Dartmouth 2023

[Sportin' Life]

Admittedly slightly off-topic but nevertheless it's nice to see Big Green alum Ryan Danehy '06 selected to take the helm of the Mercer program: https://mercerbears.com/news/2022/8/5/a ... coach.aspx.

[MDlaxfan76]

Admittedly slightly off-topic but nevertheless it's nice to see Big Green alum Ryan Danehy '06 selected to take the helm of the Mercer program: https://mercerbears.com/news/2022/8/5/a ... coach.aspx.

Fan of Dartmouth and Big Green lacrosse, unfortunately not a fan of Danehy.

But perhaps he's matured since his days on the sideline in Hanover. Hope so.
Certainly spent a lot of time in the sport.

[Heyward]

Not sure this was an additive post. Why did Ryan get singled out for your displeasure and not so many others in the game? But perhaps you have consistently made negative comments about people on these pages and I missed them. Mercer apparently disagrees with your assessment.

[NNELax]

Admittedly slightly off-topic but nevertheless it's nice to see Big Green alum Ryan Danehy '06 selected to take the helm of the Mercer program: https://mercerbears.com/news/2022/8/5/a ... coach.aspx.

Fan of Dartmouth and Big Green lacrosse, unfortunately not a fan of Danehy.

But perhaps he's matured since his days on the sideline in Hanover. Hope so.
Certainly spent a lot of time in the sport.

Ditto...He's certainly paid his dues tho...

[MDlaxfan76]

Not sure this was an additive post. Why did Ryan get singled out for your displeasure and not so many others in the game? But perhaps you have consistently made negative comments about people on these pages and I missed them. Mercer apparently disagrees with your assessment.

First, I was responding to a specific post about a specific coach, which I noticed because it involved my alma mater.

Second, I have some specific insights about him, which I shared long ago, so it's not out of the blue. I should be clear, my negative impressions of Danehy are primarily a decade old...that's a lot of time for him to have matured. But I tend to think that certain sorts of attributes tend to persist, though they may get some of the rough edges smoothed. But sometimes, people make major strides as they grow up...that's what I would hope is true in this case, heck for any young person.

Third, I've indeed made negative comments about other coaches, if I believe I have some solid basis for them. I'm not exclusively tough on coaches from my own rooting interests, but I tend to be more likely to have solid insights.

Note that I'm also quite willing to be very positive about coaches when I think that's warranted.

Unlike some, I'm not just a cheerleader for an old boy network of coaches scratching each others' backs.

Overall, let me say that I don't think our sport is jammed full of terrific coaches, with both lacrosse knowledge, analytics and creativity and, even more importantly, high emotional EQ. There are some of those, I think they should be embraced as such. But quite a lot (IMO) are simply former players who found a small pond (lacrosse) in which to swim rather than enter a more competitive and demanding professional world.

I'd also note that I'm much tougher on coaches (and others in authority) than I am on players because I think they have such a big impact on young people's lives. So, I hold them to that responsibility. That's more important to me than W's. And I love W's.

I don't expect perfection, but I do want to see effort in taking those responsibilities seriously.

[Typical Lax Dad]

Not sure this was an additive post. Why did Ryan get singled out for your displeasure and not so many others in the game? But perhaps you have consistently made negative comments about people on these pages and I missed them. Mercer apparently disagrees with your assessment.

First, I was responding to a specific post about a specific coach, which I noticed because it involved my alma mater.

Second, I have some specific insights about him, which I shared long ago, so it's not out of the blue. I should be clear, my negative impressions of Danehy are primarily a decade old...that's a lot of time for him to have matured. But I tend to think that certain sorts of attributes tend to persist, though they may get some of the rough edges smoothed. But sometimes, people make major strides as they grow up...that's what I would hope is true in this case, heck for any young person.

Third, I've indeed made negative comments about other coaches, if I believe I have some solid basis for them. I'm not exclusively tough on coaches from my own rooting interests, but I tend to be more likely to have solid insights.

Note that I'm also quite willing to be very positive about coaches when I think that's warranted.

Unlike some, I'm not just a cheerleader for an old boy network of coaches scratching each others' backs.

