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041 - Learning Lacrosse Leadership w/ Jack Hannah
155 Plays16 days ago
The best player ON your team is not always the best leader FOR your team – a lesson professional lacrosse player Jack Hannah learned firsthand during his journey from All-American midfielder to team captain at the highest levels of the sport.
In this episode, Jack shares his unique perspective on leadership, drawing from his experience captaining his team in college and running with the PLL Waterdogs and NLL Las Vegas Desert Dogs. We explore what true leadership looks like when the stakes are highest and egos are biggest, and why the qualities that make someone a dominant player often differ from those that make them an effective captain.
Jack and Tex also do not hold back when discussing the critical issues they believes are stunting lacrosse's growth and development.
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#LacrosseLeadership #JackHannah #ProfessionalLacrosse #SportsLeadership #YouthLacrosse #TeamCaptain #PremierLacrosseLeague #LacrosseCoaching #NationalLacrosseLeague #LacrosseDevelopment #PLL #NLL
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Transcript
Leadership and Adversity
00:00:00
Speaker
you know, you say learning lesson, but it's not really like one lesson. No, no, no. It's like kind of who you are and like how you handle things, how you handle adversity, how you handle those situations, because there's so much more pressure and stress as you and the captain of like, yeah, when I was younger and we get a bad call, yeah, i can go on the sideline and be like, what the hell, man?
00:00:16
Speaker
But like when you are the leader of the ship, Everybody sees that. Everybody has an impact of that. And it was something I was bad at because I didn't realize how much of an impact my emotions, my body language, my even just the tone, not even what you're saying all the time, but the tone. Right. And it's like there's a very it's a very small line sometimes. Yeah. And that was one of the biggest learning lessons for me is like tone, all that stuff. Right. There's a lot that
Introduction to 'Captains and Coaches' Podcast
00:00:39
Speaker
goes into it. Welcome to the captains and coaches podcast. We explore the art the science of leadership through the lens of athletics and beyond.
00:00:46
Speaker
I'm Eros Tex McQuilkin and today I'm thrilled to sit down with Jack Hanna, a dynamic professional lacrosse player who's making waves at both the premier lacrosse league with the water dogs and the indoor national lacrosse league with the Las Vegas Desert Dogs.
00:01:00
Speaker
Jack's resume speaks for itself as a two-time All-American at the University of Denver, former team captain, and Tawarton Award nominee who successfully transitioned his leadership and play from the college to the pros. In our conversation, we deep dive into what it really means to be captain of the team at lacrosse's highest level.
00:01:20
Speaker
We explore the critical
Jack Hanna's Lacrosse Highlights
00:01:21
Speaker
issues Jack believes are holding back the sport's growth and unpack his innovative approach to developing the next generation of players through his work as founder and head coach at the La Crosse Den in Denver, Colorado.
00:01:35
Speaker
If you're watching on the YouTubes, please forgive me. This was a wonderful conversation that turned into an impromptu podcast with Jack. And to make up for the poor camera angles, I'm going to be throwing in Jack highlights, just being awesome on the field.
00:01:49
Speaker
With that, let's hand it off to Jack who helps us. Raise the game. Ready, ready, and break.
Journey from Cincinnati to Denver
00:01:54
Speaker
I lucked into this conversation. So hanging out at the the Pivotal Sports Performance in Parker, Colorado.
00:02:02
Speaker
And there's a number of professional athletes that train out of here. So then you were coming in for just some training some work. I was like, I'll hang out. I'll meet this guy. And then we had a 45-minute talk, just talk and shop.
00:02:15
Speaker
Talking ball. Heck yeah. Love talking ball. And there's a lot I wrote down during our conversation that I want to i want to share with the world. Fantastic. Let's do it. You got ah a lot to to share. So give us a quick overview of your experience.
00:02:30
Speaker
So traveling from Cincinnati, Denver, and from Denver into the world of professional sports. Yeah, so I mean, i grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio, huge sports town.
00:02:41
Speaker
ah got you know, I'm ah ah one of my three brothers and my younger brother and older brother. And, you know, I grew up in the world of sports, it's all I know. And, um you know, I played a little bit of everything growing up, fell in love with lacrosse.
00:02:55
Speaker
My connection to Denver was my so my cousin, who's ah he's a cousin but he's a lot older than the me, um and he played lacrosse at Denver as well. and He was kind of the guy that really put a stick in our hands for the first time and made it seem really cool to me.
00:03:08
Speaker
Saw a couple of his games, like real little, like you know I was like third, fourth grade, so as I remember like seeing the sideline, you never remember a goal, right? but you remember staring at all the players and being blown away and loving it. And then um I was fortunate enough to get recruited out to Denver, make my way out here and, um you know, had to battle at first, you know, learn, learn how to be a good player and was a part of a phenomenal program that really helped me become who I am today. And then,
00:03:33
Speaker
um Yeah, and I've luckily been able to kind of step into the pro circuit and the coaching and all that stuff. And, know, couldn't be having more fun doing it. And you're
College Career and Growth at University of Denver
00:03:41
Speaker
a 2022 graduate. Yep. And were you part of the national championship team? When was that for Denver?
00:03:46
Speaker
That was 2015. So I got there in 2017. Well, 2017, 2018. But, yeah, that it was we still had guys that had been around for the national championship when I was younger.
00:03:57
Speaker
um But, yeah, and since then, nothing. So, yeah, tough, tough championship to win. You're not wrong. Yep. So it truly means something. And you had two coaches in your time there. Uh, no. So I just had, I just had coach Tierney, the coach Tierney, the year after I graduated to 2023 was coach T's last year, okay which was with a couple of my roommates and guys I live with and played with. So like,
00:04:20
Speaker
You know,
Leadership and Communication as a Captain
00:04:21
Speaker
which is still cool here with Coach T was like, I was still kind of connected to the program when I was playing pro and I was a rookie, i'd come back to practice, get some reps, things like that. So like was still around, but that was Coach tea's last year. And then Matt Brown stepped in um and he's been killing it.
00:04:35
Speaker
Yeah. That's great, man. And you mentioned a few things that you learned from each coach that I do want to take the time to highlight. And what I love is you're coaching now. Yeah. So you're playing and coaching.
00:04:48
Speaker
And I want to highlight a couple of things. I call it entry level leadership. So the first time that a ah student athlete takes on the responsibility of team captain, And the weight and the spark and the realization of, oh, man, yeah there are levels to communication. There are levels to this game.
00:05:04
Speaker
And then there's also that entry level leadership the first year that you coach because you realize communicating to especially kids that are picking up the stick for the first time, like, oh, man.
00:05:14
Speaker
Maybe that's a little bit different than talking to my freshman teammate who's been playing for X amount of years. Absolutely. So spending time and that's most connected to to Denver that first year as team captain.
Emotional Control in Leadership
00:05:28
Speaker
Yes. So it was hard, right? Because and i like we talked about a little bit earlier, but just for kind of some background and understanding kind of who I am is I was a very, very fiery player.
00:05:39
Speaker
a lot of emotion behind what I was doing. You know, I, you know, I liked hitting guys. I like getting hit. Like, it's like, it was part of me. Like I loved, you know, getting in the first hit of the game to get into the game. Right. And I like to play kind of like, you know, seeing red a lot of the time and, and being like really kind of driven by your competitive fire.
00:05:55
Speaker
um And that's who I was and it worked for a long time. And it helped me when I was, you know, the last guy in the depth chart as a freshman. And I was able to turn that around and start being a player by my sophomore, junior year. And then it was come around to my fifth year. And the important aspect of this as well is we're coming off of three years of having a captain in Danny Logan, who is, you know, he's one of best lacrosse players in the world, probably the best defensive midfielder in the world, um possibly all the time. But he also, you know, one thing no one really knew about him was how good of a captain he was. And, know,
00:06:26
Speaker
you know, all things that come included in that when it comes to off the field, you know, sometimes issues or benefits or whatever it may be, like the organization aspect but aspect of that with controlling the team and and controlling the culture and making sure everyone's having fun and and doing it the way that pioneers do it, right? And kind of being able to like,
00:06:45
Speaker
you know, be a good guide for the young guys moving forward. And Danny was really good at that, but he was also really, really good at managing the coaches and talking about the players concerns and how to voice those concerns. And, you know, in ways that make a difference for us as players to where your teammates go, okay, like he can help us out when it comes to the coaches and things like that. Now I saw that taking place.
00:07:09
Speaker
And once I was in that position, i was not nearly as good as ah ah good at it as Danny was. so And, you know, like you can say good or bad when being a captain. It's like hard, right? It's a little subjective.
Lessons from Coach Tierney
00:07:21
Speaker
um But at the same time, like there is a lot to it that's very important that I was missing on because I was being the same guy was when I was, you know, quote unquote, doing my role within the team of, you know, being an offensive player.
00:07:34
Speaker
And I was only preparing myself for the game. And it was the learning process of helping prepare all 60 guys for the game and then having other stress and organization on your plate when it comes to being a great captain. And it was one thing that we never really realized how good of a job Danny was doing of it.
00:07:52
Speaker
Um, you know, and it was one of those things where my personality came through and, you know, coach Tierney told me, he's like, you would have been a phenomenal captain for me 1995. Yeah. You know, and it's like, sometimes that feels like a positive thing. You're like, oh, heck yeah. Like I'm tough. You know, i like, you know, like being excited and fired up all the time, but also it also hurt too. You know, I'm like, oh goodness. Like I'm, you know, this is the first time in the last couple of years within this team where we're really telling me something that I'm really bad at.
00:08:19
Speaker
You know, it's like, I got a lot of those things out of the way when I was younger, I learned a lot of the skills and the IQ things in the field. it's like, I had a lot of those fingers out and it was like, all of a sudden when I'm at my most confident and most,
00:08:30
Speaker
under control feeling on the field i felt the least control i've ever had as a leader as you know mentor to younger guys but also like i would say i had a lot it was hard for me because danny was erected a captain when he was younger so had that time to learn what it's like to be a captain and be a leader to guys that were also your best friends and still are your best friends that are on the same playing field and level as you, right? It's a quote unquote level. Like, you know, we were always big and adamant about freshmen. Everyone gets treated the same and that's true, but it's also like, you know, lack of experience, lack of experience. Like there's some things when you're a freshman, it's just like, yeah, keep your mouth shut. You need to learn and know how we do things. And that's part of all teams and organizations, right? But the ability to do that
00:09:17
Speaker
across the whole team and continue to be yourself on the field and continue to hold a positive relationship and a good mentality with the coaches, like proved to me to be a heck of a lot more difficult.
00:09:31
Speaker
and than I actually ever really thought it was gonna be. I thought I could
College vs. Professional Lacrosse
00:09:34
Speaker
just be myself, lead by example, guys are gonna follow, obviously. like you know At the time too, like it's a selfish thought, but it's also, yeah, i'm a good player. Why wouldn't they do what I'm doing?
00:09:43
Speaker
right it's like I would get so mad at guys because I'm like, hey, offensive guys, like we shot like junk last game. I'm out here an hour before practice and no one's with me. you know And it was it never felt like a bad message sometimes because you know, like that had been said to me before, but I never thought about, um, I guess you could say like, not even just tone, but like, you know, what are you taking into account of those other guys as you're pushing them towards doing those things? You you know, it's like that all of a sudden having 60 guys, not only just their personality, but their lives, everything that's going on in their lives.
