Hawk Talk: Stop Jumping
"Make him wear cement shoes!"
The internet is dumb.
As a caveat, most collective consciousnesses are dumb. A common thing you see in science fiction is the concept of a hive mind being super-intelligent. Thousands or even millions of beings coming together to pool their collective knowledge into a functioning supercomputer. You’ve got the Borg in Star Trek, the Phalanx in Marvel comics, and the Formics from Ender’s Game. I used to think that it was such a cool concept, so futuristic, so enlightened. Now I know why it only exists in science fiction - because modern humanity could never be part of a hive mind.
My proof for this is my attempt to crowdsource help to stop one of my attackmen from jumping when he shoots. Every time he leaves his feet, I cringe because I think he’s going to get killed by the crease slide. And half the time, he does. A quarter of the time, he scores, and the other quarter of the time, he misses. I’m trying to find a way through to him to protect him, I’m not angry about it.
So I asked Twitter for coaching advice. Here are some of the responses to my inquiry:
“Sign him up for Box lax and let a defensemen and a concrete floor do all the teaching.”
“Concrete shoes and dump him in a lake….”
“Teach him to box but you really only need to show him how to throw a good right cross (if he shoots right) & have him practice it by shadow boxing once a day for 10 min. Same mechanics w/ no stick/ball & it'll allow em to focus on the legs>hips>core>arms power dynamics. It works.”
“Jumpers fo life” (This was all-time lacrosse great Kyle Harrison - go ahead and look.)
“I doubt it’s a good idea, but having my teammates chirp me if I make a mistake I’m working on fixing helps me so maybe try that in practice? Ex. When I give up a five hole save I have my teammates scream at me.”
My conclusion is that I should not consult groupthink social media for any coaching advice. Or any advice in general.
But the dilemma remains - how can I curb this jumping enthusiasm? Well, there has to be some sort of punitive measure, and since I’m no longer coaching college lacrosse and can’t actually pull out a trash can and yell “RUN!” as loud as I can, other methods must be employed.
So I did try a suggestion from Jordan Demcher (aka: Jordie from Barstool) who recommended that I teach him shooting from a kneeling position to teach him how to use his core better. Of course, the whole team did it, not just him, so it was somewhat effective in teaching everyone a little something about where power comes from, but then he did it three times in the next game.
At this point, it probably just feels like I’m harping on this one player doing this one thing that annoys me. It doesn’t annoy me that he does it; it annoys me that I can’t fix it. And not because of my coaching ego - but for him because jumping into the air makes you a target for clean-out hits that can really injure you.
Earlier this season, we played a team that was more interested in hitting our players on and off ball than playing lacrosse. I’m not going to say which team, but it was not necessarily a surprise when it happened. What was a surprise was that, after a two-minute unreleasable penalty from a blindside hit, I heard their coach exclaim proudly, “That’s how we play.”
No.
Dude.
That’s not lacrosse.
I stared at him with a barrage of mental daggers shooting from my pupils. Then I walked over to our player who was now on the bench and put my arm around him. I’m not going to tell you what he said or what I said back. But I’ll tell you this - we ran offensive plays until the final whistle.
And no one jumped.
We settled on doing pushups as punishment for jumping, but that’s sort of like settling on tipping 8%. More is required. It is a work in progress. That’s what this entire season is; it’s what it always is.
Coaching is just trying to keep everyone safe while you try to unlock their potential with drills, advice, and leadership.
OR, in my case, wild hype up speeches that end with a “pretend” elbow drop, screaming about making teams pay rent, or picking up the nearest player and squatting them.
#StopJumping
#GoHawks