Overall, let me say that I don't think our sport is jammed full of terrific coaches, with both lacrosse knowledge, analytics and creativity and, even more importantly, high emotional EQ. There are some of those, I think they should be embraced as such. But quite a lot (IMO) are simply former players who found a small pond (lacrosse) in which to swim rather than enter a more competitive and demanding professional world.

I'd also note that I'm much tougher on coaches (and others in authority) than I am on players because I think they have such a big impact on young people's lives. So, I hold them to that responsibility. That's more important to me than W's. And I love W's.

I don't expect perfection, but I do want to see effort in taking those responsibilities seriously.

This sport is rife with that. It’s sad.

[Farfromgeneva]

Not sure this was an additive post. Why did Ryan get singled out for your displeasure and not so many others in the game? But perhaps you have consistently made negative comments about people on these pages and I missed them. Mercer apparently disagrees with your assessment.

First, I was responding to a specific post about a specific coach, which I noticed because it involved my alma mater.

Second, I have some specific insights about him, which I shared long ago, so it's not out of the blue. I should be clear, my negative impressions of Danehy are primarily a decade old...that's a lot of time for him to have matured. But I tend to think that certain sorts of attributes tend to persist, though they may get some of the rough edges smoothed. But sometimes, people make major strides as they grow up...that's what I would hope is true in this case, heck for any young person.

Third, I've indeed made negative comments about other coaches, if I believe I have some solid basis for them. I'm not exclusively tough on coaches from my own rooting interests, but I tend to be more likely to have solid insights.

Note that I'm also quite willing to be very positive about coaches when I think that's warranted.

Unlike some, I'm not just a cheerleader for an old boy network of coaches scratching each others' backs.

Overall, let me say that I don't think our sport is jammed full of terrific coaches, with both lacrosse knowledge, analytics and creativity and, even more importantly, high emotional EQ. There are some of those, I think they should be embraced as such. But quite a lot (IMO) are simply former players who found a small pond (lacrosse) in which to swim rather than enter a more competitive and demanding professional world.

I'd also note that I'm much tougher on coaches (and others in authority) than I am on players because I think they have such a big impact on young people's lives. So, I hold them to that responsibility. That's more important to me than W's. And I love W's.

I don't expect perfection, but I do want to see effort in taking those responsibilities seriously.

This sport is rife with that. It’s sad.

Please use kid gloves if you were to witness this fall of me being a first time youth HC on a 4th/5th grade team. I have very little idea what I’m doing but I’m going to try to have the kids get the most out of their time and experience and hopefully fun enough they are dying to do it again. Some success wouldn’t hurt at their age as well but we will see.

[MDlaxfan76]

Not sure this was an additive post. Why did Ryan get singled out for your displeasure and not so many others in the game? But perhaps you have consistently made negative comments about people on these pages and I missed them. Mercer apparently disagrees with your assessment.

First, I was responding to a specific post about a specific coach, which I noticed because it involved my alma mater.

Second, I have some specific insights about him, which I shared long ago, so it's not out of the blue. I should be clear, my negative impressions of Danehy are primarily a decade old...that's a lot of time for him to have matured. But I tend to think that certain sorts of attributes tend to persist, though they may get some of the rough edges smoothed. But sometimes, people make major strides as they grow up...that's what I would hope is true in this case, heck for any young person.

Third, I've indeed made negative comments about other coaches, if I believe I have some solid basis for them. I'm not exclusively tough on coaches from my own rooting interests, but I tend to be more likely to have solid insights.

Note that I'm also quite willing to be very positive about coaches when I think that's warranted.

Unlike some, I'm not just a cheerleader for an old boy network of coaches scratching each others' backs.

Overall, let me say that I don't think our sport is jammed full of terrific coaches, with both lacrosse knowledge, analytics and creativity and, even more importantly, high emotional EQ. There are some of those, I think they should be embraced as such. But quite a lot (IMO) are simply former players who found a small pond (lacrosse) in which to swim rather than enter a more competitive and demanding professional world.

I'd also note that I'm much tougher on coaches (and others in authority) than I am on players because I think they have such a big impact on young people's lives. So, I hold them to that responsibility. That's more important to me than W's. And I love W's.

I don't expect perfection, but I do want to see effort in taking those responsibilities seriously.

