Clinic CORRECTION

We received some incorrect info about the Step Up Clinic. Here is the corrected info from the Step Up website:

Date: August 24, 2013
Time: 12:30pm-3:30pm
Location: Birmingham Elementary School
14865 Birmingham Hwy, Milton, GA 30004

OR

Date: August 25, 2013
Time: 10am-1:00pm
Location: Norcross High School
5300 Spalding Dr Norcross, GA 30092

Registration Deadline: August 23, 2013

Please take advantage of these opportunites as you are able!
Let's get it done!!!

Fall Ball

Fall Ball is upon us with Mr. Toner leading the charge! We will discuss more details in the MANDATORY meeting Friday morning at 7:50 in Coach Carr's room (A112), but here is a bit of info to start.  Also, keep in mind that there will be a meeting at Roswell with Mr. Toner on Wednesday, August 21st at 4pm (not sure about the room number yet)...more details to follow.

The cost will be $200 which includes 6 League Games, 2 Play Day games, a minimum 4 7v7 games, 32 conditioning sessions, and 55 lacrosse sessions (weather permitting).

Practice Schedule
Day of Week	Date	4:00-5:00	5:00-5:30	5:30-6:00	6:00-6:15
Monday	19-Aug	Coaches Meeting
Wednesday	21-Aug	Lacrosse
Thursday	22-Aug	Lacrosse
Monday	26-Aug	Lacrosse
Wednesday	28-Aug	Lacrosse
Thursday	29-Aug	Lacrosse
Monday	2-Sep	No School - Labor Day
Wednesday	4-Sep	Basketball		Lacrosse
Thursday	5-Sep	Lacrosse
Monday	9-Sep	Basketball		Lacrosse
Wednesday	11-Sep	Basketball		Lacrosse
Thursday	12-Sep	Lacrosse
Monday	16-Sep	Basketball		Lacrosse
Wednesday	18-Sep	Basketball		Lacrosse
Thursday	19-Sep	Lacrosse
Monday	23-Sep	Basketball		Lacrosse
Wednesday	25-Sep	Basketball		Lacrosse
Thursday	26-Sep	Lacrosse
Monday	30-Sep	Basketball		Lacrosse
Wednesday	2-Oct	Basketball		Lacrosse
Thursday	3-Oct	Lacrosse
Monday	7-Oct	Basketball		Lacrosse
Wednesday	9-Oct	Basketball		Lacrosse
Thursday	10-Oct	Lacrosse
Monday	14-Oct	No School - Student/Teacher Holiday
Wednesday	16-Oct	Basketball		Lacrosse
Thursday	17-Oct	Lacrosse
Monday	21-Oct	Basketball		Lacrosse
Wednesday	23-Oct	Basketball		Lacrosse
Thursday	24-Oct	Lacrosse
Monday	28-Oct	CrossFit		Lacrosse
Wednesday	30-Oct	CrossFit		Lacrosse
Thursday	31-Oct	Lacrosse
Monday	4-Nov	CrossFit		Lacrosse
Wednesday	6-Nov	CrossFit		Lacrosse
Thursday	7-Nov	Lacrosse
Monday	11-Nov	CrossFit		Lacrosse
Wednesday	13-Nov	CrossFit		Lacrosse
Thursday	14-Nov	Lacrosse
Monday	18-Nov	CrossFit		Lacrosse
Wednesday	20-Nov	CrossFit		Lacrosse
Thursday	21-Nov	Lacrosse
Monday	25-Nov	No School - Thanksgiving
Wednesday	27-Nov	No School - Thanksgiving
Thursday	28-Nov	No School - Thanksgiving
Monday	2-Dec	CrossFit		Lacrosse
Wednesday	4-Dec	CrossFit		Lacrosse
Thursday	5-Dec	Lacrosse
Monday	9-Dec	CrossFit		Lacrosse
Wednesday	11-Dec	CrossFit		Lacrosse
Thursday	12-Dec	Lacrosse
Monday	16-Dec	CrossFit		Lacrosse
Wednesday	18-Dec	CrossFit		Lacrosse
Thursday	19-Dec	Lacrosse
Monday	23-Dec	No School - Christmas/New Year's
Wednesday	25-Dec	No School - Christmas/New Year's
Thursday	26-Dec	No School - Christmas/New Year's
Monday	30-Dec	No School - Christmas/New Year's
Wednesday	1-Jan	No School - Christmas/New Year's
Thursday	2-Jan	No School - Christmas/New Year's
Monday	6-Jan	No School - Teacher's Workshop
Wednesday	8-Jan	CrossFit		Lacrosse
Thursday	9-Jan	Lacrosse
Monday	13-Jan	CrossFit		Lacrosse
Wednesday	15-Jan	CrossFit		Lacrosse
Thursday	16-Jan	Lacrosse
Monday	20-Jan	No School - MLK Jr. Holiday
Wednesday	22-Jan	CrossFit		Lacrosse
Thursday	23-Jan	Lacrosse
	Events Schedule
	Day of Week	Date	Event
	Saturday	21-Sep	Newtown Rec League
	Sunday	22-Sep	Newtown Rec League
	Saturday	28-Sep	Lax First Play Day
	Saturday	5-Oct	Newtown Rec League
	Sunday	6-Oct	Newtown Rec League
	Saturday	19-Oct	Newtown Rec League
	Sunday	20-Oct	Newtown Rec League
	Saturday	7-Dec	LaxMas Tournament
	Sunday	8-Dec	LaxMas Tournament