00:10:21
Speaker
Like, there's just so much to take into account that it was such a learn, like, you know, you say learning lesson, but it's not really like one lesson. No, no, no. It's like kind of who you are and like how you handle things, how you handle adversity, how you handle those situations, because there's so much more pressure and stress as you on the captain of like, yeah, when I was younger and we get a bad call, yeah, i can go on the sideline and be like, what the hell, man?
00:10:41
Speaker
And, ah you know, you can be all mad about it or whatever it may be. Or it's like, I can miss a shot and, you know, say stuff under my breath to myself and get pissed. And it's like, but like when you are the leader of the ship,
00:10:52
Speaker
everybody sees that everybody has an impact of that and it was something i was bad at because i didn't realize how much of an impact my emotions my body language my even just the tone not even what you're saying all the time but the tone like you can say something really mean to somebody in a tone yeah where it's like that's going to motivate that guy or you can say it in a tone to where he's like dude this guy doesn't care about me like he you know he's just this guy's just yelling at me now because i'm making mistakes right and it's like there's a very it's a very small line sometimes Yeah. And that was one of the biggest learning lessons for me is like tone, all that stuff, right? There's a lot that goes into it. Yeah. And you got find how to lead 60 different guys. Yeah. But that it takes reps.
00:11:29
Speaker
And I mean, if it's one kid a day, that's 60 days, that's still a lifetime. 100%. And a long time for a leader. Absolutely. And then that 60 days, it doesn't even start day one.
00:11:40
Speaker
Yeah. It creates the where you were doing what you're doing and you had a realization and an actualization of okay, this is different.
Team Dynamics and Relationships
00:11:49
Speaker
Why are they not, I'm leading, why are they not following?
00:11:53
Speaker
100%. it was, you know, well, it's like, honestly, things that Coach Tierney would talk to me about a lot. And it's, I'm actually going we can flip this forward for the the point here too. is So currently right now, Coach Tierney is my professional coach.
00:12:06
Speaker
Professional lacrosse is a very different environment from any NCAA sport or team sport where you're able to practice five days a week, right? So... and And this is like the most impressive thing that Coach T's ever done in my eyes is like when I was a freshman, it's Bill Tierney.
00:12:21
Speaker
And I'm like, this guy's the best lacrosse coach of all time. It's so easy to listen to that. It's so easy to understand. Like everything he says holds so much weight and it and it makes such a big difference. And it's like it's the easiest thing in the world to listen to. right Because you have so much respect for him right out of the gate.
00:12:37
Speaker
Mm hmm. And then now, pro, we had a horrible season last year. We lost eight games by a goal. We had finished with two wins in the season. One of the worst seasons in the PLL's history, probably.
00:12:49
Speaker
um Maybe, i don't know. Maybe someone's done a little bit worse, but pretty bad. And we've been to the championship the last two years, won it my rookie year. So we were one of the best teams in the league. Everything drops off. And, you know, a lot of things that went into place for that. But the lesson that Coach T taught me was he was so upset because he was like, I didn't get to know the guys.
00:13:10
Speaker
And he goes, and it made a big impact. Like for him, he had a rule in college and he told me about this when I was a senior. And he, this was one of the main things he taught me early when I was a captain too. He's just like, he's like, it's gonna be different for you. But he's like, for me, he goes, if I ever get on somebody, he goes, you can't let it like just simmer.
00:13:28
Speaker
So he's like, if I get on somebody really, really hard, he goes, I have a 24 hour rule to where you give hug. you know, quote unquote hug, that could be compliment. That could be firing up a little bit. Close the loop on that. Exactly. Yeah. And it's like,
Coaching Youth and Leadership Development
00:13:41
Speaker
that made a big difference for me when it came into that stuff, but knowing the difference in his ability to be a great coach from,
00:13:48
Speaker
Well, first off, from last season of pro to now and how much more confident everybody is in him understanding you as a player, just from him having more phone calls and him having more conversations and him understanding each guy on an individual level better has made a really big difference in the way everyone feels about the way things are going.
00:14:05
Speaker
Where last year, it's not like no one trusts Bill Tierney, right? We're all like, we know he's you know he invented the slide. Like this guy's one of the best minds in lacrosse, but it's he didn't know the pro game yet. And he'd he'd be the first guy to tell you that.
00:14:16
Speaker
But again, he went from, we repped out everything under the sun in college. It's like, okay, if this is what this team does. These are the 10 more situations that can happen. We're going to know exactly what we need to do in those situations.
00:14:27
Speaker
And then we're going to know exactly what we need, we are going to do too. Right? So it's like, we know us really well. We know them really well. And we know worst case Ontario really well. Right? When you go to pro lacrosse, you're practicing, you know, a couple, like an hour a week and you have a little training camp.
00:14:40
Speaker
So to him, he had to sit back and it was like the first couple of games I could tell he didn't know what to do. And, you know, I had conversation with him and I would talk to him for two hours on Mondays, trying to teach him about guys, tell him about guys. What do I see in this guy? What do I see in that guy? like What's his personality like?
00:14:54
Speaker
and And it was his biggest issue is he was like, I feel like I can't become a good enough coach as fast as I want to, because I don't have five days this week to get to know every single one of these guys. And then it makes it really hard with how to push on each guy's buttons and make them better and make them the best version of themselves.
00:15:10
Speaker
without that communication and understanding that every single guy is really hard to do. So like circling back to that and the lesson I've learned from watching him in the pro circuit, that was something that I never knew going in as a captain.
00:15:23
Speaker
It's like, I knew everybody. but did I know how to get the best out of everybody? And that was something that I didn't know, right? Like I'm a big believer in like, when I've met the freshmen, I'm like, I'm gonna make this kid my friend.
00:15:35
Speaker
Like I'm gonna become friends with him. I wanna figure out his sense of humor. wanna figure out what video games he likes. I wanna figure out what all the sports he played growing up. And it's like, about the more I know about this guy, the better he'll get along with me, the happier he'll be here and the harder he'll work and it'll benefit all of us.
00:15:49
Speaker
But when you were a captain and the thing that Danny did that I never realized is he wasn't always just becoming best buds with the freshmen. he was learning about the type of person they are and how they, you know, like what makes them tick, what makes them, you know, work really hard. Does that guy need a soft message? Does that guy need a hard message?
00:16:07
Speaker
And it was like, by the end of my captain's, like my career of being a captain, it was like, I'm starting to get there, but I see why two, three years makes him as good as he was at it. And it's like, that's why coaches develop that so strongly and why it is so hard to be a captain. Cause you're not just being yourself.
00:16:24
Speaker
you're stepping into a new like set of shoes on top of the ones you're already wearing that has a very big impact on what you care about a ton, which is that team. you know So it's like, there's a lot. Oh, yeah. so that that i mean that's why I started this whole mission, just because my value, three-year team captain, and then into a grad assistant coach. So that transition, these were my friends, they were my teammates, and then they became my athletes.
00:16:50
Speaker
So the the responsibility that I held for them became real when I became their coach. So I understand his path in one, two, three years. Like I get to know those guys and then transition. We talked about my jump from d three to Georgetown.
00:17:04
Speaker
Now it was I had to learn how to develop this new relationship because I had it for but years with that previous program. And now it was, okay, actually, you have to learn how to connect with these guys.
00:17:17
Speaker
Thankfully, it was through lacrosse still yeah just at a different level. yes So that path and the realization for you now certainly is helping you with the the younger kids that you're coaching.
00:17:28
Speaker
Yes, absolutely. And, you know, i think we were talking about a little bit earlier, but on the, you know, on the idea of pickup sports and what the club culture and really organized sports, like almost all organized sports and what that does to the kids and what that does to,
00:17:45
Speaker
you know and We actually didn't talk about this earlier, but it's you know it's that idea of like a natural born leader to me, right which is partially a thing, but also there's a big learning curve to that too. right Because I believe it's a thing until everybody gets sophisticated enough to where they have a lot of their own ideas and you have to start managing people that are full blown adults you know when you're at the NCAA college level. But I do believe in just that natural born leader of those younger kids, because you can see it.
00:18:12
Speaker
but You see the kid that's like, yo, let's mix up the sticks. Right, or like the kid that's like, hey, like we're switching teams up or it's the kid that's, you know, it's like, hey, we're getting smoked on defense. I go to pick him up earlier. And he's just making the decisions because he wants to win, right? And the kid cares about the sport, but it's also that kid that's very open to being like, hey, I might, you know, it's like, it's that tough position to be in a leader when you're younger kid where you don't want to be talking to other guys on the floor sometimes because you might be wrong.
00:18:35
Speaker
And like, what if you're wrong and then you're telling him the wrong thing to do? And all everyone's sitting here quietly like thinking versus, you know, when I can instill in those young kids, like just to be a communicator, be a great teammate, be the easiest guy you can to play with.
00:18:49
Speaker
Then it's like when they start doing it and they start finding that, that groove of just chatting, chatting, chatting the whole time they're playing sports. then it's like, okay, you start to see the guys that are really good at this. Cause then you start seeing the guys that you never have to say it to them, but they start chatting. And then it's like, oh, their teammate makes a mistake and they're just running back on defense. And it's all good du to get the next one.
00:19:07
Speaker
Right. And it's just like, you just see the come of those couple of those personalities that start coming out. And it's like, that to me is like that first step in being a great leader. But I had that too. When it came to sophisticated level of, of being a leader,
00:19:21
Speaker
it was a heck of a lot harder than just being the guy that was willing to chat and put yourself out there and maybe be wrong, you know? That was ah big hurdle in it. But, you know, that's what I see in the young kids, which is like you start to see it coming, you know.
00:19:33
Speaker
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Speaker
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00:20:29
Speaker
Visit the
Youth Sports Communication Challenges
00:20:30
Speaker
link in the show notes to sign up today. Who's looking out for the leaders? We are. And now, back to the show. Ready, ready, and ready. And observation is a big part of being a leader yeah because we're able to see body language. We're able to see the, and feel the energy of the team.
00:20:46
Speaker
And then we have to step in and say something. And we spoke a little bit about your connection to the kids and your observations. So you're highlighting some observations within this generation.
00:20:58
Speaker
and then your natural income inclination is to then step in because you find value in certain things. So what were those things that you were observing? And then your natural tendency, hey, like you've mentioned, communicate. I want to make sure they're being good teammates.
00:21:12
Speaker
So what are some deficiencies you saw in kids just showing up to learn the game with you? Yeah. I mean, like, you know, one of the first thing is just the communication aspect, right? There's a lot of kids that when it's not even like it to me, it looks like un like unsure, like, ah like, ah just like not like they're not very decisive with their decisions.
00:21:34
Speaker
Which to me at first tells me like, okay, this kid might be a little bit afraid of making a mistake, right? So it's like, if we can get that out of them, then it's like, okay, he's going to hopefully be a lot more open to being like, mistakes aren't incredibly negative.
00:21:45
Speaker
And when I can get that through to them, then it's like, okay, now we can just get them chatting, get them communicating and put that in their head, right? It's just like... you know It's like one thing I use to teach some of these kids, well, I guess we'll talk about the deficiencies first, right? So like the first thing is just the communication in general.
00:22:01
Speaker
A lot of them are bad communicators and I view communication as a skill like anything. um you know The best athletes can walk around and talk the entire time they're running around and doing stuff. They could talk to four or five people on whatever quarter field you're on all the best players can do that.
