WSU Aquires an Unofficial Coach

[Jakerandolph]

Ryan Kelly, Head Coach of ( 7-1 )Garfield High School and WSU lacrosse Alum, has agreed to unofficially coach Washington State. He will be standing in on all our of games on the western side of the state (UofO, OSU, UW, SFU, and any B team games) and he will be updating us with weekly practice schedules. This is great news for Washington State Lacrosse.

[ZagGrad]

Ryan Kelly, Head Coach of ( 7-1 )Garfield High School and WSU lacrosse Alum

You say he's an alum? Never heard of him...

That's awesome for you guys. At least it's a start.

[Jakerandolph]

He played here 1998-2000

[PNWLaxer]

Awesome news Jake.

I have one question though why only the Western teams? The East one are closer to you (GU, UI and BSU).

[Lax_Stats]

Awesome news Jake.

I have one question though why only the Western teams? The East one are closer to you (GU, UI and BSU).

Because he lives over here I am guessing.

[Dr. Jason Stockton]

Jake,

great news that Ryan Kelly is going to help out his alma mater and coach the Cougars. . .

But to suggest that Mr. Kelly only played at WSU for 3 years is pretty funny to those of us that have been in the league for a while. . ..

[Lax_Stats]

Ryan Kelly, Head Coach of ( 7-1 )Garfield High School and WSU lacrosse Alum, has agreed to unofficially coach Washington State. He will be standing in on all our of games on the western side of the state (UofO, OSU, UW, SFU, and any B team games) and he will be updating us with weekly practice schedules. This is great news for Washington State Lacrosse.

Sounds like you guys might be skating on thin ice a bit here with having an "Unofficial" head coach who is only going to coach some of your games. Keep in mind that you must have an "Official" head coach and that he must be at all of your games! If you don't have an "official" head coach or are having multiple coaches through out your season as well as coaching changes during the season, this will be a clear sign to the PNCLL governing body that your team is still unorganized. I personally want to see you guys back in the league, but you need to be very clear, if you aren't already, what you have to do to get re-admitted to the league and what it will take to stay there. SOunds like some conversations with Jason Stockton, PNCLL President, might be in order for you guys. I hope it all works out for you and that we will see you back in the league in 2007!

[Kyle Berggren]

I wonder if Ryan was the PNCLL All-Time leading scorer? I remember when Ricky Clark hit 300 points, but I will say that from the looks of things, a freshman attack at PLU has greatly improved his game and speed of play this season. No matter how many years Kelly played at WSU, Nick has a great chance of breaking that record...

[Jakerandolph]

Our club is completely aware that we have to declare someone as our "Official Coach." We are working on aquiring someone from the Athletic Department here to stand in officially. Eastern Washington isn't exactly a hot bed for Lacrosse so It has been difficult finding anyone that is knowledgable about the game from a coaching standpoint. The purpose of Coach Kelly is to assist us with strategy. He is dedicated to his coaching position at Garfield so he is unable to make the games out here on the eastside. He also lives in Seattle so it doesn't make a great deal of sense economically to travel over here every week.

Anyways, as I'm putting together everything for next year, I just wanted to know what the dates are for the annual meeting. As you know, we are required to make a presentation with our Club Sports Director present. I want to give them full notice so we have no miscommunications.

Gonzaga or Idaho...Planning on doing a fall ball tourney?

[Lax_Stats]

Our club is completely aware that we have to declare someone as our "Official Coach." We are working on aquiring someone from the Athletic Department here to stand in officially. Eastern Washington isn't exactly a hot bed for Lacrosse so It has been difficult finding anyone that is knowledgable about the game from a coaching standpoint. The purpose of Coach Kelly is to assist us with strategy. He is dedicated to his coaching position at Garfield so he is unable to make the games out here on the eastside. He also lives in Seattle so it doesn't make a great deal of sense economically to travel over here every week.

Anyways, as I'm putting together everything for next year, I just wanted to know what the dates are for the annual meeting. As you know, we are required to make a presentation with our Club Sports Director present. I want to give them full notice so we have no miscommunications.

Gonzaga or Idaho...Planning on doing a fall ball tourney?

Im curious as to what you are planning to do then as far as someone to coach you during practices? Someone to coach you on the basics of lacrosse? Someone to coach you toward improvement, to develop playa. a man up offense and man down defense, and everything else a full time, committed to the program, shows up everyday coach would normally do?

[ZagGrad]

Im curious as to what you are planning to do then as far as someone to coach you during practices? Someone to coach you on the basics of lacrosse? Someone to coach you toward improvement, to develop playa. a man up offense and man down defense, and everything else a full time, committed to the program, shows up everyday coach would normally do?

Does it really matter if a coach coaches during practice or is even there during practice? I can't even remember who our coach was when I was at WSU. Shoot, it may have beeen Ryan then. I've played for a few guys who were never at our practices, but come game time, they were on the sidelines directing traffic. It worked for us; although, in this day and age, it may not work as well.

[Kyle Berggren]

Chris, I didn't know you were at WSU...

As far as having a coach no at practice... that is something we struggled with greatly this season, and not something I would believe any team could do and consistently be competetive. Can you win some games? Sure, but is it sustainable? Not very often. Jake obviously you are trying, and from my perspective, it appears you have now taken a large travel burden off of anyone that you find to be the coach at WSU. That should make it easier to find someone on campus to coach home games, as well as, only have 2 travel destinations (Boise & Gonzaga).

I would strongly suggest keeping the team as strong as possible in the Fall/Winter, and do so by playing in a few tournaments. This isn't just for the tournament experience, but having Kelly there to coach during & between games in a weekend will be a huge asset when you start again in the Spring. I know our men's team (Kelly and I are on the same team) will be putting on a tournament near Seattle again, and my company is currently looking at an indoor tournament in Tacoma either late Summer or when school begins. Both Kelly would be a part of, should be fun for your guys, & a good chance to see if he & his coaching style fits the team well. It may also be possible to practice at Central on Saturday w/ Kelly, and play a game on Sunday. Good luck as you put this together, we know you're going in the right direction...

Another idea is to start a feeder program in Pullman, I don't even know if there are other schools in Pullman, but starting a program for kids, or having a weekend clinic can create some interest, and hopefully get parents involved. I just found out one of my rookies father played at Dartmouth, I had no idea. A parent like this would be ideal for your team and its future, you just have to find them somehow.... Many people step into coaching unintentionally (Jason Stockton at PLU), and don't look at coaching requests to see if they can help. Keep working at it.

[Jakerandolph]

As far as coaching in practice goes, we have about 14 kids who have played lacrosse for coaches on the West side of the state and a couple from over here. I myself, so far have run most of the practices and have helped develop many of our players. Brandon Fortier, my former coach at Issaquah, has given me tons of guidance and has been helping me all the way. Prior to that I learned extensive strategy playing for UW's current coach, Fred Wilmot, on the Seattle Starz team. As for now coaching does not seem to be the immediate problem but I'm sure a disciplined coach would set the stage for more serious practices. We still need our players to develop adiment fundamentals and experience. As of right now we are running full open field scrimmages on Tuesdays and Thursdays and running stick skill practices on Sundays. We hope we can draw some new players and expose them to the game.

I know there are high school teams in the area but I don't want to cross any boundaries as far as Idaho and Gonzaga goes.

Do we know when the meeting is next year?