Sports for Your Child

This is a story of a recreational lacrosse team that developed into a national contender in just a few short years.  This Raiders team came into existence three years ago as a mid-level developmental team.  No players were turned away and we had eleven players on that team that had never played lacrosse before.  Miraculously we ended up the season at twelve wins and two losses.  It seemed like we could have produced a movie based upon that season and believe me, I thought about it.

The second year, we stepped up to a tougher level of competition at the second highest level in the state of Colorado.  With a record of nineteen wins and zero losses, (a dream season) in that second year (2008), we were compelled to try our hand at the red (highest) level this year (2009). 

Head coach Don Knobloch had a vision and methodically went about making it happen.  The regular season was a challenge as we finished with two wins and eight losses with fourteen players and were quickly eliminated from the state championship. 

As I mentioned, Coach Knobloch had a plan, though, and twelve outstanding additional players joined the team in the postseason as we attempted to win the Colorado Cup.  We finished the Cup as champions with six wins and zero losses as we defeated the state select team twice.

We encountered some challenges in the Vail Shootout and finished fourth out of sixteen teams.  The ultimate winner was a great team representing the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA).  Lessons were learned by all of us and we were cautioned that we were going to have challenges in the national championship as most teams would be comprised of a mixture of  ‘rising’ high school sophomores and freshmen.  Our team consisted of rising seventh, eight and ninth graders.  Oh boy!

That brought us to the ultimate goal, the U15 National Championship.  Thirty-two teams from all regions of the country descended upon Bel Air, MD for the championship July 8-10, 2009.  We started off playing against one the tournament’s top teams, Blackwolf Select.  We weren’t ready for what we encountered, lost ten to two, and stood at the verge of being eliminated from the championship bracket.  One more loss in our three games in pool play and we would go to the consolation bracket.  Ouch.  We didn’t spend all that money and time practicing to be eliminated so quickly. 

In our second game against Team Vermont we won eleven to seven and found ourselves slotted to play the Maryland Hot Stix.  We didn’t know what to expect but, hey, it was a Maryland team that had showed up very well in a prestigous tournament earlier in this year.  We started the game very apprehensively as Maryland, and the Northeast in general are the hotbeds for lacrosse at any levels in the United States.  We played a real tough game, came out on top nine to five, and thus were headed to the Championship Bracket.  WOW!  We could have stopped there and it would have been a dream come true.

The next day we began by playing against the number one seed, “Next Level Lacrosse”.  We were introduced to a brand of lacrosse that we hadn’t seen yet and lost eleven to one.  We were sure that Next Level would be the ultimate champions! 

Now at two wins and two losses, we were facing elimination from the tournament in our next game. We watched as Team Colorado was eliminated from the tournament in the losers bracket and felt lucky indeed that we might end up ranked as the sixteenth team in the tournament.

Our next opponent, the BattleLax Bombers, a team from North Carolina, with ten rising sopohomores, played a strong game against us.  Against many odds, we came from behind to win six to five after our starting goalie, Jason Cleary, stopped a point blank shot with just a few seconds remaining.  The players mobbed Jason and we were on Cloud Nine!  We now knew that we couldn’t finish worse than twelfth in the country.  It was an amazing feeling.

Although we lost the next day to a strong Ithaca team, we were very content to know that we finished our season within the top twelve teams in the country.  The ultimate winner was FCA and although the coach was the same as the Vail team, he had some new players that were rising sophomores.  You’d have to say that the FCA coach, Frank Kelly was the U15 coach of the year.  What a great coach and a nice guy as well.

It’s been a dream ride, but most of our boys are off to high school and probably ten different teams.  The comraderie and sense of family has been tremendous and these boys will be linked forever.  With a mixture of emotions, I say “Go Raiders” or ”303′ as the players would chant after huddles.  I’ll miss this group of boys.

Rich Rosdal Coaches Corner, US Lacrosse National Championship championship, game, lacrosse, Maryland, money, National, Play, recreation, team

Unless your child is at an age where the score of the game isn’t tracked, winning counts and losing hurts.  The original quote was “It’s not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game.”  I believed this for a long time, but as I found out in my first year of coaching, losing is not fun at all.  I would prefer if the quote went like this “It matters if you win and how you play the game.”