00:22:15
Speaker
it's a skill, right? Because there's plenty of kids that would be, sometimes they're just running around, they're just yelling, right? So then, ah you know, that's a good step in the right direction because the main thing I noticed early, early on was all the kids, no communication. And then it was also like what, everything that stems off the communication was,
00:22:30
Speaker
Um, there was a lot of like the brattiness of starting to complain to one another, but it's because you guys are not saying anything, you know? And I'd just be like, well, you know first step and you and that guy, and like you guys just got irritated each other. You guys didn't say any words to each other for three minutes.
00:22:44
Speaker
And it was all just because he wasn't playing the way that you thought he should be playing. And You weren't playing the way he thought you should be playing. But at no point in time did you guys discuss that even in the most minor fashion. yeah So it's like, yeah, that's just going to build up this weird animosity between your little three by team we're playing in right now.
00:23:00
Speaker
and And then it's like, this is going to start to go to junk. So like
Youth Sports Culture and Development
00:23:04
Speaker
the communication was first. And then it was honestly like just playing hard and learning how to play hard.
00:23:10
Speaker
and learning how to be that guy that wants to win. And, and then it's, you know, kind of tying in the leadership aspect of things and kind of how we were talking about the Colorado space extent with the organization of the sports and the club sports and how they get bounced around teams and they don't have the same guys in their team as they lose that. um I guess I don't even know how to totally describe it, but um it's, it's kind of having a brain fart with that one, but like,
00:23:41
Speaker
but Backtrack for me. Where was I at there for a second? I went 10 different directions in my head. the Some deficiencies within communication and a root cause of poor communication is yeah he doesn't trust him. He doesn't know him. Yes. So like um like what that ended up causing is like then they're they're playing slow and they're sitting back and it looks like they're everyone's concerned to make a mistake or everyone's not... like And that was like my biggest pet peeve in the world. And i'm like, first, first step here is have fun doing this.
00:24:09
Speaker
So I would break it down for the kids. And and i would just, you know, and one lesson I always try to tell them is just, I'd make them stand somewhere. i would make them look this way. And I have his teammate behind him. And I would just be like, throw it to your teammate. And I'd move the teammate around.
00:24:22
Speaker
And I'd be like, this is dumb, but we're going to do it. So you guys understand what I'm talking about. And I would make sure they couldn't see the teammate. I'd be like throw it to him. And right. They just throw the ball. God knows where it goes. Right. They're missing by however far. And then I'm like, okay, start talking over there.
00:24:35
Speaker
And I'm like, now throw it towards him. Even if you're just chucking it over your shoulder, i look at everybody, I'm like, listen, first one he missed by 10 yards. Yeah, whatever. But he also just threw it anywhere in this 15 yard space behind him.
00:24:46
Speaker
That time wasn't great. Whatever, he missed by two feet, right? I'm like, but think about that in the game sense. Like when you guys are running down in transition, Just even being the guy, like you don't have to call for the ball all the time.
00:24:57
Speaker
Just tell them where you're at. right And that'll make you a better player. It helps with your guys' decision making. I'm just like, you're following them, just be telling them. They're like, hey, trailing if you need it, trailing if you need it, trailing if you need it, and just keep telling them, keep telling them. And then it's like, okay, if you're moving, move and tell them that.
00:25:10
Speaker
And when they went from quiet to even just firing up that communication, Like then they started making strategies, which I was like, that was my biggest thing is like, it was bothersome to me. Cause when I was growing up playing, you know, pick up sports, we're like, yeah, we're going pick on the worst kid.
00:25:26
Speaker
Right. And that's just sports, right? It's sports. It happens. well you don't want to be the worst kids. Why practice. But like, it's like, okay, if this guy's going to turn the ball every time, we as a group are going to decide over here, like we're going to pressure them.
00:25:37
Speaker
Right. Right. And that's just basic strategy. And without the communication, without the playing hard and that competitive aspect that they got from like talking and running and just bringing up the energy and the excitement of the game and making sure everyone's connected. Mm-hmm.
00:25:50
Speaker
Like they they all of a sudden, it wasn't like I had to teach them strategy. They started caring enough to start developing their own ideas and things to find a strategy to win.
00:26:01
Speaker
And that made a massive difference in them. And then yeah, and from there, that that creativity and all that stuff can grow. and and And then all I have to do is step in and I'm like, okay, here's a couple ideas. That's it. Right. And boom. Okay.
00:26:12
Speaker
Try them. Oh, you guys didn't do anything I i tried to show you. I'm like, if you want to maybe do it, give it a rip. It might not work, but like, if you guys figure that out, I promise you're going to score a few goals. And then it's, it's that back and forth. And I like, even when they don't do it, hu because then I'm like, what were you guys thinking?
00:26:28
Speaker
not in the sense of like what the were guys thinking but it's in the sense of like what was going through your head like because if you had an idea that's similar to what i was thinking it could maybe be the same thing right say we're just doing a pick and then we're going to pass it once off to the roll guy and it's like okay we're just going to use somebody else to pass it to the role guy in a two-man game it's a very simple concept i might show them where they might want to do it on the field but if i sit back long enough i'm then it's, you know, not like it happens all the time, but they start using it in other places in the field.
00:26:58
Speaker
Yeah. And that's what i know they learn, you know, like we were talking about with just the, you know, remembering, right? know Oh yeah. Okay. Pass it away. Hit the roller. Yeah. I'm going to introduce two things here. First is a feedback loop. and So now within the youth and just natural tendency, and I'm sure you experienced this as a young lad once yourself, coach tells or leader tells us something, our natural inclination is to rebel. Right.
00:27:21
Speaker
We try it our own way. And guess what? Failure feedback loop didn't work. And guess what coach does? He double downs on what he said, just like you shared what you did with your dudes.
00:27:32
Speaker
And then that next time they go around and the opportunity, the rep, then you apply what coach said that feedback. And then it's like, huh? And they do it like a side eye to coach or this old man is trying to tell us what to do.
00:27:45
Speaker
And then we, that's how we build trust. hundred percent um I want you to hold on to that feedback loop because going introduce parents into that feedback loop momentarily. And then the the the next thing you called out was remember.
00:27:58
Speaker
So what I shared with you and how I developed curriculum for coaches and athletes or right practice plans, it's called Bloom's Taxonomy. And so the first level is remember. If I can get my dues to remember, then they hold on to the fundamentals or just the words or the names of the drills.
00:28:15
Speaker
Then we get into understand and you can layer on that why. So why is this drill important? why Where is this connected to the game? And we go apply it. So a common mistake that coaches run into at the lower levels, higher college expectation professional for sure, but then lower levels, that they they just say the why early and they think the kids are gonna get buy-in from just sharing the why, because we're passionate coaches.
00:28:42
Speaker
But then we get a disconnect and we hold that kid accountable because we're just bringing in to understand. But they not they don't have the awareness, the skills, the attention on that day just to understand if I can just get them to remember. And if they show me they remember, now we can go one layer deep.
00:28:59
Speaker
and So the. the yeah the everything that you're applying like naturally and seeing and feeling like they there are there are components of this to to movement education to like formal education. So it's cool that you're just picking up on these patterns naturally.
00:29:16
Speaker
Yeah. And it's um one one thing on feedback that I've really honed in on with kids to especially really stick and ball sports. And it's one thing that I've noticed a ton of is that kids have no control of their body.
00:29:32
Speaker
Right. And it's, and it, you know, lacrosse, it's very, it's very noticeable, but so is like basketball. And I learned similar concepts in basketball, whatever, but you know, go across the sports, swinging a baseball bat, you know, if you're one thing that I've honed in on four feedback loops that I really am passionate about is when I teach a kid to shoot a lacrosse ball, the first thing I say is if we can completely control your body,
00:29:58
Speaker
And just make sure, right? Because like everyone says there's no fundamentals or they're, you know, not everybody, but we like to get it in these day and age, people get to the point where like, there's not always like true perfect fundamentals for everything, right?
00:30:09
Speaker
Which is true to an extent in ah in ah in a sport like lacrosse, when there's a lot of variability in how you use your stick, right? But for me, that variability is in your stick. we, there's a lot of research in the strength and conditioning world of how to laterally produce force and rotational power in a, you know, a direction that we're intending that is documented. And we've done that well, we know how the body works. Now everyone does it ah slightly different, right? Biomechanics, but that is something that obviously, you know, yourself included, like it's been figured out and I've just learned from those people.
00:30:40
Speaker
But the way I think about it, especially when i'm teaching kids how to shoot a lacrosse ball, is let's control the controllables of our body because figuring out how to like, right? Throwing a baseball pitch is hard.
00:30:52
Speaker
It's hard to throw a strike, right? Like people that, there's all sorts of people that can throw a ball really well. Some people can't throw very well. And it's like, to be fair, all the, you know the baseball world probably has it figured out, but there's a lot of people who are like, I'm not really sure why this person can't throw a ball.
00:31:05
Speaker
Right. But it's, there's a lot of things connected. There's a lot of things all turning, working together. So like when I talk about making a feedback loop and something complicated, like using a lacrosse stick and a ball for me is like, let's just find the feedback and how we're using our stick.
00:31:18
Speaker
Let's try to keep it as consistent as possible on just the body. Right. And granted, when you get to higher levels, yeah, we step our bodies different directions. We lean, we do deceptive things. But when we're practicing and learning, a lot of the times with kids, I'm just like, if you guys can just just learn the the idea of control the sway and the power of my body and do things a little bit slower, because then the actual fine-tuned skills of whatever sport, whether it's throwing a baseball, throwing a football, shooting a basketball, like those finer skills, if your body's under control, your feedback loop is now, your adjustments are only going to be relying on what is that variability.
00:31:54
Speaker
And it's like, okay, my body is at least doing remotely the same thing each time, it's okay. Now, if that ball is going a little higher, a little low okay, let's think about what our stick's doing. Right. And for me, when I've been able to get that into a kid's head, it's great. Cause you can just watch them like line their body up and then they're like, okay, now let's figure out what to do this thing.
00:32:14
Speaker
and they start messing around with their lacrosse stick, they can find little angles and different ways the ball comes out their stick and passes. But it's because we take a lot of the the extra out of it, which we don't take into account with coaches. A lot of times, right, where you're saying we jump to, yes, step with your back leg, follow through the opposite hip.
00:32:31
Speaker
And it's like, you know, dude, he's he's using almost every muscle in his body right now. That's a lot going on. You know, we might have to slow it down for a second, give him an idea what it feels like, you know, and then we'll take a step in the right direction and bump it up just a little bit.
00:32:44
Speaker
And, you know, that feedback loops really, really important. Now, right, where we should get on feedback loops and communication and parents is iPads, which is I'm very passionate about. I'm just going to jump to it right now, is like the the the iPad brain and how they're learning is is pretty crazy. And I'm trying to learn it because it's not going away, right? we're not We're not getting ready to screens, we're not getting ready that stuff, but it's how, like, and this is, you know, talking on the leadership and everything we were just talking about with college and
00:33:15
Speaker
how I've had to learn how to kind of, you know, take my message and put it in the eighth grade mind, make sure they can, you know, remember to apply it and start making adjustments on their own.
00:33:26
Speaker
Um, and yeah, sometimes you got to relate to Fortnite and these guys have, you know, they have very quick brains, but you know, the idea of they all go on video games and they all practice to beat their friends.
00:33:38
Speaker
And then they all get that sense of accomplishment and encouragement to themselves to keep playing video games. Because you get that really positive drive. You know, you can get a dopamine rush, whatever it may be. I think it's serotonin and dopamine, whichever one's rushing, you get that big pump and you're so excited. And I've tried to just go to some of these kids and explain to them, like, listen, I've had that same feeling and it's really addictive because it's quick and it's easy.
