What Do You Do When....

[drylogic]

*Warning be prepared for a short life story and sob tale, but I would greatly appreciate feedback and thoughts*

What do you do when the life has been taken out of a club program? I am a senior at a small college where the lacrosse spirit has been slowly draining from the campus here.

When I first came to the college the lacrosse program was only a year old but rapidly growing with more incoming freshman, such as myself in 02/03. The team and program seemed to be growing and building, with more players, more exposure, and more money. To state right here and now, our team has never had an official coach, we are isolated and cannot afford/find a coach, so our team has always been player run, which may have been the eventual downfall of our program. By the end of my freshman year the team had finished with an above .500 record, made our conference playoffs and lost by a narrow margin to the best team in the conference.

My sophmore year was much more promising with more players and talent coming and the same returning players as last year (much like my freshman year the team looked promising and expansive). At the end of my sophmore year the team had to say goodbye to of a few the most influential players on the team, players that had built the program and helped it grow, but we had high expectations that the "torch could be passed on".

The onset of my junior year showed the most promising class of talent coming into our school with high hopes of playoffs and maybe even a national bid. But after fall ball our team had lost its drive and expansion, inner squad fighting from larger than life egos plagued the team, and with no coach to help squash these issues the team began falling apart. By the end of the spring season what had looked promising, had now become a twisted downfall of fighting, bickering, and headbutting. The ego's of players began to clash, drama unfolded, and players lost the will/want to play the game.

Now here I am, in my senior year of lacrosse trying to figure out what went wrong with the team and where to go. Our team has now lost half of its members from last year, new freshman coming in have been turned off by the ego's of last years players and this fall's display of "team disunity". With no coach and no players able to be in role model/leader positions (due to the aforementioned egos) what is a team/player to do? We are a team that is solely funded by team dues and this year with only 14 players, we do not have enough money to buy balls for practice let alone travel to play games.

Sorry for this long rant but I am just curious what other people would do in this situation or what could be done? Do I just play out my senior year being happy that I can still play the game I love, or do I try and fix these things and stick around next year to help?

[CATLAX MAN]

You've already identified your major issue, lack of a coach to run the show. Solve that problem and a lot of your issues will disappear.

[mholtz]

A coach provides many things, and first and foremost is consistancy. Year in and year out you'll know that someone is in charge.

[drylogic]

I know getting a coach would probably solve almost all the issues, the problem is we are so seculded that a coach is out of the question. I have searched all over this tiny town for one and the closest thing I have come to is a basketball coach that wants paid, and we cannot afford it.

[Zeuslax]

Your next option may be developing and writing a plan. Then getting creative on the coaching front to help provide stability. One person can do a lot for an organization. Sounds like you guys need a meeting quickly. A frank and honest discussion may bring additional players on board too. It sounds like you have the motivation and drive to keep things together and moving in the right direction!!! It's really about finding the teams' identity and creating an atmosphere of consistency. Sorry, no silver bullet ideas from me.

[Rob Graff]

I live roughly 3 hours from the Duluth campus. Throw your "coaching search net" over a larger area might be an option.

[Madlax16]

...Im not trying to beat a dead horse here but, the biggest problem is getting an official coach. The nebraska team of the past sounded exactly like the one that you are describing, but when they got a coach this year everything changed. He came the first day that our season started and immediately our team had stucture and discipline and a will to play. Get a coach, well a decent one, and your program could turn right around.

[SDSULAX]

Do you have a faculty advisor? A charter for your club team? A club or recreational sports director at your school? It does not appear that your team had a plan for sustainment which would involve the team being run by underclassmen and assisted by the seniors. Reach out to your alumni, it sounds like you might have a few years worth, to see if they could help out or at least show up for a meeting to discuss the future of the team, they still have some ownership.

[Campbell]

finding a coach is paramount. Although having an experienced lacrosse coach is ideal, just having someone in authority and guiding the club can make a world of difference. There has to be someone in your community that can help, school professor or employee, other sports coach, retired military vet, church leader, etc. Some of those may seem silly, but it sounds like what you guys need more than anything is leadership; and not a student, but someone removed from the college scene.

[drylogic]

I am not sure if finding someone inside the community will solve any problems because some of the egotistical players will just bad mouth that person for not having any knowledge of the sport and then just not come to practice. Every meeting we discuss getting a head coach and it always comes down to 75% of the team not wanting to pitch more money to pay for one. But I am determined to try and find solution and also try and find a qualified coach so I am going to try and search for a person in the "nearby" towns and see if there is anyone willing to compromise. Does anyone have any suggestions of how to go about looking for a coach in towns that are an hour and a half to three hours away?

[Beta]

Yes, I PMed you.

[SDSULAX]

Newspapers

[Timbalaned]

If it is just a few of those players that will bad mouth the coach, just get rid of them. It doesn't matter how good they are, you will be better off in the long run.

[Hugh Nunn]

Failing anything else, you might also look for a grad student...sell it as a resume builder: "Oversaw student organization with a budget of X, fundraising efforts, , daily practice plans, and logistics for cross-country trave." If nothing happens with any of your efforts, why don't you take the reins yourself? Attitude reflects leadership. You are better off without the egos, anyway. Everyone else will enjoy the experience more and will, in turn, be more willing to help out.

Good luck. Feel free to email/PM me if you would like to discuss further.

hughnunn@yahoo.com

[TexOle]

The St. Olaf teams in the past had similar problems. I am not very close to the situation now to comment on the team. Coaching helps some, but it is not always the answer. What really helped that team was getting rid of the attitudes. If a player doesn't want to help the team be productive then get them out of there. Bring in athletes with great attitudes (lacrosse experience optional). Encourage everyone to help one another succeed. Even doing some mentorship inside the team helps foster growth (guys with same majors and interests helps). Do stuff as a team and you will see some improvement. Also keep in mind that these cycles can and at times will happen.