you older players in Florida in January.
MLL Championship Weekend - Wow, Lacrosse in a Hurricane. We were there and the guys played well even with all the rain and wind on Saturday. Casey Powell was amazing both days for Hamilton. On Saturday in their win over Denver his three assists and a goal sparked their win - what a passer. Rogers got hit a lot in goal for Hamilton in the 1st half and Queener played only marginally better in the second for Hamilton. Hamilton was up 6-1 before the Denver defense and goalie (Schwartzman) got going - that was too big a lead to come back from and win. Chesapeake and Boston on Saturday was equally bizarre with Chesapeake up 6-1 in the 1st half and losing late as Boston solved Chesapeake's Garrity (too many flops and block attempts and Boston shooting improved).
2011
Specials
(see order
page)
Book & CD Combo - $ 25
New Hats
- "I'm
a GOALIE"
hats in Navy Blue with Gold lettering or Pink with Purple lettering -
Get Yours Today - $15 plus and tax (tax in MD only)
These were atypical MLL games. Boston got off 49 shots in both of their games with 27 and 30 on goal - those are low totals. Hamilton got off 34 and 38 shots with 22 and 18 on goal and Chesapeake and Denver got off 42 and 27 shots with 15 and 26 on goal. All low totals for MLL. The weather had some to do with that on Saturday and fatigue from Saturday looked like it affected both teams on Sunday (Hamilton more than Boston). Sure was fun to watch.
The big thing I noticed was how hard it is to play good goaltending against the high speed of play and quick release of the pro offenses. Just filling up the goal with the body or flopping on low shots has low payoff. It is very difficult to remain calm and use good technique, but all the good saves were like that and there were a lot of soft looking goals that weren't like that.
Spring 2011 - Wow another Lax Season - Very Exciting
ACC dominants the NCAA Division I Championships. Salisbury wins Division III and Mercyhurst wins Division II - its first NCAA championship in anything - congratulations.
How were the goalies: Wow, not very good goalie play. Where was the Tufts freshman goalie who had 24 saves against Stevenson. How about Duke's goalie - he didn't see the ball well - and Denver's goalie didn't see the ball at all until it hit the back of the net. The big stage is tough on concentration. But Galloway at Syracuse had a great year and deserves to be 1st team All-American. Amato is the real deal at Maryland, I expect him to be even better next year as he gets more stamina and full game concentration.
Tips of the Month: 3 games were won by goalies, 5 games were LOST by goalies. All those losses were because the goalies were watching something other than the ball (mostly the player) and were NOT READY early enough to be effective. Focus on the ball and be ready and you can help your team more.
Why We Don't Call Plays - Lacrosse Strategy" book is progressing. Significant areas are coming together using the "Getting to Blue" style of Lacrosse Goaltending II. Stay tuned for tips and hints from this ground breaking book.
What is "strategy"? In sports, it is the process of setting overall program, season and game goals and objectives, action plans to achieve those goals/objectives, measurements to measure progress and audits/review to assess progress and make adjustments.
In "dynamic" sports (lacrosse, soccer, field hockey, hockey, basketball), strategy involves constructing the program based upon building blocks that stabilize everything except those areas where the team is creative in attacking and responding to opponents. For lacrosse there are a lot of foundation items, but for the team it means building skills. Individual, 2 man, 3 man, 4 man, 5 man, 6 man and 10 man skills. The 5 man, 6 man and 10 man skills are combinations of the individual, 2, 3 and 4 man skills, and they have names such as "motion" offense and "tiger" defense
For novice/youth teams, the keys involve getting consistent passing, catching, running, shooting, facing off, defense, checking and saves, almost all individual skills. Many youth/novice team coaches jump past individual and 2 man skills into "plays" way too soon, so the ball is on the ground more than needed - making the outcome uncertain at best.The critical skills are 2 man and 3 man skills (give and go, pick and roll, dodge and dump, pass and pick away, pass and clear through, mirror, dodge and feed weak side, step off and cut, dictate direction on defense, slide, recover, etc.. They are the foundation for good decisions and dynamic reaction to the opponent. For example, a successful clear is usually a succession of two-on-ones or three-on-twos (2 man and 3 man skills) and a successful ride is a 3 man defensive skill (3 riding 4) or a two 3 man defensive skills 3 on 3 and 3 on 4 on the riding half.
And what most people don't focus on is that goaltending is a team skill. Almost all successful defensive stands occur because the defender keeps the offensive player at a low angle to the goal and puts pressure on the O player's hands so the goalie has the best chance of making the save - a two man skill since there is a collaboration between the keeper and defender for effective play. Similarly, a slide is a three man skill because the defender sliding to help his teammate defend is sliding to take away the top side too so that the O player does not get a good angle to shoot on the keeper - a three man skill.
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Jon Weston