00:34:01
Speaker
But like the sport, like when you're doing it with sports and you're you're getting the whole engine going, not just your thumbs and your brain, it creates such a larger sense of accomplishment and enjoyment when you're doing it.
00:34:12
Speaker
Yeah. And it's like these days, the hardest part for me is that first step of converting them to a kid that just loves ripping around and playing sports, whatever sport it is. I just want you to, to love having fun. You know, like if you're doing a relay race, learn how to be the fastest guy in the relay race, learn how to cheer on your teammates, like learn how to get something better out of somebody. And it's like,
00:34:32
Speaker
But that's hard to do when it comes to the video game world, the iPad world, short attention spans. And you know it's something we've been working on. and Like I said, ah you know it's it's it's getting there. But sometimes, like I said, you like, hey, you practice Fortnite to beat your buddies and it feels really good.
00:34:49
Speaker
But like find that same self-sense of accomplishment and that passion and drive to go really learn how to do something and find that within the sport that you love and or find it in two or three sports that you might like and figure out which one's the best for you.
00:35:02
Speaker
Right. Because I love basketball. I love basketball to death. And I played a bunch of basketball. I fouled out basketball all the time. Kind of pushed me towards lacrosse. Exactly. It's a very similar sport.
00:35:13
Speaker
But I was like, yeah, I'm fouling out on the fourth every game. Pretty good defender. Could slash to the rim. I loved playing. Both my brothers are great shooters, but I was getting slashed on the wrist all lacrosse season. So my my jumper wasn't great. You know, my wrists are all banged up.
00:35:25
Speaker
I'll use that in excuse, but yeah maybe it's other things, but we're just going to claim lacrosse checks for my jump shot. But... Like it was one of those things where it's like, I have as much love for basketball as I do lacrosse. It's just lacrosse is the one I've had the time and effort to continue kind of pursuing.
00:35:39
Speaker
Um, and like instilling that love of any sport or competition into the kids is hard to do, but that's like the best thing a coach can probably do these days. Oh,
Critique of Club Sports Focus on Winning
00:35:49
Speaker
infinite. know If you're training a six, six grade kid, or even a six year old goals to get them to be a seventh grader, seven year old that's playing.
00:35:58
Speaker
So it's just to get them to that that next year, especially at the youth level. Because the longer they play, the more opportunities they create for themselves. And then, unfortunately, there's a lot of bias in coaching.
00:36:11
Speaker
So at the younger youth levels, coaches gravitate to give more attention to the more coordinated or more experienced kid. So then this sets a lot of sports back. It's not just lacrosse because they don't have the tools because it's a lot of dads that coaching youth.
00:36:26
Speaker
They don't have the communication tools. to then connect or say the right thing that'll click with the kid that's just picking up the stick with it for for the first time. They just want to coach what's easy. Oh, this kid did what I asked. I'm to spend more time with.
00:36:41
Speaker
yeah So in a sense where you you don't have that challenge, you see the kid that needs the most help and you're almost pouring more into that kid because you know, okay, I got to get this to click. I got to get him to fall in love with the sport.
00:36:56
Speaker
Because you love it so much. 100%. And it's also like, you know, the the sport, but also just like, I have like... it, you know, ah again, I'm a lover of all, all sports. Like a a a lot of, like I can turn on a cricket game and find something I'm to be like, I don't know anything about it, but I'd find something that i'm like, oh, I need to pay attention to this. Cause like, it's just the way me and my brothers are wired and kind of how we learned about the game of sports.
00:37:19
Speaker
And I mean the, the, the sports in general, but you know, like, um I guess how to put this, but Again, kind of speaking on kind of how the parents and the coaches and things like do things is we're so winning driven. And we talked about this earlier in the club space. and I guess we can just get right into it. But all right, here we go. club The club space in general is reliant very heavily on winning and not winning in the sense of winning with kids development, winning with kids brains for a sport and decision making and being a part of a culture or team.
00:37:52
Speaker
all the things and the life lessons that come out of sports that make great athletes really hireable people, right? We all know that, but it's like, what makes them that? And it's how you interact with a team. The club space these days is very relying on, well, everyone's putting such a ah big check down to be there, is yeah, you need to look good too, on top of winning, which development doesn't ever look good, right? Like I've had, you know, some of my best sessions I've ever had when I'm like me personally sitting down and like, I'm gonna learn this today.
00:38:21
Speaker
I've had 45 minutes of just spraying a lacrosse ball 10 feet over the net, this way, this way, and it's like it's going horrible the whole time. If you took me while I was doing that and on a Division I team and you just had some a parent thrown in front of me they'd go, how's this going? They'd be horrible.
00:38:37
Speaker
This is going terribly. In my head the whole time, I was like, we're getting closer. We're getting closer. I'm like, make an adjustment. Okay, maybe we're there. And it's like that mindset of just not having any quit in you and just being like, I'm going to sit here and figure it out.
00:38:51
Speaker
And having and a joy and energy in figuring it out makes a big difference. Now, again, speaking back to the club spaces, the way it's, you know, ah first of all, funded and now in a position to where it's really not going anywhere, but we've got to find a way to fix it is...
00:39:06
Speaker
Again, the parents are more as, as a club lacrosse coach, if my team plays really, really, really bad and we get pumped by a team, a lot of, you know, there could be a million reasons. Let's just say they were genuinely more skilled than us.
00:39:19
Speaker
And let's say, um, maybe we didn't, we weren't, we certainly weren't on the same page to say our offense look clean. Like we're not running it yet. Maybe it's the first tournament of the summer. There's just kind of learning how to run the offense. They're forgetting some cuts or whatever it may be.
00:39:33
Speaker
Um, If that turns into like a blowout of a game, I'm not worried about like, oh, what if what are we going do with these boys? I'm sitting there like, okay, all right, let's look at what happened. Let's explain to them where we might've went wrong. Let's tone our voices down a little bit, right? Like, you know, there's a time and place for yelling and there's a time and place for raising our voices when people need corrected on...
00:39:56
Speaker
certain actions. But a lot of the times when
Coaching Youth Under Parental Pressure
00:39:59
Speaker
we lose a sports game, it's like, there's nothing wrong with sitting back and in a calm voice being like, Hey, that wasn't very good. We kind of just got destroyed. It's like, no one liked that feeling. Everyone's pissed now, clearly, but let's think about what we did.
00:40:12
Speaker
Let's make an adjustment. And it's, that is lost because as a club coach, the times I did it when I was, you know, 18, 19, 20, 21 years old, I'm worried about the club director coming down range to me because the parents say my offense looked bad So then in turn, my fix is, okay, if I think we're going to lose for this next to this tournament, because say we're at a tournament we're not supposed to be at. It happens all the time in the club space, right? Like there's seven or eight teams. There's obviously going to be one team that's not as good. That's okay. They're all young.
00:40:40
Speaker
But now my, as a coach, I'm taken out of the space of how do I just make sure we're putting together better games? How are we getting better? How are we getting closer to, even if we're a less skilled team, actually be able just to win the competition, right? Because this isn't a who can shoot the ball the coolest competition, it's who can put it in their net the most, right? So it's like, you can win and be less talented.
00:41:01
Speaker
And that is really driven out of the sport because everything's so reliant on you. Oh, look at that kid. Shoot it Like, oh, look at that kid. But it's like, everything's ISO ball. Everything's taken like, Hey, let's give the best kids on the team, the ball so we can win.
00:41:14
Speaker
But that doesn't help anybody's development. Like the best kid in the team. And I think, you know, I've mentioned this earlier, but especially in the lacrosse world, but it's parent across other sports. One thing we see in lacrosse is we will give the kid that can shoot the ball the hardest in eighth grade, as many shots as you can.
00:41:30
Speaker
but but especially when I've been coaching, i've I've had some people look at me the eye wide, like just wide-eyed when they're like, which kid do you think is the best shooter in here? Right? And you know and that's not that's never a parent like, hey, is my kid better than that kid? Like I would shut that down.
00:41:45
Speaker
But like, I've had had the conversation of like, where do you see these kids as shooters? Like, who's got this? Who's got that? And I've just broke it down for a guy. i'm like, hey, listen, like, you know, this bigger, stronger kid can shoot it really hard, but it takes them longer.
00:41:57
Speaker
he puts all of his effort into his release. So he uses his butt and his legs and hips a bunch, but he doesn't have a lot of like wrist, doesn't snap his wrist much, doesn't change the location of the ball through his follow through. He just, he's fallen through somewhere and it's getting there fast in eighth grade. Yeah. He's the best shooter on the team because he's the most powerful and the goalie just can't react fast enough. He's a child.
00:42:16
Speaker
And, when I've looked at parents and be like, hey, like honestly, like the little tiny kid over there, that's like, you look at the way he catches it into his shot. Look at the way he can step around somebody and shoot it around somebody and be comfortable with where the head of his sticks at. And he has a really good idea of that.
00:42:32
Speaker
Or like, look at how he's able to, you know, be in his windup and then hitch a little bit at a goalie and see if he make a move. Like those are high level skills that most parents would just blow right by, right? But that space as a whole in the way those tournaments work and everything works,
00:42:46
Speaker
We don't get a focus on the development of the kids at all. And to be fair, this is like the entire reasoning for why I even pursued the lacrosse stand and my business was running and coaching kids in Denver.
00:42:58
Speaker
And everything we do is, you know, and I guess circle back on the opposite end of this too, is private lessons, which I'm also very anti. Oh, everyone everyone loves private lessons. Like one-on-one.
00:43:09
Speaker
one-on-one coaches and lessons. Now there's benefits for it. Like if, you know, I've done him a million times. Like I used to my income when I was a sophomore in college, but like, I always felt like I couldn't get the kid to where he needed to be because this sixth grader will never catch a pass as good as I am throwing him right now for the next 10 years.
00:43:29
Speaker
So like, what's the point?
High School Sports Culture
00:43:30
Speaker
I'm throwing it directly into his stick. Yeah. i can throw variable passes or whatever, but it's like, It's a hard thing to do is throw the kid ball like ball by the kid's head a few times. like i want him to have the success.
00:43:40
Speaker
I can give him successful reps. I can give him the situations where he knows what it feels like. But then the parents like, oh, it comes to the game. And I'm like, yeah, well, he didn't get up catch a pass from a kid the same age as him.
00:43:50
Speaker
He didn't run by a kid the same age as him. And it's not even all about age, but just in general, right? Because that's other thing people get caught up on these days is like my fourth grader playing against a fifth grader. It's like, well, I played against ninth graders, high schoolers when I was in fifth grade, because we're all in the backyard. but right And you learn to play together.
00:44:05
Speaker
And that's something that we hone in on too at the lacrosse stand is I will make sure, and say I have five kids and I want to play a three-on-three tennis ball game. I got the fourth grader on the side that's waiting for the next session. I'm like, bring him in, right? And a lot of parents look at you crazy for that. Like, oh, but he's he's only in fourth grade. Like, can we get him in there?
00:44:23
Speaker
And I'm like, i don't I'm not as worried about the fourth grader as I'm worried about making sure the sixth graders are good enough players that they can make him be a decent lacrosse player. It's like, yeah, obviously he's not going to be as good. He's in fourth grade, they're in sixth grade.
00:44:36
Speaker
But it's like, okay, if you can throw a crafty pass to him and he catches it, that means it's a really good pass. Right. Or if you can learn how to set him up with a pick when he's moving a heck of lot slower and you really got to stop that D guy for a second, that means you're getting better at setting picks.