This sport is rife with that. It’s sad.

Please use kid gloves if you were to witness this fall of me being a first time youth HC on a 4th/5th grade team. I have very little idea what I’m doing but I’m going to try to have the kids get the most out of their time and experience and hopefully fun enough they are dying to do it again. Some success wouldn’t hurt at their age as well but we will see.

It's a challenge!

One suggestion: celebrate the little "successes"...kid catching a pass, kid who never gets a ground ball, getting one...lots of opportunity if that's the emphasis. Everyone tends to focus on the score, but focusing instead on these other inputs tends to pay off in all sorts of ways.

Highly recommend this org: https://positivecoach.org

Pre-season, we established expectations with our parents (an extremely competitive bunch themselves!) about how we were going to approach teaching the sport, respecting the game, respecting the referees, respecting the coaches, respecting the opponents, respecting each other and themselves...and the behavior that we expected from those parents. Doing that before the season helped a ton in avoiding/mitigating the kinds of parent issues that often crop up.

We had way more than our fair share of W's along the way, as the kids were a pretty darn committed bunch themselves. Quite a few future top college players...but the most satisfaction comes from a young man coming up to me now and saying "I don't know whether you remember me, but..." and hearing their stories of how much it meant to them to feel valued though they weren't the top players.

[Heyward]

Not sure this was an additive post. Why did Ryan get singled out for your displeasure and not so many others in the game? But perhaps you have consistently made negative comments about people on these pages and I missed them. Mercer apparently disagrees with your assessment.

First, I was responding to a specific post about a specific coach, which I noticed because it involved my alma mater.

Second, I have some specific insights about him, which I shared long ago, so it's not out of the blue. I should be clear, my negative impressions of Danehy are primarily a decade old...that's a lot of time for him to have matured. But I tend to think that certain sorts of attributes tend to persist, though they may get some of the rough edges smoothed. But sometimes, people make major strides as they grow up...that's what I would hope is true in this case, heck for any young person.

Third, I've indeed made negative comments about other coaches, if I believe I have some solid basis for them. I'm not exclusively tough on coaches from my own rooting interests, but I tend to be more likely to have solid insights.

Note that I'm also quite willing to be very positive about coaches when I think that's warranted.

Unlike some, I'm not just a cheerleader for an old boy network of coaches scratching each others' backs.

Overall, let me say that I don't think our sport is jammed full of terrific coaches, with both lacrosse knowledge, analytics and creativity and, even more importantly, high emotional EQ. There are some of those, I think they should be embraced as such. But quite a lot (IMO) are simply former players who found a small pond (lacrosse) in which to swim rather than enter a more competitive and demanding professional world.

I'd also note that I'm much tougher on coaches (and others in authority) than I am on players because I think they have such a big impact on young people's lives. So, I hold them to that responsibility. That's more important to me than W's. And I love W's.

I don't expect perfection, but I do want to see effort in taking those responsibilities seriously.

This sport is rife with that. It’s sad.

There’s an old quote somewhere in a New Yorker profile on Kirk Varnadoe, a Williams grad who, after he was an assistant football coach at his alma mater, went on to fame of sorts as a curator at the Met, which in explaining why he quit coaching football said roughly - you have to be smart enough to be a good football coach, but dumb enough to think it matters. Given that, I simply disagree that anyone needs to personalize what should be a positive moment in a young man’s life with an individual opinion, regardless of the accuracy, which merely intended to be unpleasant. I hope Ryan does a great job there.

[Typical Lax Dad]

Not sure this was an additive post. Why did Ryan get singled out for your displeasure and not so many others in the game? But perhaps you have consistently made negative comments about people on these pages and I missed them. Mercer apparently disagrees with your assessment.

First, I was responding to a specific post about a specific coach, which I noticed because it involved my alma mater.

Second, I have some specific insights about him, which I shared long ago, so it's not out of the blue. I should be clear, my negative impressions of Danehy are primarily a decade old...that's a lot of time for him to have matured. But I tend to think that certain sorts of attributes tend to persist, though they may get some of the rough edges smoothed. But sometimes, people make major strides as they grow up...that's what I would hope is true in this case, heck for any young person.