Lax clinic... Go get it!!!

Hey get in on this!! Great opportunity. It's a long text but read and more importantly sign up!! Back to school....back to lax!!
          We are coming back to our roots and hosting a clinic in Milton, GA Saturday August 25th, 2012 9am-12pm at Birmingham Elementary School. It doesn’t get any better than this…3 National Champions- an attacker, a defender and a midfielder coming together to coach a specialty clinic in your hometown. Step Up lacrosse couldn’t be more excited about the balance of skill, talent and fun that our staff has to offer you. This special event will include · New and Innovative stick work · How to be a better shooter- speed radar gun to check your speed! · Defensive footwork and 1v1 Coaching · Specialized skill training: draws, man up/man down, stick tricks · Nike prizes
          To register visit http://www.stepuplacrosse.com/ Our coaches include: Karri Ellen Johnson (Maryland '12, Team USA '12), Katie Gallagher (Maryland '11), Jenny Collins (Maryland '10)

Motivation from your Coaches

“It’s not the will to win that matters—everyone has that. It’s the will to prepare to win that matters.” – Paul “Bear” Bryant

         Girls, we are in the beginning of our workouts.  Our numbers are building and this is great to see, but it needs to be better.  Our goal is to get to the final game and stand on the top of the podium as champions!  In order to get there, it’s going to take hard work, determination, sacrifice, and the will to prepare.  
        Not everyone wants to wake up early and work hard and sweat during the summer.  However, these are the moments that make us better as individuals and as a team!  It also takes more than just showing up.  It takes effort, persistence, and discipline to know that when you show up you’re going to work hard and give it all you've got.  Just merely showing up is not enough! Make yourself better, be self-disciplined, and DON’T MAKE EXCUSES!!!  Sure it’s easier to hit the snooze button, to say you’ll get around to it, or to find a way to get out of it, but you’re missing opportunities to make yourself a better player, a better athlete, and a better person.  You are part of a TEAM so don’t let your teammates down. We are only as good as our weakest link.  Don’t let that link be you!!  
        Hard work is not just about winning games, it’s about success.  Work hard in all you do and you will make yourself better.  Outwork your workout partner, lead by example, and know that when you walk away from the gym, field, classroom, or wherever you may be you gave it all you had and are ready to come back tomorrow and work harder.  The spring season has started.  It’s time to step up and be the best we can be!!! 

   A wall ball routine is posted on the right column under "Pages".

Take a look and LET'S GET IT DONE!!!

Interesting Food for Thought...

Lacrosse at a Crossroads: What the Rules Change Proposals Mean for the Game 

Danielle Bernstein - 6/11/2013

The new rules would allow the on-ball defender to enter the goal circle. (Photo: George Jennison)

Change may be constant, but the rate at which it happens varies — and in 2013 women's lacrosse is at a crossroads of change. In a time where the focus has become making the sport more fan-friendly, bringing it more into the mainstream media and attracting more casual fans, a call to address stalling in the game was largely ignored in the NCAA Rules Proposals that were presented last week.