00:44:50
Speaker
Right. Or it's like, if you can communicate with that young kid that really doesn't have the same, let's say sport IQ, but also just in general life like IQ, right. You know, like they just don't know much stuff yet. And it's like, if you can teach that kid how to like move his feet where you want him to go by giving a little eye contact or telling him something's right on the floor, it's a major difference.
00:45:08
Speaker
yeah Yeah. I love that with the young guys. You're also, whether you realize or not training leadership. So all the communication and now they're looking out for a kid who's one, two years younger than them.
00:45:20
Speaker
And here's the beauty of that when they're in high school age, They're a senior and that's a sophomore and they've established a relationship and a connection. Yeah. way back. Yeah. And I, I just, you know, it, it, it grows, you know, and I'm obviously taking it from kind of as learning as I go and having it be a, maybe more of general. I don't know all the details and fine tune, you know, fine comb two things on this, but Like for me, my goal with the lacrosse stand, and it's something that with the way the rec system works here and things like that, there's not a lot of pride in the high school and the place you play. um
00:45:56
Speaker
And that's, you know, that's sad to me in the sports community because that's everything I grew up knowing. Mm-hmm. All of my best friends in the world are guys I played you know baseball with in third grade and basketball with in this grade and lacrosse in this grade. And it was like, we just learned to all become friends is playing sports together. And then
Building a Self-Sustaining Sports Community
00:46:12
Speaker
you know you get those crosstown rivalries that we were chatting with her earlier and it's and that's like a very lovable part of sports. And you get this pride and this energy behind, i' you know I'm from this town and I wanna play with my buddies and I want us to be really good. And you'll remember that forever.
00:46:26
Speaker
You know, like I still remember, I remember high school lacrosse games with some of my friends more than I remember games that were on yeah ESPN, yeah like by a long shot. And it's just because like there was so much culture and community built behind it.
00:46:39
Speaker
For me, the best learning environment I could build is, and it's something I do now is I start to bring back these high schoolers I was training in the last couple of years that just kind of trickled off to college. And, you know, we've some really good talented kids around here and Like some of these kids that are dropping off to college, I'm like, listen, dude, I got a summer job for you whenever you come back.
00:46:57
Speaker
I can be as flexible as your schedule as you need to be. i want you to be a part of this community, right? Like you come and learn from me The only thing I ask is in a year or two when you're playing D1 ball and you're starting to become this big name and you're finding success is that you come back to the same kids in Colorado that are in the same building that are a heck of a lot younger than you.
00:47:14
Speaker
And they probably look up to them more than they look up to me, even though I'm playing pro lacrosse. Like, Yeah, the kid that played at Regis to the fourth grader is way cooler than me on TV. They don't even believe I was the guy on TV. Sometimes they're like wait, you're here coaching me? You're a professional athlete? Like they, you know, they can't wrap their head around everything that's going on.
00:47:31
Speaker
Yeah. But like that
Discipline and Long-Term Goals in Sports
00:47:32
Speaker
kid, at you know, that lives down the door or like lives down the street. That's like, hey, this is my buddy's older brother. And he's the leading goal scorer over there. Like he's a baller. You want that guy coming back around to teach those young guys. And it's like, if I can create that self-circulating culture,
00:47:47
Speaker
That to me is like that term because then, right. It's like the kids are learning how to be leaders. They're learning how to cook. It's like the old term of, you know, like you really don't understand it until you can coach somebody on it. Oh yeah.
00:47:58
Speaker
You know, like that's kind of the reasoning behind it to an extent, but it is something I really learned too. Cause Also, I also coach girls as well, which is also another interesting topic across the genders and kind of how they their brains like kind of work.
00:48:13
Speaker
It's been mind blowing to me being a young guy, you know, like- There's books written up. Yeah. It's mind, yeah. We'll talk some books. Cause I like, I've got my own thoughts on at this point and it's mind blowing. Like 13 14 year old boys, national security threat, 13 to 14 year old girls might be some of the most intelligent people we got. Like they're locked in.
00:48:32
Speaker
it's It's beautiful, but yeah okay, regardless. Tangent, but um but yeah yeah, like, okay. So I don't know where i'm going. just rambling. Yeah, to to add a layer to what you're doing, there's a big form of discipline with athletics where you're training delayed gratification.
00:48:48
Speaker
So talk about long-term goals, whether that's to go play college ball or to make it as a pro. Those are long-term goals. I need delayed gratification to start to put in the work and the steps now just to get from freshman team to JV team.
00:49:03
Speaker
that takes work to get from JV to varsity. So maybe college is the goal down the road, but there are steps along the way. So you're helping them understand the path to where you've been r where the, the younger kids that you've trained, they followed and trusted coach and they got there.
00:49:22
Speaker
So now this path, this, this training volume, this journey of hard work it is real. So, um, Delayed gratification is a big part of discipline and and you're able to, just by bringing those guys back, show them what it means.
00:49:38
Speaker
Hey,
Effective Coaching Strategies
00:49:39
Speaker
putting everything you are putting into today will pay off. It's worth it. Yeah. What do you like? So what are your thoughts on like short term gratification to keep yourself like entertained, moving towards those long term goals?
00:49:57
Speaker
Because I think that's a big part of it, too. we the The challenge is you're competing against the iPad. So there's there's a lot of dudes that are doing well with gamifying lacrosse. Have you heard of Powellax? They're here. Yeah. So ah Patrick,
00:50:11
Speaker
the get along great with him, interviewed him previously. I've tried him a little bit before, like briefly, but very, very cool guy. Followed a lot of his stuff. Yeah, we played against each other in college. Oh, fantastic. Fantastic.
00:50:24
Speaker
Go D3. um So he's found the tools to gamify, but it's the same thing. He's finding ways to connect and communicate with the younger. So you have to capture, you have to keep, and then you got to direct their attention.
00:50:37
Speaker
So going back to your example where you're shooting and you may not be hitting the target, but you're trying different things. you're directing your attention into specific body part. So ah with kids, and then Pat i ah so observed a sign up here, I'll B-roll a picture in there, where he wants certain different types of speed, expressions, strength,
00:50:59
Speaker
So he put an animal with that picture. So now if it's, okay, I want you to move the bar fast. You and I could say that, or i want you to move like a cheetah. So then they're like, oh, cheetahs are fast. I'm going to move fast. So now we're creating this, this visual image. So finding ways within lacrosse to make the connection age appropriate, of course.
00:51:20
Speaker
And you did it with, uh, with Fortnite. So not only the feeling of success, but then finding ways in a game when you, I don't know. built so I played Fortnite. You built Duck, Dive, Dodge, whatever.
00:51:33
Speaker
So now you're connecting it to something that they have a visual representation. So they're learning by watching Coach do it. You're modeling the the movement, and then it's creating an image in their mind, and then it's getting sticky because you made it engaging, fun, Fortnite, animals, whatever.
00:51:49
Speaker
So they- yeah Again, you're falling into what works, which is awesome to see. And that's good
Jack Hanna's Athletic Journey
00:51:56
Speaker
coaching because we can find ways to say the same thing 10 different ways.
00:52:00
Speaker
And it's going to click with, you know, her here. And then this other athlete, it's going to connect with and click with her different. But we said the same thing is just different. I will say too, honestly, and we should talk about this a little bit too, so people kind of know where i'm coming from, because my development as an athlete and as a person, guess we're just like athletically in general, but like there's a lot of parents right now in the day and age that have asked me questions about their kids recruiting and this, this, and that, that if I was their son, they would have given up.
00:52:30
Speaker
Because i mean, okay, so my, right now I'm 220 pounds. When I was a freshman in high school, I was 115. And then I was like, i kind of got up to like 5'6", 5'7", by my sophomore year. And then it was like junior year, I kind of hit this growth spurt, but then I lost some of my coordination because I was like so long and lanky all of a sudden. yeah And it was like, I grew another inch in college.
00:52:51
Speaker
And my development as a lacrosse player was It was kind of funny, right? Because when I was younger, I was so small and I played so much and I had my stick in my hands all the time and I would make little games in the backyard. Like I would never play wall ball, I'd play post ball.
00:53:05
Speaker
So I would just go play off my tree house beam. So it's only like six or seven inches wide. And the game that I would make out of it was you had to, I just had to play pass off it as long as I could. And the only punishment, if if if I missed, there's just woods behind it go And I would only bring one ball up. So it's like, if you lose, like there was days where I might throw 15 passes and I was looking for a ball for two hours. And that's what I did when I was playing lacrosse.
00:53:26
Speaker
And I was just like, dang, you know, like whatever. But that was something I did on my own. So I had good stick skills and good hands. And I was a very capable player. Granted in a very non-hotbed area of Cincinnati lacrosse, not many people playing.
00:53:39
Speaker
And then it was one of those things where I just continued to kind of like be average. I was average for a very long time, but I also was, I was very average to competent in a ton of different athletic movements where I was a pretty good back barred football player. Like there wasn't anything I was bad at, but it was me and my brothers were playing all of it.
00:53:56
Speaker
you go into our childhood garage, it's, we have cornhole, we have, you know, ultimate Frisbee. We have like every game into the sun that you can go play in a yard, you can play. And then it's, we've got baseball, basketball, wiffle ball tournament, like all this stuff. Like we ran one of the biggest wiffle ball tournaments in the United States for like in our town for years.
00:54:13
Speaker
And it's still going. And my dad and my brother run it now. And my brother just got essentially nominated as the new commissioner of the tournament. But like, it's one of the biggest, we could talk an hour about that. But like the amount of sports that I played in, I was never like really bad at one thing, but I also wasn't incredible at anything either because I was really prepubescent, underdeveloped.
00:54:33
Speaker
I was athletic and coordinated and like fairly strong, but I was just like, it looked like I was two years younger than everybody. And then as I grew, i really started relying on my athleticism because I was always like, i could I was kind of quick and things like that, like very coordinated and capable. But once I got you know some strength in my legs and I was like, okay, now I got some long legs and I can run here.
00:54:55
Speaker
It was like, I really relied on that. And I spent a bunch of time doing that. Like our clear in high school lacrosse is, just go get the ball from the goalie and then run it down the field, pass it in a circle twice. I catch my breath and then we dodged.
00:55:06
Speaker
And like, that was how we started the offense. Not a good way to play. The Milford boys don't play like that at all anymore, but time and place, that's what we had to do. But that made me super reliant on my athleticism, shooting the ball on the run while running away from people and shooting the ball from really far away.
00:55:22
Speaker
When I got to Denver, I was the last guy in the depth chart because I lacked... so many important skills to the game of lacrosse, whether it's, I couldn't quick stick the ball. Like if you passed to me on the backside, I'd have to cradle twice before I could shoot it because I never received that pass in my entire career.
00:55:37
Speaker
So I wasn't put in the situation to do those things. And it's not like i I'd never tried to go back by a net and then just get passes and shoot it. Like I tried all the time. But when I was in a live action game, the way I've seen it my whole life, I was underdeveloped in that aspect of the game.
00:55:53
Speaker
and And it applied to a lot of different things. It was my feeding to those types of people, touch, ah faking and finishing and controlling people with my eyes and my body language and all those little things, right? Like to a lot of parents right now,
00:56:05
Speaker
Me senior in high school, they're like, yeah, I wish I was my son. Like he's six two. He can run fast as hell. He's, you know, he can run people over. He's this big, strong guy now. And it's like, and he just came out of nowhere. And it's like, well, kind of, I just been playing sports my whole life. I never stopped.