Third, I've indeed made negative comments about other coaches, if I believe I have some solid basis for them. I'm not exclusively tough on coaches from my own rooting interests, but I tend to be more likely to have solid insights.

Note that I'm also quite willing to be very positive about coaches when I think that's warranted.

Unlike some, I'm not just a cheerleader for an old boy network of coaches scratching each others' backs.

Overall, let me say that I don't think our sport is jammed full of terrific coaches, with both lacrosse knowledge, analytics and creativity and, even more importantly, high emotional EQ. There are some of those, I think they should be embraced as such. But quite a lot (IMO) are simply former players who found a small pond (lacrosse) in which to swim rather than enter a more competitive and demanding professional world.

I'd also note that I'm much tougher on coaches (and others in authority) than I am on players because I think they have such a big impact on young people's lives. So, I hold them to that responsibility. That's more important to me than W's. And I love W's.

I don't expect perfection, but I do want to see effort in taking those responsibilities seriously.

This sport is rife with that. It’s sad.

There’s an old quote somewhere in a New Yorker profile on Kirk Varnadoe, a Williams grad who, after he was an assistant football coach at his alma mater, went on to fame of sorts as a curator at the Met, which in explaining why he quit coaching football said roughly - you have to be smart enough to be a good football coach, but dumb enough to think it matters. Given that, I simply disagree that anyone needs to personalize what should be a positive moment in a young man’s life with an individual opinion, regardless of the accuracy, which merely intended to be unpleasant. I hope Ryan does a great job there.

My post had nothing to do with Ryan. I wish him well. He recruited sons of my friends, BTW. Mdlax has been on the record and has indicated it was a while ago and people change. I heard he was leaving a few days before it was announced.

I have made quite a few posts about cronyism in the sport of lacrosse. It’s ridiculous.

[Farfromgeneva]

Not sure this was an additive post. Why did Ryan get singled out for your displeasure and not so many others in the game? But perhaps you have consistently made negative comments about people on these pages and I missed them. Mercer apparently disagrees with your assessment.

First, I was responding to a specific post about a specific coach, which I noticed because it involved my alma mater.

Second, I have some specific insights about him, which I shared long ago, so it's not out of the blue. I should be clear, my negative impressions of Danehy are primarily a decade old...that's a lot of time for him to have matured. But I tend to think that certain sorts of attributes tend to persist, though they may get some of the rough edges smoothed. But sometimes, people make major strides as they grow up...that's what I would hope is true in this case, heck for any young person.

Third, I've indeed made negative comments about other coaches, if I believe I have some solid basis for them. I'm not exclusively tough on coaches from my own rooting interests, but I tend to be more likely to have solid insights.

Note that I'm also quite willing to be very positive about coaches when I think that's warranted.

Unlike some, I'm not just a cheerleader for an old boy network of coaches scratching each others' backs.

Overall, let me say that I don't think our sport is jammed full of terrific coaches, with both lacrosse knowledge, analytics and creativity and, even more importantly, high emotional EQ. There are some of those, I think they should be embraced as such. But quite a lot (IMO) are simply former players who found a small pond (lacrosse) in which to swim rather than enter a more competitive and demanding professional world.

I'd also note that I'm much tougher on coaches (and others in authority) than I am on players because I think they have such a big impact on young people's lives. So, I hold them to that responsibility. That's more important to me than W's. And I love W's.

I don't expect perfection, but I do want to see effort in taking those responsibilities seriously.

This sport is rife with that. It’s sad.

Please use kid gloves if you were to witness this fall of me being a first time youth HC on a 4th/5th grade team. I have very little idea what I’m doing but I’m going to try to have the kids get the most out of their time and experience and hopefully fun enough they are dying to do it again. Some success wouldn’t hurt at their age as well but we will see.

It's a challenge!

One suggestion: celebrate the little "successes"...kid catching a pass, kid who never gets a ground ball, getting one...lots of opportunity if that's the emphasis. Everyone tends to focus on the score, but focusing instead on these other inputs tends to pay off in all sorts of ways.