The funniest quote that I read on the subject was “It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you place the blame” by Oscar Wilde.  I also read a witty comment that the person who originally said “It’s not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game” obviously lost a lot.

Getting back to my first year in coaching; my best friend at the time had a vision where kids could play to have fun whether they won or lost.  We went 1-7 and, believe me, when you see kids crying in the huddle you know they’re not having fun.  That was when I realized that if you want kids to have a lot of fun in sports you have to each them how to win.

You can’t go out on the field and play to win, either.  The best way to win is to work hard and smart and then focus on execution.  If you focus on winning only your eye is on the outcome, and not the moment.  The best teams are focused entirely on the ‘moment in time’ and that moment continually moves forward.  If players continually focus on the present, they can’t possibly beat themseleves up for making a bad play.  This is the best way to have a ’short memory’.

Work hard and smart, train diligently, focus on the moment and you stand a great chance of winning.

Happy July 4th weekend, everybody.

Rich Rosdal Coaches Corner, Parents Parlor, Player's Panacea focus, lose, moment, outcome, present, team, win

Many youth players don’t realize how the power of their minds can benefit them when it comes to sports.  Obviously, if the mind is focused, a player can achieve much more than when it isn’t.  Any player with ‘athletic ADD’ is going to have problems whether they are trying to hit a baseball/softball with a bat, catch a football, or score a goal in hockey, basketball, soccer or lacrosse.   Please note that I’m not referring to kids who have ADD, but kids who don’t focus when they’re playing sports.

As many East Indian gurus have told us there is a monkey in the back of the mind that is always trying to distract us.  A player must focus and refocus to stay in the present and prevent emotions from taking hold.

It is also true that both winning and losing can be mindsets.  To transition from a losing mindset to a winning mindset, the whole team has to be focused on every play.  It requires steadfast alignment of the collective thinking of the team that they can win.  They must stay focused throughout the game and think about the outcome after the game is over.  If players are focused on the outcome then they aren’t in the moment.

We’ve all seen teams with big leads lose games and that happens because the players aren’t thinking in the present.  This is true for all actions in life and it’s certainly easier said than done, but coaches and captains need to be aware of the power of the mind.

Rich Rosdal Coaches Corner, Parents Parlor, Player's Panacea baseball, basketball, focus, football, hockey, losing, mind, outcome, Power, present, soccer, softball, winning

“Exertion is a concept describing the use of physical or perceived energy. It normally connotates a strenuous or costly effort related to physical, muscular, philosophical actions and work.” — Wikipedia

“Fatigue (also called exhaustion, lethargy, languidness, languor, lassitude, and listlessness) is a state of weariness. It can describe a range of afflictions, varying from a general state of lethargy to a specific work-induced burning sensation within one’s muscles. It can be both physical and mental. Physical fatigue is the inability to continue functioning at the level of one’s normal abilities.”  Wikipedia

Parents and coaches spend a great deal of time and money preparing youth athletes for tournaments.  That investment should be protected to ensure that the child has the very best experience on the field.  When there is a tournament that requires sleeping away from home, there is a tendency to let the kids have fun in the wrong ways.  Anything that requires physical exertion is draining for an athlete both physically and mentally.  When the body is tired the brain doesn’t function as well.

Any activity that is physical, time spent in the sun, or anything that depletes the body of fluids such as a sauna or hot tub should be avoided as much as possible. A few years back, the players on my older son’s baseball team thought it would be great idea to have a catch, with a football, at a baseball tournament during a long wait between games.  When they played in the championship game, that followed the break, they lost 15-0.  Coincidence?  I don’t think so.  I have watched several outstanding teams crumble from unnecessary physical exertion during tournaments. 

Pool activity should be limited to a maximum of 30 minutes per day. Players should refrain from playing catch. swimming, or conducting horseplay of any kind. 