00:56:19
Speaker
And then when my body came, it was there, but A lot of people on surface level these days would be like, he's incredible. And I was not, I was not even remotely close. Like I was so far away in so many aspects of the game to where, when I learned a lot of the little things that I'm telling kids now, that's the most important stuff you can be learning.
00:56:36
Speaker
It's like, if you can catch the ball really, really well in lacrosse, no cradles right on your shoulder, hold it dead still. If you can do that in a multitude of environments, every decision you make just got two cradles shorter The amount of time you before you have before a defender's on you got instantly longer like longer because now I'm ready to make a decision the entire time he's coming towards me versus securing the ball, oh, he's here. Instead it's like, catch, okay, what do i do now? Oh, there's a D guy, right? So it's like the game becomes easier if you master the little skills and you master you know how to use your body to protect your stick.
00:57:11
Speaker
oh, you're catching it in this section of the field, right? Let's rotate our hips here so we're prepared to shoot or prepared to do something prepared to be a threat. And it's a lot of like those small concepts that ended up making me a really good player.
00:57:22
Speaker
But there's all sorts of people in this world that are as athletic as me that didn't learn those lessons, that didn't have the success I had, But it's also not what is being driven by the system, the parents, you know, what people think their kid needs to do is go get jacked and strong. It's like what your kid needs to do is be as a coordinated and have the best mind for any sport he's playing as he can.
00:57:45
Speaker
Because there's not a sport in the sun I can't figure out a strategy for in 10 minutes. And that's just because it's the way I grew up. Like, I don't know anything else. You know, i'm going to start trying to cheat in whatever game Pat gives me out here. Spikeball? Yeah.
00:57:56
Speaker
If I'm playing spike ball, like, yeah, like I'm going to do everything I can. going to bump into them. going to, I'm going to make a strategy. going to see what an interference call I'm going to see where the line is for that. Like, you know, it's just the way, like my little brother's out there screaming yelling right now, same thing, but it's just ingrained into you.
00:58:13
Speaker
But again, like that's not where people's care is these days in development of sports. No. And so to me, that's where value is in developing as an athlete. Well, especially from
Feedback Loops in Coaching
00:58:22
Speaker
a seasoned pro or more experienced coach. They don't even have to be a pro, just more experienced than the parent or the kid or whoever they're leading.
00:58:31
Speaker
Yeah. So I do want to close the loop on that feedback loop I mentioned earlier where it's rep, it's wrap rebel, fail, coach comes back, rep. Now we listen and apply.
00:58:43
Speaker
And then we start to gradually like zero in and on our target, whatever that skill may be. So where this feedback loop fails is within the rebel. If there's an external voice could be parent, could be club coach.
00:58:56
Speaker
So now high school coach or coach in your shoes is telling them one thing and somebody is feeding the rebellion. So now that rebel muscle, it's stronger than our, our trust muscle.
00:59:09
Speaker
And that's where our, That's where we lose this whole thing. And all of a sudden ah coaches lose trust or the kid loses trust in the coach because of that that voice getting louder and feeding the rebel versus the, hey, listen to your coach.
00:59:23
Speaker
Your coach has been there, done that. Even if it's just high level high school or college. So now that happens more often than not because who's who's feeding the rebellion?
00:59:36
Speaker
It's the parent who's writing the check. And then it's the club coach or the external coach who is I call it within the realm of sports here is fantastic lies. I play on the the Duke documentary, but the coach that's getting paid more than the high school coach, high school coach is trying to level set on skill set, tell them exactly where they are as a freshman, and then somebody else is feeding them these these fantastical perceptions. What's the guy's job?
01:00:05
Speaker
This high school coach is like, I need my middle school program to be good. So my high school team's good in four years. I'm focused on development. The guy that's getting paid a bunch money is being like, you guys gave me all this money right now to win right now.
01:00:17
Speaker
I'm going do my best. But also like, i haven't coached your kids at all over a long period of time. So like, hopefully we can get it done in the next two months. Like that's pretty much what it is, which is mind blown.
01:00:28
Speaker
And they apply case of the shoulds. So they get this kid that's 16. Oh, they should be able to do X, Y, Z by that. And then they're telling the parents that a kid doesn't have those skills yet. He didn't learn this at high school.
01:00:40
Speaker
So now it's again, shining negative light at, what could be a good partnership and resource. Absolutely. And I also think that's why its such an important thing is like just the culture, right? Like culture develops your feedback loop, right? You know, it's like, I think we look at different, and I think soccer is a good place to go on that too, is because you can look at the soccer clubs and the way they play.
01:01:01
Speaker
Right. And like the, you know, like, again, I'm not adverse well enough in soccer to like pick out all these teams and things like that. But what I've like, Watch a decent amount of it to where you can see and like you've, you know, you've, you've heard it before. If you've watched premier league soccer of like this kid came up in this system, that's why he plays this way.
01:01:20
Speaker
All that is, is the the feedback loop they're making within their culture. Right. And it's like, there's a couple different ways to skin a cat, but like, you know, okay. They're all professional soccer players, but like, you can tell, yeah you can tell this guy, you know, oh, when they have in their defensive end, his goal isn't to get it out as fast as he can.
01:01:36
Speaker
His goal, like Barcelona, is to control the ball down here and slowly work the ball down the field. And they do it from the time they're four years old on. And they develop that confidence and decision-making versus there's other teams where it's like, we learn how to run and run with the ball on our feet and make plays. And it's like, yeah, guy's incredible too.
01:01:52
Speaker
But they're two completely different things that developed completely different ways. So interesting from a coaching perspective within Europe and difference between United States and in Europe. In Germany, how coaches are developed, they start with professionals. So if I were be an entry level coach, I would train the professional soccer players in Germany because they're the most athletic, coordinated, and my feedback doesn't have to be as creative.
01:02:18
Speaker
I can just be direct yeah and say little things and they have the coordination do it. And then as I progress in my years, my hours of coaching, then I work my way down the chain. And so their most skilled and developed coach In Germany, they're working with their youth soccer.
01:02:34
Speaker
That's why they're so dominant. They put their best coaches with their youth in a United States. show hundred percent 100%. Dad coaches kids. And then the first time that they get a professional coach is in middle school. It's seventh grade sports, at least in Texas.
01:02:49
Speaker
yeah You're handed off to a ah ah coach teacher, and then dad has to take a step back. I love middle school sports because that's the first time that Parents gain independence away from kids' sports. They have to be on the sideline.
01:03:03
Speaker
I don't know how it is here, but there's strict rules in Texas where parents cannot be behind in lacrosse, cannot be behind the sports sideline. They got to be on the other end of the field. And there's reasons. That's hilarious, there's a good rule. huh So then we have our, ah within the table, like volunteer parents, somebody always draws the, the yeah The short stick where they have to be the field manager or whatever that position is called until all the away parents yeah go over there.
01:03:29
Speaker
So the the feedback loop, that's what I want to say about that. I do want to close and you said something interesting that I wrote down when were talking where let me let me train let me train them the way i want to train them.
01:03:44
Speaker
Like that's an important thing because parents are, they are paying you. They're handing off their kids and you said an hour and 15 minutes and you have this, this approach, this mindset of how you want these sessions to go.
01:03:57
Speaker
So help paint that picture for the listeners and where, where your mind is to help these kids ah get coordinated, get creative and have confidence on the field.
01:04:08
Speaker
Yeah.
Coaching Fundamentals
01:04:09
Speaker
so you know, the way my kind of lessons work and, and it's really how I taught myself, like we've kind of mentioned, I just kind just figured a lot of it out. Also with the help of obviously I've been very fortunate with the coaches I've had to put the right ideas in my head.
01:04:22
Speaker
But like, for me is like that first 10 or 15 minutes, well, obviously like, you know warm up stretch, but, and then it's, you know, we go very, very slow on the passing and catching. And it's not it has nothing to do with, okay, how many passes and catches are you going to get out in this eight-yard pass?
01:04:38
Speaker
For me, it's like i just said earlier is how are you catching the ball? We want to be able to catch the ball perfectly. If you catch it really well, your decisions get easier. The time that you have gets longer. Everything becomes easier.
01:04:49
Speaker
So if I can, and and we'll say let's let's just say let's say ill I'll walk you through a brief progression that would do for like a catching and shooting day, right? Which might be something I'm doing with some more elite kids, right? Sometimes we keep it a bit more general, but this is a good way to look at it is, okay, first thing we're do if we're working about catching and shooting, we gotta catch the ball well. So we're gonna go real slow.
01:05:09
Speaker
It's kind of boring. I'll tell the kids, I'm hey, this isn't like the most fun drill in the world, but like, just know it's helping you. Like, I don't like doing it, but it's fun. Like knowing it's getting you better is yeah, I'm focused on this.
01:05:20
Speaker
And we're doing it for two minutes a hand, right? It's like, we can get 20 times where I just feel the ball knock my top hand over and knock my stick over my top hand without my bottom hand on the stick. That's the feeling I need with two hands on my stick.
01:05:31
Speaker
But having two hands on our stick, it's two hands resisting. things get funky. So if you just hold it with just that top hand and you let your stick fall over. Okay, great. That's giving you the feeling.
Catching Techniques
01:05:40
Speaker
And even if they drop it, the rule I put in place is I'd rather you guys drop the ball behind you than in front of you.
01:05:46
Speaker
Okay. Because if you drop it in front of you, it means you're being really stiff and adding give is really hard to do in athletics, like being softer with your hands, right? Like everyone wishes they could be a really soft hands on the hockey puck, right? I get paid a bunch of money if I did that, but right. Like,
01:06:00
Speaker
It starts with, okay, having the feeling soft hands. And the best part about that for like a feedback perspective to me is you don't have to catch it. Like you can drop the ball, but it's okay if it falls back behind me, it's okay. Okay, stop your stick two inches earlier, right? And let's find that spot where you feel really comfortable. When you catch it, you're in a position to throw it Boom, that's like my first drill. That only takes five or six minutes, right? And they do it every single day.
01:06:23
Speaker
They do that specific drill because even some days I go in and step in and i'm catching and throwing the ball, like it doesn't, my hands don't feel the same every day. So it's like, sometimes you got remind yourself where you want to feel and like, okay, that's my feeling. Boom, let's keep, let's move along.
01:06:36
Speaker
So I'll do it, you know, with really good kids, a little bit quicker for some of the youth kids, we'll spend a little bit more time with it, but let's, that's still max five, six minutes. And then it's like okay, now we're going to put two hands on our stick and we're going to get that same feeling, right? yeah The extra variability I'll add that makes it a little bit more of a jump from standing and catching one-handed pass, like catching the ball one-handed from a two-handed pass, the extra jump I'll take is we're going to move their feet now.
01:06:59
Speaker
Not moving them fast, but I want to separate their lower body from their upper body so that they're just comfortable using their stick while their legs are moving wherever. So we just side shuffle six, seven yards apart, two hands on your stick. You try to catch the ball with the same fundamental that we were just working on.
01:07:13
Speaker
And that's all I remind them of is, again, you don't have to be perfect, but just try to get better as you go. Like if you're going to make a competition, count how many you got the first time. And if you don't get that in the last one, do 10 pushups.
01:07:24
Speaker
And I let that, let sometimes they'll just do it on their own. You know, they're not paying attention, sometimes whatever, but that's not the important part. So, Boom, short one-handed catches. Then we get
Game-Like Situations in Coaching
01:07:33
Speaker
their feet moving slightly with two-handed catches.