“I'm incredibly disappointed that they didn't address the stall,” said North Carolina coach Jenny Levy. “That's completely irresponsible of that committee. There's not one person who was in favor of keeping the rules the way they are, and as a committee, you have to be prepared in some way to make a change, because it's been talked about for 10 years.”

Levy, who has long been a proponent of eliminating the ability to stall from women's lacrosse, referenced the 1994 national title game between Maryland and Princeton in which Princeton “stalled for three quarters of the game on a field that had no boundaries” as the starting point of talk regarding stalling in the game. The argument came to a head following the 2012 national championship game and throughout the summer. Some teams used fallball to experiment with a 90-second shot clock, and other potential solutions were proposed at November's IWLCA meetings in Naples, Fla.

As the NCAA Rules Committee meetings approached following the 2013 season, there was a sense that more significant changes would be made. In the NCAA women's lacrosse rules survey, 53.5% of coaches said they believe stalling was an issue that should be addressed by the rules committee. The percentage is higher at the Division I level, where nearly 70% of coaches thought stalling needed to be addressed; a shot clock and a restraining box of some sort were the most popular solutions. Just more than 20% of all coaches thought a shot clock should be added to address the issue while 30.5% thought the best way to address it would be to “define a team's offensive area and keep the ball in” according to the survey. Among Division I coaches, those numbers jump to 32.1% and 39.3%, respectively.

Another option included with the ways to address stalling in the survey was to “allow defenders to move through the goal circle,” a rule that was an official experimental rule in the fall of 2012 that was modified and included in the Rules Committee recommendations.

“I think it will give the defense the ability to pressure the ball behind [the net],” said NCAA Rules Committee Chair Celine Cunningham, who is the head coach and senior woman administrator at Stevens. “The goal was to make sure the ball can be pressured a little more without being restricted by the crease.”

While most coaches seem happy with this particular change, citing further balance between the attack and the defense, there are others who don't think this change addresses the stall.

“I don't know if that was their intent, or if it was just to make it tougher for the attack to score, but I don't think it addresses stalling at all,” says Syracuse coach Gary Gait, who was part of a rules, safety and game administration committee that was put together by the IWLCA. “I think it will bring goals per game down.”

Nevertheless, there is a great divide among coaches and administrators in deciding what is best for the game, which has resulted in a slow-moving process to get anything done.

“We're in a time period right now where you have two bodies at work — you have your traditionalists that do not want to see changes to the game because there's a feeling that it's not needed and it's not wanted. Then you have another body that is more progessive, the people who say 'how can we make this faster, how can we become more mainstream, how can we change our game to take it to the next level?'” says Boston University coach and IWLCA President Liz Robertshaw. “It's close to 50-50 split of people who don't want to see changes and people who do want to see changes. Unless it has to do with safety concerns, I think it's slower moving because people want to warm up to it.”

Then, there is a group of coaches that walks the line — a group that thinks something needs to be done, but that perhaps it should be minimal or that something as drastic as a shot clock is not the answer.

“I love the line that we're the fastest game on two feet, but is that all there is to our game? No,” says Middlebury coach Missy Foote, who is in her 32nd year coaching the Panthers. “I'd like to make sure we have the versatility in our game that allows us to play within all the parameters of a sport and that's a fast game and a slow game, a go-to-goal game and a possession game. I just don't want it to become all of one or all of another.”

Something like a box or a shot clock would rank among the biggest changes the sport has seen in its history. In many ways, women's lacrosse has evolved unlike any other sport, as restraining lines weren't adopted until 1998 and there were no hard boundaries until 2006. Unless change has been motivated by injury concerns, the process of implementing change has been anything but fast.

“It was the right thing to do for the sport, but it took so long because people were so afraid,” says Levy, who served on the NCAA Rules Committee in the 1990s, of the process of adopting restraining lines and boundaries. “You look back on it now and how ridiculous was that that we had no boundaries and no restraining lines? Know what's good for the game. They say they want a traditional game, but guess what? How the game was played 10 years ago is not the way the game is being played today.”

Cunningham noted the committee received 85 proposals related to stalling alone, some requesting that the committee not move forward with measures that would pose a financial cost to programs and some citing they would not have an adequate roster size to support a faster pace of play.

“It was a combination of things, and a lot of it came down to safety and being able to administrate it,” Cunningham said. “We had some great ideas from a very good group that gave great feedback, and it's certainly something we'll consider as an experimental rule in the future.