Highly recommend this org: https://positivecoach.org

Pre-season, we established expectations with our parents (an extremely competitive bunch themselves!) about how we were going to approach teaching the sport, respecting the game, respecting the referees, respecting the coaches, respecting the opponents, respecting each other and themselves...and the behavior that we expected from those parents. Doing that before the season helped a ton in avoiding/mitigating the kinds of parent issues that often crop up.

We had way more than our fair share of W's along the way, as the kids were a pretty darn committed bunch themselves. Quite a few future top college players...but the most satisfaction comes from a young man coming up to me now and saying "I don't know whether you remember me, but..." and hearing their stories of how much it meant to them to feel valued though they weren't the top players.

It’s exciting. Not sure I like the responsibility for 16, < 11yr old kids but I’ll figure out how to make it work. Way less competitive we’re one of the few “in city perimeter” kids programs. The suburbs, especially a few north of Atlanta where the kids parents really try to relive their childhoods through their children and go buck wild the parents are pretty chill so far (1 practice in for new kids, some I know from spring). Half of them are just witnessing lacrosse for first time.

[Heyward]

Not sure this was an additive post. Why did Ryan get singled out for your displeasure and not so many others in the game? But perhaps you have consistently made negative comments about people on these pages and I missed them. Mercer apparently disagrees with your assessment.

First, I was responding to a specific post about a specific coach, which I noticed because it involved my alma mater.

Second, I have some specific insights about him, which I shared long ago, so it's not out of the blue. I should be clear, my negative impressions of Danehy are primarily a decade old...that's a lot of time for him to have matured. But I tend to think that certain sorts of attributes tend to persist, though they may get some of the rough edges smoothed. But sometimes, people make major strides as they grow up...that's what I would hope is true in this case, heck for any young person.

Third, I've indeed made negative comments about other coaches, if I believe I have some solid basis for them. I'm not exclusively tough on coaches from my own rooting interests, but I tend to be more likely to have solid insights.

Note that I'm also quite willing to be very positive about coaches when I think that's warranted.

Unlike some, I'm not just a cheerleader for an old boy network of coaches scratching each others' backs.

Overall, let me say that I don't think our sport is jammed full of terrific coaches, with both lacrosse knowledge, analytics and creativity and, even more importantly, high emotional EQ. There are some of those, I think they should be embraced as such. But quite a lot (IMO) are simply former players who found a small pond (lacrosse) in which to swim rather than enter a more competitive and demanding professional world.

I'd also note that I'm much tougher on coaches (and others in authority) than I am on players because I think they have such a big impact on young people's lives. So, I hold them to that responsibility. That's more important to me than W's. And I love W's.

I don't expect perfection, but I do want to see effort in taking those responsibilities seriously.

This sport is rife with that. It’s sad.

There’s an old quote somewhere in a New Yorker profile on Kirk Varnadoe, a Williams grad who, after he was an assistant football coach at his alma mater, went on to fame of sorts as a curator at the Met, which in explaining why he quit coaching football said roughly - you have to be smart enough to be a good football coach, but dumb enough to think it matters. Given that, I simply disagree that anyone needs to personalize what should be a positive moment in a young man’s life with an individual opinion, regardless of the accuracy, which merely intended to be unpleasant. I hope Ryan does a great job there.

My post had nothing to do with Ryan. I wish him well. He recruited sons of my friends, BTW. Mdlax has been on the record and has indicated it was a while ago and people change. I heard he was leaving a few days before it was announced.

I have made quite a few posts about cronyism in the sport of lacrosse. It’s ridiculous.

I really wasn’t replying to you. Sorry it came out that way. I do agree with your point. But part of the reason for cronyism is that there aren’t many reliable, safe choices out there, and few schools want to gamble on unrecommended candidates. I absolutely agree that the crème de la crème don’t gravitate to lax coaching, but nonetheless the pool of experienced people is rather small.

[NNELax]

Very sad...https://www.thedartmouth.com/article/20 ... ng-hanover

[Typical Lax Dad]

Very sad...https://www.thedartmouth.com/article/20 ... ng-hanover

Oh my god. That is devastating news. So so sorry to hear that.

[MDlaxfan76]

Very sad...https://www.thedartmouth.com/article/20 ... ng-hanover

Oh my god. That is devastating news. So so sorry to hear that.