01:07:35
Speaker
And then it's like okay, if we're doing a catch and shoot day, now we need to start catching the ball with our body aligned to shoot, right? We just worked on how our stick should catch the ball, but now we've got to figure out where our body needs to be. Again, right now we're 15, 20 minutes in, right? Like the three, four up and backs, catching the ball, two hands on your stick, shuffling, right? You're 15, 20 minutes in.
01:07:54
Speaker
We have plenty of time to work. that third drill where you'd start getting into really now learning and really applying those skills is all we're going to do is make a game like situation. And that could be anything. I like to work in triangles just for the space in my building, but I'll just any type of triangle, right It's like soccer. It's like basketball. Like you can work in triangles in any moving sport.
01:08:13
Speaker
So I'll be like, okay, sometimes it's really elongated. Sometimes it's tight, but regardless, they're throwing a pass. That guy's throwing another pass. And the first guy that passed it is now finding a cut or timing a cut. and sprinting through the ball, trying to catch it. And my, again, same rule for the development is I would rather you guys drop the ball running fast than have to slow down and catch it because we don't want to build that habit, right? Like we just don't want to do it. There's no reason for it. I want you to be able to run around as fast as you can and catch it and be ready to make decisions. That makes you very good.
01:08:42
Speaker
Right. So we do 10 minutes of that stick drill. Now we're 30 minutes in and I have a lot of my main coaching done. Now it's a lot of like making sure we apply a few things. So now it's, you know, we're doing our catch and shoot. Okay. So actually
Creative Engagement in Drills
01:08:55
Speaker
we're kind of got off off track there.
01:08:57
Speaker
I went to triangle shooting. That's not what I meant to do So we do one handed catches and then we go to our side shuffling, right. And catch and shoot day. All I would do is just have them like one guy lobbying a ball with his hand into a kid's stick.
01:09:09
Speaker
And all I have them focusing on is using their legs to end into their windup, right? So it's catch it and leave your stick where you catch it and get your body forward, right? So like your legs go towards the net as the ball hits your stick. And the only rule is, is freeze your stick where you catch it.
01:09:23
Speaker
And don't move your stick until your body is in position to shoot. It's a fairly simple rule when you explain it to them. And when you show it to them, it's pretty simple. And it's like the better you get at it, you can kind of do it all at once, right? Like, oh, the ball is going hit my stick here. Let's start getting our body in front of it.
01:09:39
Speaker
Right when I might only do 10 or 15 like hand lob passes again, just to give them the feeling. And then right from there, we're going to get into like a triangle game like situation where it's like, okay, you guys just got 10 or 15 reps and nice slow time to figure it out and feel it out.
01:09:54
Speaker
We might be 40 minutes into our session. We're going to spend the next 20 minutes trying to apply that and trying to apply it in situations where I'm not giving them a ton of structure. Like, yeah, they might be in a triangle, but that triangle might change, right? After you
Feedback and Self-Assessment in Coaching
01:10:08
Speaker
shoot, you're rotating and moving. So the guys that are swinging the ball, they're running around like it's a regular lacrosse game. We're not putting cones down. I'm just pointing and telling them where to go.
01:10:15
Speaker
And it's like, if these are our spots, find looks out of it. And the other thing too, is a lot of times I'll put them in a situation where it's like, don't catch the ball the same way every time. Like you're catching and shooting it. Like sometimes I want you guys moving towards the ball.
01:10:26
Speaker
Sometimes cut that way and then catching a little baby backpedal, right? Like, and the the point I try to hammer home with that stuff, which everybody's ever said is make the game situation in your head, right? Like think about it's the game winning goal.
01:10:39
Speaker
Think about, you know, whatever so cool goal you've ever seen in a highlight tape or something like put yourself in that situation, give yourself something that you want to do and just go try it. And like, if you go try it, I can help you with the adjustments.
01:10:52
Speaker
If you short arm it and you give me 80% and you're nervous about to make a mistake, I can't help you, right? Because I need to see it at 100%. And then you got to trust me. ill I'll fix it. I promise. And if you tell them like that, normally it helps. But again, that 20 minutes, they get to see what a catch and shoot's like. They get a test fire. They get to do stuff. And that to me, especially with the older kids or good middle schoolers, older high schoolers, that's when I really open up conversation.
01:11:16
Speaker
And I'm like, ask me questions about what you were thinking and what you were feeling. And that's a lot of what I do for that last like 15 to 20 minutes when they're doing quote unquote like shooting drills or, you know, getting reps. Like everyone just thinks like the reps themselves are what make you better.
01:11:30
Speaker
It's like what's going through your head when you're doing the reps. So like for me, a lot of them, like they'll come up and they'll be hey like, what'd you see on that one? And I'll be like, what'd you feel on that one first? If you have any sort of answer, that's better than nothing, right? And it's like some kids are like, I And you're like, well, that's that's where we need to start. It has nothing to do what's going through my head.
01:11:50
Speaker
Let's get it figured out there. Right.
Leadership in the PLL
01:11:51
Speaker
And then from there, boom, we can flow into game like, you know, small sided games where they're having fun, and enjoying the game, communicating and playing. And then some days, depending on the skill, I'll just be like, hey, the two pointer for today's game is if maybe you throw a fake to, you know, you fake pass face dodge, or if you get a hitch or a face dodge, you get a two point goal. Or if you get a goal off of a pick and roll and the roll guy scores, it's a two point goal.
01:12:15
Speaker
You don't have to shoot them, but if you do, it's useful. And like, that's kind of how we'll progress into it. i know that was a lot of words to go through it, but yeah, essentially it's nice and slow, moving a little bit.
01:12:26
Speaker
starting to feel like a game, but making sure their feet are moving a game like speed. Now it's still might be pretty drill like, and then it's like, let's open it up. Let's see where their brains at. Let's see where their creativity is at with all that information. I hopefully just got into them or at least parts of that information that they just hopefully got.
01:12:42
Speaker
And it's like, now we've got 20 or 30 minutes to have a conversation with me and do it. And then that lasts like 10 or 15. It's like, okay, hey great. You guys go rip. Have fun, right? Try to learn, you do something learned today.
01:12:53
Speaker
Yeah. Two two models to to apply onto that. The first, this is this is my framework for coaching anytime, even coaching coaches. So define model shape, reinforce.
01:13:05
Speaker
Define, hey, this is the drill. Then coach Jack models. This is exactly how I want it to look. And then shaping is all the reps they're doing, and you're just giving them one, two things.
01:13:15
Speaker
If they did it well, reinforce what they did well and in any aspect of it. And a lot of good reinforce, like the drills you introduced, great reinforced drills. They know if it's good or bad.
01:13:27
Speaker
So it's already there. And then last thing is is teaching movement. I use this for speed that transitions into sport. So lacrosse, if we were teaching dudes,
01:13:38
Speaker
Think about what coach Pat does for you. He's teaching you speed. You're not holding a stick. So he probably gives you different arm positions, punch, hammer, drive, all that good stuff.
01:13:49
Speaker
So all the good speed technique drills. So we have the posture. He probably tells you to sit up straight, get tall, take trunk, and then our patterning. Here's what I want your legs to do. Here's what I want your arms to do.
01:14:01
Speaker
And then, uh, excuse me, before patterning is positioning. I want your knee here, your foot in this position so you can drive and get forced into the ground. So posture positioning of your limbs, face, cheek, butt cheek, all the good stuff.
01:14:14
Speaker
Then our patterning. Here's what I want your arms to do, your legs to do. And then adding a layer to it. Now within lacrosse, we take away the arms. You can't punch and hammer and drive with your arms.
01:14:25
Speaker
Cause we gave you a stick. So this is where I add a layer to it of style. So within tactical athletes, military dudes, I train now they got 60 pounds a gear and freaking firearm that they're running with.
01:14:38
Speaker
They're not punching and hammering anything. So they still need good foot position and drive through their legs. So all this to say like the, within the skills you're teaching, here's the, the posture. Here's what I want your body.
01:14:52
Speaker
Here's the position for your stick, your hands. Here's the pattern of how I want you to to twist and bend, but then you set them free. and So style. I want you to find your own way to play. that's why That's why love lacrosse.
01:15:06
Speaker
Football is just do your job. Here's your assignment. Do this one thing. You failed. You did not fail. With lacrosse, if somebody makes a mistake, can we overcome as a team or me being the dude like,
01:15:18
Speaker
I got 10 seconds left or if it's freaking my favorite play. And I was in the end zone for it was the Duke Notre Dame 2010 championship, freaking M&T Bank Stadium. Pretty sick you were there for that one. Oh, yeah. And in behind the goal. That's unreal.
01:15:33
Speaker
So, yeah, Duke's first championship. So that that was awesome. Like when you said, think of the play, my mind immediately went there. Yeah. To be that dude. 100%. um so Just some models for you to think about. So then just reflecting on how you're communicating.
01:15:49
Speaker
Now within those models, if it's not clicking with a kid, yes, where was their head today? And where's my head today? How am I communicating? So both asking both people in this communication feedback loop to hold the mirror up.
01:16:03
Speaker
Because kids going to have bad days. So are coaches. So that's that's the challenge I'd extend to you is don't always take it personally. Don't always put it on the kid. And then...
01:16:14
Speaker
Like, I'm glad you're still having heavy conversations with Coach T. um It's cool to even see that you guys are reunited. How did,
Impactful Youth Sports Experiences
01:16:23
Speaker
my last question, how do captains work at the PLL though?
01:16:26
Speaker
Is the C on the chest just for champion and is reserved for the brand? ah Yeah, I guess yeah we yes we have C's, but it is the champion brand. So yeah, there's not a real C, but I mean, honestly, it's one of those things too where um it's a lot of the same things.
01:16:43
Speaker
It's different, but the same in the sense of you are a captain, you you have to take account for everyone's personalities or their personal lives and things that they could be going through and how to handle all those situations.
01:16:56
Speaker
And you have to do it on a cell phone, on planes, on the road, on Zoom calls. It's honestly probably the hardest way to be a captain because you don't even get to have that face-to-face, like, you know, real eye contact, we're having a conversation.
01:17:12
Speaker
Like, yay, talking guy on the phone, it can be good, but it's not the same, right? Like, you know, we could have a phone call today and it's like, we would have the same type of conversation we had. And it's like, there's a lot of other variables that just make the job harder.
01:17:24
Speaker
um And again, you got remember, like the other odd thing in the PLL too, is we have a lot of coaches. We have a lot of leaders within the teams. We have a lot of guys that are just literally the NCAA division one coaches that just all play professional lacrosse too.
01:17:39
Speaker
It's like, yeah, this guy goes from coaching kids, ah you know maybe even being a secondhand coach to his head coach. um And he was just like the best player and the captain on his team. like He's been in a lot of different roles.
01:17:52
Speaker
And then now this guy's jumping into this team of all guys that have been in that role with a head coach that's the best at that role. And it's like that can conflict. And like there can be bumps in the road. So it's like...
01:18:04
Speaker
ah you have to be selfless. You have to like put the team before yourself as the role players and other guys are within the team. Cause a lot of guys are great leaders that just don't have to be. And it's like, it's his job. This is a 10 year vet. This is a guy that's been around. He's done this. He's got a lot of opinions. He knows the whole community. Like, yeah, this is the guy that's leading here.
