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Dear Parent or Prospective Parent:
I am taking the time to clearly define the philosophy and goals of Team Superstar on the website for your reference and for that of my coaches. This program, and your lacrosse player's development, are both very important to me. I take a tremendous amount of pride in Team Superstar, it's coaches, and the quality of instruction we provide. I look long and hard for coaches that are great people with a strong background in the sport of lacrosse. All of my coaches are highly qualified and most, if not all, have experience coaching at the varsity level or playing at a high level college program. They will do their best to provide your child with a positive, exciting and fun learning and playing environment. They too, will read this page and understand my philosophy on summer lacrosse.
Expectations: My expectation for the program as a whole is to provide lacrosse players with an opportunity to continue their lacrosse development when their spring season is over. By using well organized practice plans, simple offensive and defensive schemes, and continuous repetition of both language and lacrosse specific skills, I know that we can help to take all of our players to the next level.
The Experience: The fond memory of my Hudson Valley Empire State Games teams is a reminder to me of how great it is to play with kids from other towns. Some of my best friends are guys that I played against in high school and with on the Empire State's teams. I think there is much to be said for playing with kids from other towns, from taking a step or two outside of our comfort zones, and from learning to play with new teammates and within new coaching philosophies. These experiences shaped me as a person, and as a player, and I know they can offer the same opportunity to your lacrosse player. Encourage them to make friends with the guys from other towns, to teach them something new, to learn something new, to experience something new.
Success: The definition of success for this program will be that each child leaves our team in late July as a better lacrosse player. I fully expect that each child will have a better understanding of the game of lacrosse, the strategy involved and the dedication and commitment that it takes to become better at anything they do.
Winning: Make no mistake about it, I LOVE TO WIN. Period. In the summer lacrosse program, winning has it's place, and I know all of our teams will win a lot of games. That being said, we are not a win at all costs program. We will not sacrifice the quality of the experience for tournament championships. If a game is close at the end and we can make a few adjustments to get the win, my coaches have my permission to do that. Winning is important to all of us, but in summer tournament play, it is not everything.
Playing Time: The best way I can describe my philosophy on playing time is this...I will request that each coach do his best to play kids evenly over the course of a tournament, but not each and every game. At these tournaments, we are scheduled by the tournament director in the various brackets based on team strength and overall age. Sometimes we are clearly a much better team, and sometimes we are physically overmatched from the start. In both cases, I ask the coach to use his discretion to keep the game safe for all participants, to treat the players from both teams with respect and concern, and to give our players the opportunity to develop in a safe and fun environment. This is never an easy job, but they have my full support in reaching this goal.
Coaching during Tournaments: Please allow our coaches to do the on field coaching at all Team Superstar practices and games. If you feel the need to coach your child, please do it in the privacy of your car, your house and in an area where it will not take away from the coach and the instruction he may be offering to the team. AND, please note that at most of these tournaments we are NOT ALLOWED any timeouts, making the off-field coaching, practices and training camp that much more critical to the success and comprehension of our teams. These games are usually divided into two, running-time halves that allow for very little in the way of game planning and strategic timeouts!
Positions: "What position do you play?" This question was asked of the kids as they tried out for our various teams in September. By June, some of them have changed positions and are now playing in a different spot. My answer to this is simple. The older the team, the less room there is for changing postions and moving around. A U10 player should and will learn to play ALL positions on the field over the course of the summer (with the exception of goalie maybe)...as they cannot be sure where they are going to succeed as their career advances. Many kids who try defense for a quarter or two find out that they love it. Many players who play attack find that midfield is a similar position and enjoy that as well. Conversely, a U17 player who is looking to go to college as a midfielder has a pretty good idea what his strengths and weaknesses are, and should be looking to gain exposure and experience within his position of choice.
Communication: As Team Superstar grows as an organization, so too does the requirement for good communication and feedback. I am going to ask that all communication regarding tournaments, playing time, missing practices, etc be routed through your head coach. They will either have the answer and give it to you, or they will call me and I can give them whatever information they need. With 9 teams and 200 participants, there is simply no way that I can provide the customer service and responsiveness that you all need and deserve. In 2010, I am looking to add an actual administrative position to address all communication during the year and especially during the summer season.
Waivers: Ughhh! Waivers! I know that I hate them as much as you do, maybe even more! But, they have become SOP (standard operating procedure) for all of the tournaments we will attend this summer. I will always post them in the "DOCUMENTS" section of the Superstar Lacrosse Website and ask that you donwload them and fill them out prior to the tournament we are attending that week. If they are out in time, I will try to get the last three waivers together and give them out in a packet during training camp so that you can get them back in all at once. If not, please make sure to give them to your coach at the practice prior to the next tournament, so that we can organize them and make sure that all of them are in.
Sportsmanship and Support: Last, and certainly not least, is the issue of Sportsmanship and Support for the kids and the program. Please make a conscious effort to make any and all support for our teams positive, meaningful and respectful. I take great pride in the type of children that I have in my programs. I know that they will do their best to represent themselves, their teams and the families in the absolute best way possible. I would ask that you do the same. Referees can be terrible in these tournaments, and the coaches know that the safety of our kids is paramount everytime we step on the field. Let the kids play, let the coach's coach, and let the parents enjoy the heck out of some great summer lacrosse. Remind your kids (and provide them with the model) that it's about the experience, the friendships they develop, and enjoying the great game of lacrosse that we have all come to love!
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