Awful; so sad for him, his family and friends.

[MDlaxfan76]

Not sure this was an additive post. Why did Ryan get singled out for your displeasure and not so many others in the game? But perhaps you have consistently made negative comments about people on these pages and I missed them. Mercer apparently disagrees with your assessment.

First, I was responding to a specific post about a specific coach, which I noticed because it involved my alma mater.

Second, I have some specific insights about him, which I shared long ago, so it's not out of the blue. I should be clear, my negative impressions of Danehy are primarily a decade old...that's a lot of time for him to have matured. But I tend to think that certain sorts of attributes tend to persist, though they may get some of the rough edges smoothed. But sometimes, people make major strides as they grow up...that's what I would hope is true in this case, heck for any young person.

Third, I've indeed made negative comments about other coaches, if I believe I have some solid basis for them. I'm not exclusively tough on coaches from my own rooting interests, but I tend to be more likely to have solid insights.

Note that I'm also quite willing to be very positive about coaches when I think that's warranted.

Unlike some, I'm not just a cheerleader for an old boy network of coaches scratching each others' backs.

Overall, let me say that I don't think our sport is jammed full of terrific coaches, with both lacrosse knowledge, analytics and creativity and, even more importantly, high emotional EQ. There are some of those, I think they should be embraced as such. But quite a lot (IMO) are simply former players who found a small pond (lacrosse) in which to swim rather than enter a more competitive and demanding professional world.

I'd also note that I'm much tougher on coaches (and others in authority) than I am on players because I think they have such a big impact on young people's lives. So, I hold them to that responsibility. That's more important to me than W's. And I love W's.

I don't expect perfection, but I do want to see effort in taking those responsibilities seriously.

This sport is rife with that. It’s sad.

There’s an old quote somewhere in a New Yorker profile on Kirk Varnadoe, a Williams grad who, after he was an assistant football coach at his alma mater, went on to fame of sorts as a curator at the Met, which in explaining why he quit coaching football said roughly - you have to be smart enough to be a good football coach, but dumb enough to think it matters. Given that, I simply disagree that anyone needs to personalize what should be a positive moment in a young man’s life with an individual opinion, regardless of the accuracy, which merely intended to be unpleasant. I hope Ryan does a great job there.

That's a very fair sentiment and I applaud you for instinctively having it.

I too "hope Ryan does a great job there."

However, this is a lacrosse discussion board and this particular specific individual was the initiated topic on the thread of his and my alma mater's '23 team (perfectly appropriate topic, IMO). Based on some experience, I have an opinion different than it's great news simply because he's a Dartmouth grad and former Dartmouth coach. I think that was the intended, and understandable, implication of the original post. I see it slightly differently.

As to "young" man, I'd note that Ryan Danehy is a 2006 alum of the College, likely 38 or 39 years old, with more than a decade and a half of assistant coaching and lax media involvement. He's been around the sport for a long time.

My window on him was in his early years of assistant coaching. Long ago.

However, more generically, I'm not a cheerleader for the old boy network that excuses and even rewards coaches who I don't think have demonstrated the attributes to be responsible for shaping the experiences of 18-22 year old youngsters. It would be fair to say that I have a bit of burr under my saddle on that topic, so am probably more outspoken on that than most would be. However, I'm pretty clear as to my identity, so am conscious that these opinions are not actually anonymous and that they may rankle others. In other words, I don't hide behind anonymity when making these uncomfortable comments.

Again, my window on Mercer's new head coach was indeed quite awhile ago; it's entirely possible that he's developed as a person and coach and will be a very fine leader for the Mercer program. I certainly hope so. There are a lot of young men at Mercer who should hope so as well.

So, congrats and good luck to all.

[FCCTlaxFan]

The 2023 recruiting class at Dartmouth has 7 players list thus far. What is Dartmouth (and all of the other schools with tiny classes) doing to fill out the group? is 7 fine or are they looking to flip kids from other school or find uncommitted players?

[middleAgedBear]

Not sure this was an additive post. Why did Ryan get singled out for your displeasure and not so many others in the game? But perhaps you have consistently made negative comments about people on these pages and I missed them. Mercer apparently disagrees with your assessment.