01:18:21
Speaker
And yeah, just say, know, it's, you know, ours is, you know, it's been Liam Burns and Karen McArdle and, know, they do a phenomenal job of it. And it's it's something that, you know, i talked about Danny Logan and how hard it was to step in him as a captain. Like, I'm sure I would have the same type of feelings if I ever was stepped into a situation where I was a captain of a PLL team and that was a situation.
01:18:42
Speaker
it would be a completely new battle. Same saying, but quite different because of a lot of, it's not the idea of being the captain of the team, but it's all the variables that go into it, um which make it like really impressive to me that they can still do as good of a job as a captain that I might be seeing every single day, you know, which is not easy to be a leader like that.
01:19:02
Speaker
Yeah. And all of those intangibles, those tools, those skills, whatever we want to call it, They're carrying that over into into their real life. So whatever it is they're doing outside of the sport continues to ooze that preparation and lead to lead.
01:19:19
Speaker
Yeah. i I do have – I got one more thing to say for you too here because I'm sure you have a lot more guys on this podcast or – maybe a little bit quicker with the wet than me. And they have a little bit more life experience and they're probably hex of you know phenomenal leaders and and been through quite a bit.
Lessons from Rejection and Failure
01:19:35
Speaker
So one thing I will share that is important for any player, coach, especially parents is the most impactful seasons, two so well, one season and then not a season, I'll explain a second, but the most impactful time in my athletic career didn't have to do with lacrosse and didn't have to do anything with success.
01:19:55
Speaker
That summer, essentially seventh grade basketball, we're talking seventh, eighth grade basketball. Again, like I said, I was a short guy. I worked really hard. I was i was pretty good. you know i was slightly slower, but I was like pretty coordinated, like didn't have the best hands, but was capable of everything. like There wasn't something I wasn't okay at, but I was never good at something in particular.
01:20:14
Speaker
The seventh grade team, I joined the team and, you know, and my brothers played basketball. They were both phenomenal basketball players. And I was on the team. I had practiced a whole bunch and I felt like I was this good player and legitimately just sat the bench for the entire year. Kid playing point guard in front of me was a really good player.
01:20:31
Speaker
And he deserved to be out there, like without a doubt, like he was significantly better than I was. And it was something that in my competitive fire and me as a person, like could not wrap my head around it because I kept practicing. I kept practicing and nothing was going my way.
01:20:44
Speaker
And it killed me. And it was like the only times in my career where i was like, I get in the car, i you know, your parents like, don't be crying on the bench, dude. Like you almost cracked a tear down there. Like you should be cheering on your teammates.
01:20:54
Speaker
And like, that was always a lesson I learned, which was huge. Because there's a lot of people that would have been nurtured in that aspect instead of being like, no, that's selfish for you to sit on the bench and think about yourself for a whole game when you could have sat there and helped somebody else out and made sure the team was getting better, which is a really selfless, hard lesson to learn as a seventh grader.
01:21:12
Speaker
And to be fair, I didn't learn it when I was a seventh grader. But I learned like I would go to practice and give everything I had. And it was like, I remember how hard I was working. I felt getting better and I felt how much better I was getting.
01:21:26
Speaker
Season goes by, okay? Didn't play much, never played. Couple of times I went in, it was like, you know, to go in turn it over, yanked right back out. and you're like, no way, I just did that. just ruined my, you know, just like everything's crumbling.
01:21:38
Speaker
And, and then that summer again, wasn't playing club lacrosse or anything at that point. And what I decided to do is I was like, Hey, i don't want to play football next season. I want to practice for basketball. And I told my parents this and I was like, I'm really interested in making sure I'm a good basketball player in the eighth grade team.
01:21:53
Speaker
Um, yeah. Shout out Craig McGee, the that was starting over me. He ended being a heck of a D3 player, but he, uh, yeah. Good guy. Um, I think I guess I haven't known him in a really long time. I hope Craig's a great guy. He wasn't right now, but but Next year, I'm like, all right, like I'm going practice a ton.
01:22:10
Speaker
And it was like played baseball season, didn't think about it. My dad was like, remember you said like, he's like, you know, like your older brother has been training with a guy because my older brother was in high school at this point in time He knew he was like pursuing basketball and really liked it.
01:22:21
Speaker
So we had this trainer and we would just essentially like do work for our dad in the lawn. And then he would essentially be like, okay, now you can go to the trainer and we would go train with him. And it was Sherwin Anderson. he was this really tough nose guy, played basketball at Xavier, um had a short stint in the NBA, I believe. But, you know, just it came from really rough area of town.
01:22:40
Speaker
Like we would just be down in the inner city going and training with these guys. And it was a different environment than me and my rural kind of farm town in Ohio. And that like three months spurt of playing basketball with them was the hardest, but also like the most ever learned about learning.
01:22:56
Speaker
Cause there was a lot of people that were way, way, way better than me at basketball. And this Sherwin Anderson guy would literally look me in the eyes and be like what are you gonna do about it? He's like, you're just gonna let that guy keep whooping on you all day. He's like, you don't have to be better than him, but you gotta find a way to win.
01:23:09
Speaker
Like you gotta to find a way. And then again, ah like three, four months, best I've ever played basketball. felt incredible. I felt really good. I was competing with these guys that were killing me months ago that had been playing a bunch and go to eighth grade basketball tryouts, snipped, cut, best I'd ever been. I was probably three times as good as I was the season before as best I ever been.
01:23:35
Speaker
i remember the coach, I'm not going to say his name though, but the coach, he pretty much just told me like, I'm short. Like that was kind of some like reasoning behind it. Um, um, And like, he was just like, yeah, I'm like going for a bigger team this year. Like we got some big guys, like some taller kids tried out kind of like hits me with this really hard. And I remember like, and my mom, in all my competitive aspect, all my athleticism in my entire life comes from my mother. My dad is not, he's a foreign boy, redneck guy. Like just not like loves playing football, but wasn't, you know, he's filling a gaps. He wasn't throwing the ball.
01:24:05
Speaker
So like my mom, I get in the car with her And I lose my mind, you know, like scream, cry and punch in the dash. i'm like, I was working so hard. Like I put in all this time and effort. Like, you know, like I literally remember the feeling. of so horrible.
01:24:19
Speaker
And my mom's like, yeah, it's the way it goes. It's like all she had for me. She was like, hey, sometimes you're going to work really, really, really, really hard. And she's like, and you're gonna lose. And it was like this,
01:24:31
Speaker
ah Like, okay. Like you can, you can make incredible strides as yourself and it's still not good enough. And it was like that, that moment put like a drive in me that was just like, okay, beautiful.
01:24:46
Speaker
I got it. Like makes sense, right? Like all I got to do is make sure I'm getting good enough to where that it's not even an option that anybody else could have gotten as good as me. And it's like, you know, and that was like a learning lesson for me to where, know,
01:25:00
Speaker
I didn't have the option to go anywhere else. My mom's like, guess what? you want to play basketball next year? You gotta go back to the same guys. You gotta prove them wrong. you know You gotta go back to the same team of kids. You gotta beat somebody out for their spot. right
Turning Challenges into Motivation
01:25:11
Speaker
and it's And it was one of those things where I was just like, it ruined me.
01:25:14
Speaker
And actually, you know what's even funnier is, shout out my buddy, Matt Kirk. A hell of a baseball player in the Mac conference. But I bet Matt Kirk before that eighth grade tryout $20 at the time. Let's think about this. Eighth grade. It's pretty much like betting 100 grand. Eighth grade, $20. It's all I had.
01:25:30
Speaker
And I was like, 20 bucks. I take your spot in the team this year. He's the starting point guard. Like he was he was the behind Craig. And I bet Matt. And I actually paid Matt at his bachelor party. Oh, eventually. I eventually paid him. I never paid him the $20 the moment of, I got cut. We'd never talked about it. He didn't talk me about it. We talked about it in college, I believe. And then I was like, I owe you $20 still did. And, uh, ended up giving him the 20 bucks.
01:25:52
Speaker
But with that being said, this day and age, a lot of parents would probably switch their kids on their club team or they would bounce them for this team or bounce them to that team or switch schools. And it probably had a massive impact on who was able to become as an athlete. So, yeah.
01:26:09
Speaker
That's, you know, that's competitive life. So it's something want to share. Yeah. And you're make, you made a decision on their decision and it was to turn it into a drive yeah and a story you can still tell today versus F that guy kind of thing.
01:26:24
Speaker
hundred percent. There's a little a ah F that guy in there, but there's also a lot of respect for it too, you know? You know, eighth grade me is still like, yeah, i wish I could kick the guy in the shin. But at the same time, it's like, now that you're here, you're like, ah, probably owe that guy a hug.
01:26:37
Speaker
Send him a signed photo. Yeah. Water dogs champion. I will. I will. I'll just send him on my ring. Just give it right to him. bill Right on the appropriate finger. yeah Here's a picture, buddy. Thank you for the inspiration.
Future Plans and Collaborations
01:26:50
Speaker
Yeah. 100%. Yeah. Yeah.
01:26:52
Speaker
yeah Well, Jack, man, it was pleasure getting to know you. I know we're well over the time. I just wanted to keep the conversation going. Absolutely. so All good. plug I'll be cheering for you this season. I got some other pals in the league. so Beautiful. It'll be fun to to see you go against them.
01:27:07
Speaker
Jack Posey on the chaos. oh yeah He's a Texas guy now. so He's a down in Texas now, yeah? La Crosse Barn. don't know if you've seen Tintel. I haven't talked to Tintel, but I need to because he does a phenomenal job.
01:27:20
Speaker
You do? He does an incredible job, and it's something I need to do. just yeah like We're pretty much doing the same things in opposite locations. He's got some really cool stuff going down there. Yeah, I was there last weekend. so yeah Every time in me Dallas, make it a point to hang out with Nick, and then he's getting his own podcast set up.
01:27:37
Speaker
Yeah. so Well, I need to make it down there anyway because I got ah i was talking to Zach Greer, who I played with in the NLL for his last couple years in the league. And Greer's a legend of the game, obviously. But he was telling me how how big of a deal. is He's like, it's unreal down here. I need to get down there. And it' you know I want to go learn from a guy like that because he's doing the right things.
01:27:55
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. ah He's in my business mastermind. So we're we're in the, yeah, similar paths, building brands and representation than just lacrosse is that through line.
01:28:07
Speaker
and So that's awesome. Cool, man. Well, where can people go to follow you outside of watching on ESPN this summer and continue to, to, to learn lacrosse den,
01:28:18
Speaker
did Do y'all have a site for the den? i know you're on Instagram. So yeah, I'm on Instagram, just, you know, Jack Hanna. Um, uh, I think it's Jack Hanna three or something like that. I'm on Twitter and stuff as well. lacrosse and pages are just lacrosse den.
01:28:31
Speaker
Um, they're all attached to my page and things like that. um We'll have like YouTube and TikTok and things like that coming out here in the next, this summer. We got some pretty cool marketing and things coming out this summer with some of the high school guys we're training and some of the really elite dudes we're gonna work with. So gonna be able to like, hopefully talk about that feedback loop and teach, like get all them on video, explain to the young guys.
01:28:54
Speaker
what helped them learn, what helped them do it. And I have 12 of them. So hopefully we get a lot of different perspectives and and learnings on that. So yeah, go give us a fall. It's, you know, we want to just be the best utility lacrosse community that can be. So heck yeah.
01:29:07
Speaker
Yeah. Sweet Denver. All right. Thank you for joining us. And see you. Beautiful. Sweet job. Yeah, man. Pleasure. Pleasure.