While stalling was a large topic of consideration, the IWLCA submitted 12 suggested rules changes to the NCAA Rules Committee. Other topics that were addressed included solidifying field dimensions and addressing blind picks and rough play. The draw, which was changed significantly in the last rules cycle two years ago, was also addressed as coaches suggested holding players behind the restraining line until possession is called, which would mimic the current rule in men's lacrosse.

Another recommendation related to stick inspections, a concern that was addressed in the Rules Committee proposals. The new rule eliminates the mandatory stick checks by officials throughout the game and puts the decision to check a stick on the coaches, who would be given three stick checks per game, including overtime. The execution of the rule would require the goal-scorer drop her stick immediately after scoring. At that point, the official may perform a discretionary stick check or allow time for the opposing team to request a stick check. If the scorer doesn't drop her stick after a scoring play, the goal will be disallowed and possession awarded to the other team at the center circle.

“From an outsiders perspective, it looks like they're trying to make things fair and clear cut,” says Robertshaw. “I look and worry more at the perception of the game and how it's received from the outside world and that's where I have a major hesitation with that. From a coaches perspective, it's an adjustment and we'll deal with it. I like that they're checking sticks after goals. I think it looks better if you hand it to an official. I don't love the drop your stick scenario.”

There were others who questioned how this rule might play out, including its impact on the flow and pace of the game and how frequently officials would perform a discretionary stick check. Levy was in favor of eliminating stick checks in overtime.

“We need to have better awareness of what the game looks like from a fan's perspective on TV,” she said, referencing confusion over the check of Sammy Jo Tracy's stick following her goal in triple overtime of the national championship game. “You have 60 minutes of a game to check a stick, and if you haven't found one that's illegal or used your stick checks at that point, then overtime should just be overtime and just let it be.”

Two other proposed rules include giving coaches an additional timeout, meaning coaches will have three timeouts during regulation and one in overtime, and putting more emphasis on a major foul on a goal scorer. If a major foul is committed on a goal scorer — a push or a cross check during or after the shot, for example — the goal will stand and the scoring team awarded possession at the center circle.

“Right now there's no penalty for that foul,” Cunningham said. “In the past, the thought process was that you got the goal, so it was ok. But it's dangerous so we wanted to make sure we cleaned that up.”

As with any changes to the game, seeing it played out in action is necessary to understanding its impact. Still, what was left out of the rule change proposals seems to have overshadowed what was included in it.

“I think it would have been fun to see our game take that next step, and it didnt necessarily have to be a shot clock,” Robertshaw said. “That's where I'm disappointed that we didn't see some bigger changes knowing that we're in a two-year cycle and that we're in a crucial time in our game in where it's going next and how the outside world perceives us and if we're going to be seen on mainstream media or not. I don't know if the changes we made were enough to make that possible.”

All rules proposals need to be approved by the Playing Rules Oversight Panel, which consists of conference commissioners and university administrators, that will discuss the rules during a conference call on July 17.

LET'S GET IT DONE!!!

A little video to get y'all pumped!!!

LAX Pump-Up Video

SUMMER WORKOUTS

       We have been working to finalize days and times to do summer workouts and now we've got a better idea.

       We are going to do Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday mornings from 8-9:30am.  Some days might only be until 9am but we will let you know when so you can plan transportation accordingly. We will meet at the field, unless it is raining and we will meet in the gym lobby.  We will be doing something on these mornings rain or shine so come prepared and ready to work!!! 

       We will be working on conditioning as well stick skills.  Some of the conditioning will include speed work, plyometrics, weights, etc.  For stick skills, we will incorporate cradling, throwing and catching in shuttles as well as other drills. Our hope is to make our players have 2 strong hands rather than a strong and a weak side!  We will also be teaching drills that we use during the season so we can work out the kinks now and not have to take the precious time we have during the season to do so!

We hope to see you all there! If you have any questions, our contact info is below.  Also, we will be setting up a Twitter account soon where we will be able to get info out quickly!

Thanks,

Coaches

Travis Carr-Assistant Varsity and JV Head Coach

carrtravis@fultonschool.org

 

Kate Heninger-Assistant V and JV Coach

kate.heninger@gmail.com

Sue Scheer-Head Coach

ScheerS@fultonschools.org