First, I was responding to a specific post about a specific coach, which I noticed because it involved my alma mater.

Second, I have some specific insights about him, which I shared long ago, so it's not out of the blue. I should be clear, my negative impressions of Danehy are primarily a decade old...that's a lot of time for him to have matured. But I tend to think that certain sorts of attributes tend to persist, though they may get some of the rough edges smoothed. But sometimes, people make major strides as they grow up...that's what I would hope is true in this case, heck for any young person.

Third, I've indeed made negative comments about other coaches, if I believe I have some solid basis for them. I'm not exclusively tough on coaches from my own rooting interests, but I tend to be more likely to have solid insights.

Note that I'm also quite willing to be very positive about coaches when I think that's warranted.

Unlike some, I'm not just a cheerleader for an old boy network of coaches scratching each others' backs.

Overall, let me say that I don't think our sport is jammed full of terrific coaches, with both lacrosse knowledge, analytics and creativity and, even more importantly, high emotional EQ. There are some of those, I think they should be embraced as such. But quite a lot (IMO) are simply former players who found a small pond (lacrosse) in which to swim rather than enter a more competitive and demanding professional world.

I'd also note that I'm much tougher on coaches (and others in authority) than I am on players because I think they have such a big impact on young people's lives. So, I hold them to that responsibility. That's more important to me than W's. And I love W's.

I don't expect perfection, but I do want to see effort in taking those responsibilities seriously.

This sport is rife with that. It’s sad.

Please use kid gloves if you were to witness this fall of me being a first time youth HC on a 4th/5th grade team. I have very little idea what I’m doing but I’m going to try to have the kids get the most out of their time and experience and hopefully fun enough they are dying to do it again. Some success wouldn’t hurt at their age as well but we will see.

It's a challenge!

One suggestion: celebrate the little "successes"...kid catching a pass, kid who never gets a ground ball, getting one...lots of opportunity if that's the emphasis. Everyone tends to focus on the score, but focusing instead on these other inputs tends to pay off in all sorts of ways.

Highly recommend this org: https://positivecoach.org

Pre-season, we established expectations with our parents (an extremely competitive bunch themselves!) about how we were going to approach teaching the sport, respecting the game, respecting the referees, respecting the coaches, respecting the opponents, respecting each other and themselves...and the behavior that we expected from those parents. Doing that before the season helped a ton in avoiding/mitigating the kinds of parent issues that often crop up.

We had way more than our fair share of W's along the way, as the kids were a pretty darn committed bunch themselves. Quite a few future top college players...but the most satisfaction comes from a young man coming up to me now and saying "I don't know whether you remember me, but..." and hearing their stories of how much it meant to them to feel valued though they weren't the top players.

It’s exciting. Not sure I like the responsibility for 16, < 11yr old kids but I’ll figure out how to make it work. Way less competitive we’re one of the few “in city perimeter” kids programs. The suburbs, especially a few north of Atlanta where the kids parents really try to relive their childhoods through their children and go buck wild the parents are pretty chill so far (1 practice in for new kids, some I know from spring). Half of them are just witnessing lacrosse for first time.

Enjoy it! I've been coaching my son's town teams since 1st grade, he's now going into 7th (and it's time for me to bow out), but watching him and his friends improve from year to year and over the course of individual seasons has been pretty rewarding. Worst part is that some of the parents and other coaches can be a bit much.

[MDlaxfan76]

The 2023 recruiting class at Dartmouth has 7 players list thus far. What is Dartmouth (and all of the other schools with tiny classes) doing to fill out the group? is 7 fine or are they looking to flip kids from other school or find uncommitted players?

Do you mean the 2022 class inbound as freshmen (not yet announced I think), or are you referring to current HS seniors?

If the latter, I'd assume they remain open to both situations if they truly only have 7 so far (but note that we often don't know what's really on the board).

That said, Dartmouth tends not to bring in nearly as many as some of our rivals do...

[Sportin' Life]

Lacrosse Bucket's fall preview of the Big Green: https://lacrossebucket.com/2022/08/15/f ... big-green/. Some significant shoes to fill (most importantly Hincks') for the 2023 team but hopefully the talented players we have brought in over the past few years continue to make steady progress this coming spring.