LaxTV Forums | A Forum About The MCLA

Looking for some ideas for a camp.

I am running a four day evening lacrosse camp for my high school (5th grade through 10th) in a few weeks and I was wondering if anyone out there had any tips or ideas on things I can run during the camp.

I have a pretty good idea about what I want to do but it's always nice to see what others have for drills / instruction. I'd really just like to teach the basics (Stick Skills, Shooting, Dodging, Ground Balls, Man Up / Man Down, Team Defense, Team Offense, Clears, Rides, Face offs).

The camp should have between 30-50 guys, so not big, but not small though. I was thinking of breaking the group up into 3-4 stations, and have them move in intervals. I'll have 3-4 councilors.

Again, any ideas or experience would be great to hear. My email is flec0027@d.umn.edu if you have any electronic documents you might want to donate to the cause.

5th through 10th grade is a HUGE difference in attention span. 5th graders are going to be VERY difficult to keep attentive. Expect 5th graders attention span to be about 5 minutes (you'll have to change drills every 5-10 minutes) or they'll get bored, and wander off. Middle schoolers are a bit (but not much) better. Expect 15-20 minutes max for a drill. If it's hot, it'll be worse. I recently ran a middle school clinic for the first time and didn't take this into account when I was time planning. Had to scramble to make up more drills at the end of the first day, and rework my schedule for the rest of the week.

mholtz wrote:5th through 10th grade is a HUGE difference in attention span. 5th graders are going to be VERY difficult to keep attentive. Expect 5th graders attention span to be about 5 minutes (you'll have to change drills every 5-10 minutes) or they'll get bored, and wander off. Middle schoolers are a bit (but not much) better. Expect 15-20 minutes max for a drill. If it's hot, it'll be worse. I recently ran a middle school clinic for the first time and didn't take this into account when I was time planning. Had to scramble to make up more drills at the end of the first day, and rework my schedule for the rest of the week.

Couldn't agree more. Was thinking about breaking the group up into 5th - 7th and 8th-10th and have stations where the kids switch every 15 min or so.

A fun thing to do is to hold some competitions at the end of some day with prizes given out at the end of the week. For instance, fastest shot competition, face-off competitions, and a longest shot competition. We did these at a camp several weeks ago and they are always a big hit with the kids. Also, just having them play a couple actual games during the day helps the kids keep attention and make the day go by faster.

For the past couple of years we've had a pinata for the younger kids to shoot at.

byualum wrote:For the past couple of years we've had a pinata for the younger kids to shoot at.

I would LOVE to have a picture of that.

Hugh Nunn wrote:

byualum wrote:For the past couple of years we've had a pinata for the younger kids to shoot at.

I would LOVE to have a picture of that.

Our next clinic is 7/21...I'll be sure to snap a couple of shots.

what is their percentage of shot/hit/actually breaking the pinata?

From 10-yards out, a lot of the kids hit some part of the pinata, but rarely had enough velocity to break it. We usually have one of the older kids break it, with the understanding that they don't get any of the candy.

Last fall we had a couple guys from the Outlaws at our camp, including Brian Langtry. Some of you might have seen Langtry win the fastest shot contest at the MLL All-Star game on Sunday (104 MPH). From about 15 yards he destroyed the pinata, and crushed most of the candy inside. Bad idea.

byualum wrote:From 10-yards out, a lot of the kids hit some part of the pinata, but rarely had enough velocity to break it. We usually have one of the older kids break it, with the understanding that they don't get any of the candy.

Last fall we had a couple guys from the Outlaws at our camp, including Brian Langtry. Some of you might have seen Langtry win the fastest shot contest at the MLL All-Star game on Sunday (104 MPH). From about 15 yards he destroyed the pinata, and crushed most of the candy inside. Bad idea.

Aren't you supposed to do pinatas blindfolded?