While chatting with Kirk Mango, a friend who has been a high school coach for 17 years and is the author of “Becoming a True Champion”, I confirmed my concerns about the negative effects of over-exertion.  When chatting about teenage athletes engaging in recreational swimming during tournaments, Kirk said “. . . they are at the age when real competition begins. . . . discuss it from the standpoint that it is important that they can wind down and find other (non-physical) activities to get their mind off the game, release stress, and bond as a team.  They need to consider how certain choices affect not only them, but their teammates. I would start by coming right out and asking, or reaffirming, the goals they have for the season. Then I’d bring them full circle to show them how that choice they made – swimming for that many hours - diminished their chances of reaching their goal.  Good kids, competitive athletes will not do that again.” 

Kirk also mentioned that:

·     Fatigue breaks down the body to the point where the risk of injury is increased

·     His daughter’s competitive soccer team restricts time in a pool during tournaments

Be smart about the way you allow youth athletes to exert themselves during tournaments and they’ll have a more satisfying experience.  Competitive players shouldn’t allow fun off the field to jeopardize fun on the field where it counts.

Here’s the link for “Becoming a True Champion” by Kirk Mango  http://www.becomingatruechampion.com/

Rich Rosdal Coaches Corner, Parents Parlor athlete, baseball, catch, championship game, coaches, depletes, drained, exertion, exhaustion, fatigue, fluids, football, function, hot tub, Injury, mentally, parents, physically, pool, risk, sauna, smart, soccer, tournaments, youth

Too much talent?  We’ve seen this in professional sports many times.  A general manager stacks his team with many of the best talents in the game.  Observers expect those players to overcome any adversity and then the team doesn’t gel.  Every team must have team players to win.  If a team has too many stars and the players do not subordinate their egos, there won’t be team play.

Our summer lacrosse team has many players that have outstanding talent and our challenge as coaches is to manage the player’s “collective team thinking” as well their talents.  If we do this, the team can go a long way.  If we don’t accomplish this task, we’ll follow a long list of underacheiving teams.

We have our first summer team tournament this weekend and it will be interesting to see how well we do against some excellent teams.  More info on the tournament will follow after the weekend.  Enjoy your weekend, all.

Rich Rosdal Coaches Corner, Parents Parlor, Player's Panacea adversity, Challenge, coaches, ego, Players, Talent, team, tournament

I’m not an expert in Sports Medicine.  It’s necessary, however, to talk about sports injuries as they do happen and you want to provide a good long-term solution for your child.  Here are some quick pointers that come from my experience as a father of two youth athletes:

1) If an injury looks like it could be a broken bone, go to a doctor immediately for x-rays, preferably an orthopaedic physician.  Some broken bones will heal by themselves after being set and some will require surgery.

2) If your child keeps getting chronic injuries to their ankles, heels, knees, back or neck, the problems could be resolved by chiropractic care.  Look for a chropractic doctor or clinic that specializes in sports injuries.  My boys were adjusted over several months by Dr. Dennis Nikitow of DTC Chiropractic in Denver, Colorado.  Both boys showed considerable improvement as evidenced by before and after x-rays.  It may be necessary for your child to be fitted with orthotics to correct foot alignment problems.  This can make a huge difference as our feet can be the starting point for problems with the spine.   Here is the website for DTC Chiropractic: http://dtcchiropractic.com/

3) Dehydration can be a serious health concern.  Make sure that your child is sufficently hydrated at all time but especially when playing sports.

4) Ice or Heat?  Here’s a very simple rule to use.  Apply ice packs or a baggy filled with ice if there is swelling.  Ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin, etc.) is an anti-inflammatory medicine and can also help to reduce swelling.  If there’s no swelling, then heat would be better. For a much better explanation just click on this link: http://sportsmedicine.about.com/cs/rehab/a/heatorcold.htm 

5) If your child needs surgery for a sports injury consider the Steadman Hawkins Clinic or a comparable team of doctors.  They are experts at diagnosing and treating  sports and orthopaedic problems.Here is the website for The Steadman Hawkins Clinic: http://www.steadman-hawkins.com/aboutUs.asp

This is not the most comprehensive and detailed information regarding sports injuries, but I hope it helps you.

