Death to the Star Drill
Be less nonchalant, bro.
There is a podcast that comes out today where I absolutely trash the star drill. Unlike most times when I go extra-negative, I am seeking zero absolution. There will be no mea culpa. The Star Drill - at any level past youth - is not a proper lacrosse warm-up.
Hills - I die on them.
Let me explain.
We have a routine at Hopkinton. We warm up with box drills, move into a three-on-two drill for the offense while the defense does groundballs, outlets, and rollbacks, and then we run through “Endicott” which is just a 5-on-4 shell offense to get game-ready.
I don’t help with any of that. Because as the team is doing this, I walk to the half line and watch our opponents. I look for all sorts of things to clue me in on what this team is about. Positional sizes, body language, players with the best mechanics, goalie tendencies, and what they do to warm up.
Every single time I see a star drill, I think to myself, “Oh. We’re going to kill this team.”
A star drill is when you have five lines of players in one long and protracted line drill. Four of those lines are on the corners of the field, and the fifth line is either at X or up top above the restraining line. Sometimes the drill includes a shot. Other times, it features a long diagonal pass.
It’s boring.
(Because one ball shared among five lines and five players in each line means that you get a touch every, what, minute and thirty seconds?)
It’s lame.
(Because none of the passes are at game speed or replicate in-game scenarios.)
It does nothing to prepare your players for a game.
(Because there is no intensity.)
The star drill sucks because it is a time-waster. It’s a filler drill for practice, not for pregame warm-ups. It’s a drill for children.
Hey, who put this Trojan horse here?
We’re not actually here to talk about the star drill. We are here to talk about intensity.
I am a demanding coach. Despite seriously softening my approach since I got to Hopkinton, I am still hard on my guys. The biggest reason for this is that of the players we have sent to the college ranks in my last four years, every one of them has come back and said, “I wish you were harder on me.” Mind you, these are guys that I genuinely love. (I mean, I love all my guys, but they’re not my actual kids - I’m allowed to have some favorites. They know who they are.)
One of the things I’ve done this season is to ask one question when players come back to the huddle:
“What’s the score?”
“Zero. Zero.” is all they’re allowed to say.
I stole this from John Tillman, whom you may know as the current head coach of the University of Maryland. I know him as the man who has defeated me in every interview I have ever had with him. He never answers my questions. He just talks. I hate it. It’s as humiliating as it is brilliant.
If this dude is going to embarrass me as a journalist, I might as well learn something from him as a coach. So, I make the kids say, “Zero. Zero.” because even if the score is lopsided or close, there is a mini-reset in their brains when they say it out loud.
See, intensity is a skill. But to this generation of kids, it’s also the least desirable trait to have. No one wants to be a try-hard. Everyone wants to be cool, but they want it to look effortless. The term they like to use is “nonchalant,” like they’re stealing a candy bar from the supermarket checkout or watching 1970s noir films on TikTok.
You can’t be nonchalant when you play lacrosse. The game does not reward it. It punishes the very notion of it. A skilled and experienced player can calibrate their output to match a situation. College players can all use tempo, cadence, and speed switches to their advantage in a game. But high school players? At the level I coach at? If you’re hesitating, you’re dead. If you’re not committing to a 50/50 groundball, you’re dead. If you’re catching an inside feed and not cutting full speed - you guessed it - you’re dead.
I tell my guys this all the time, and they always look at me like, “Bro, chill. It’s fine.”
(Allegedly)
Those are the kids who aren’t going to play lacrosse in college. And that’s fine. The ones who get challenged and actually respond. Those are the players with potential.
Those are the guys who don’t want to do the star drill. They want to soak a check before they get on the field. They want to dial in their shot in warm-ups. They don’t want to sit around and wait for the next drill - they get right into it.
They lead.
That’s what lacrosse teaches you. You can sit around and wait for your turn in the star drill, or you can steal every rep you can to get ready for the game.
This week’s post is brought to you by the Longpole Summit 2! Organized by the same people who brought you the Goalie Summit, this virtual online academy will take place on May 14th, 15th, and 16th. You can register and get access with my link right here: www.longpolesummit.com?ref=46849-Kyle-Devitte
The Longpole Summit 2 features high-level players who will provide three-day instructional and interactive seminars, and you can register right now! Why wait?
