2024 Fall Training
4 Sessions for High Level Players
First 3 sessions are 90 minutes of advanced training
Last session is a videotaped game
Who
(8th Grade through 6th Grade).
High level players
When
Where
Training Concepts
Ecological Dynamics in Lacrosse: A Philosophy and Plan
In lacrosse, like in all team sports, how you play depends on your interactions with teammates, opponents, and the game environment. Ecological dynamics is all about understanding these interactions and how they affect performance. It’s the idea that you’re always adapting to what’s happening around you—whether it’s your teammates movements, opponents movements, the ball movements, communications heard, playing conditions,, or how the game is flowing. Instead of seeing skills and techniques as fixed, we view them as flexible and adaptable. You’re constantly learning and adjusting your movements and strategies based on the unique situations you face during the game. By working with this mindset, you can create more creative, adaptable, and resilient players. Essentially it’s the Goldfish mentality- a goldfish will adapt to the size of its bowl….bigger bowl (better environment) the goldfish will grow. We need to create learning environments for our players so they can live in the jungle and not in the zoo! We want adaptive, creative, speed of mind players.
How Do We do That?
Constraints-Led Approach (CLA)
The constraints-led approach (CLA) is about using the game's natural unpredictability and variability to improve your skills. We change different aspects of practice to help the boys learn and adapt. This keeps training interesting and more like a real game. We want to maximize decision making reps not technique reps!
Key Parts of CLA:
- Individual Constraints:
- Task Constraints:
- Environmental Constraints:
Essentially, all our drills have friction and context (not on air) We create constraints to create realistic learning environments with high variability and speed of mind decision making. We can constrain space, time, advantages, goal size, etc, but everything involves decision making. Our goal is to enhance our players’ Perception-Action coupling skills. This is a skill we use everyday in every aspect of our lives. How quickly can we take what we perceive into what we do. This is the key to high variability team sports like lacrosse, hockey, basketball. Fighter pilots call this an OODA loop. Observe, orient, decide, act. The faster this loop happens, the better the player.
Nonlinear Pedagogy (NLP)
Nonlinear pedagogy (NLP) is about recognizing that learning isn’t always straightforward. Instead of repetitive drills, we mix things up to keep players engaged and learning effectively. I do this in my classroom and it’s amazing the results and engagement/enjoyment from students.
Key Parts of NLP:
- Realistic Practice: We make sure practice activities look and feel like real games. This helps develop “skills that translate” to actual games.
- Problem Solving:. Instead of telling players exactly what to do, we give them challenges to solve. This helps them become better at making decisions and assessing context. Discovery of solutions sticks more in the brain than distribution of solutions.
- Exploration: We create situations where players have to find different ways to succeed. This helps them become more creative and flexible in your play.
By embracing ecological dynamics, the constraints-led approach, and nonlinear pedagogy, we can create a training environment that maximizes our player development. It's a holistic, engaging, and adaptive method that will not only enhance our players skills and performance but also make them more creative, resilient, and successful lacrosse players.