Rich Rosdal Coaches Corner, Parents Parlor, Player's Panacea Alignment, Ankle, back, Broken Bone, Chiropractor, Clinic, Dehydration, Doctor, Dr., Foot, Heat, Heel, Ibuprofen, Ice, Injury, Knee, Neck, Surgery, X-Rays

We’re confronted with a serious problem in our schools across the country.  As a lack of money has been an issue for many individuals during this economic crisis, it’s also an issue for many school districts across the United States.  When money is tight at the school district level there are only so many things they can cut.  Unfortunately, spending on physical education is an easy target.

On the negative side, there are students who get their feelings hurt by their classmates, i.e. getting teased, being selected last for team sports, and other such indignities.  Self esteem is certainly a major concern for certain students and the pain caused by these random acts of cruelty is damaging. 

Many of these students have weight issues that can be rectified (to some extent) by the regimented exercise involved in physical education programs.  For many of these kids, this is the only exercise they get on a daily basis.  Research has proven that 20 seconds of sprinting can release natural HGH in the body which helps the mind and the body.

I firmly believe that the benefits of physical education far outweigh the costs and drawbacks.  School districts should consider fundraising efforts if money is the problem.  Let’s not forsake the health and welfare of kids because we’re not willing to work hard to raise money.

Take a stand in favor of physical education and let your voice be heard.

Rich Rosdal Coaches Corner, Parents Parlor exercise, health, hgh, money issues, physical education, sprint

Players, listen up.

It’s important that you understand exactly what you want to be as an athlete.  Are you most interested in just having fun?  There’s nothing wrong with that, but this article won’t be very interesting to you.

If you want to compete at the highest level available to you then I have one word for you: Work . . . hard.  OK, I know, that’s two words.  The message is simple.  If you want to be the best, no matter how much talent you have, you’ve got to work harder than anyone else.

What’s an important attribute for an athlete?  Strength, endurance, speed, quickness, balance, hops?  All of these can be improved with exercise, stretching and practice.  If that’s sounds boring to you, then be creative and find a way to love working hard.  If you don’t work hard, someone else will.  The only way an athlete can excel in today’s competitive environment is to strive to be the best that they can be. It takes to the right attitude to exceed others.

Be smart about what you’re doing, also.  There are books, videos and articles available in hard copy or on the web, that can show you how to improve.  Find out what you need to do to get better and be persistent.  Stick with doing what will make you better.

Just know what you want!  If you don’t want to work hard, then don’t maintain high expectations for yourself in athletics.  Find another hobby.  It’s an expansive world and there are many things you can do that will be fun and challenging for you 

Rich Rosdal Coaches Corner, Parents Parlor, Player's Panacea athlete, attitude, ball, competitive, fun, persistent, player, Quick, Speed, sports, Strong, work hard

High School football was established around the late 1890s to early 1900s and took its lead from college football. As rules were changed at the college level, they filtered down to the high school level. High school football is, of course, the feeder program for universities around the country.

While larger high school divisions particpate in the 11 player game, smaller high schools can play with 6, 8, or even 9 players. Rules and field sizes vary depending upon the number of players.

References:

While not current, a very detailed history of American Football, and a reference for this article, can be found at: http://www.essortment.com/all/americanfootbal_rwff.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_school_football

Rich Rosdal Coaches Corner, Parents Parlor, Sports History athletes, College, divisions, football, high school, sports, university

The game that we love in the United States that is known as “Football” is not the original game of that name. Soccer, another very popular sport in the United States, is also known by the name Football, “Futbal” or “Futbol” in Europe and around the world.

There is great controvery over which game is more exciting for its fans.  Futbol fans say their game is more exciting because the action continues constantly. They get bored waiting while watching American Football because the game stops while the new play comes in to the quarterback.

My personal opinion, one shared by many Americans, is that American Football is much more exciting because of the drama, the strategy, the physicality, and the fact that the scoring is much more varied and consistent. Also, the time in between plays is very interesting because American fans think along with the coach in deciding the best play for the situation.

I apologize to all futbol fans, but I fall asleep waiting for a score in your game. In fact, I coach a game similar to futbol named “Lacrosse” and it’s more exciting for me also because of the same reason, more scoring.

I’d be interested in hearing from futbol fans. Tell us what you think.

Rich Rosdal Coaches Corner, Parents Parlor, Sports History Action, Fans, football, Futbal, Futbol, game, Scoring