There is nothing more important in the recruiting process than being "Good enough."
There is not a more effective method to becoming "Good enough" than to play pick up games.
The Free Play Math Equation
I decided to do a little experiment. I had Rocco stat two boys club game, two girls club games and two 45 minute pick up games and count touches, dodges, shots, off-ball movements, 2man games, etc.
The results are staggering!
Here are Stats from a Boys club game (Joe Dowling, Deerfield '21, Harvard '25)
Here are stats from a Girls club game (Lucy Munro ThunderRidge HS '21, Northwestern '25)
Here are the Offensive Stats from Lucy Munro's 3v3 and 4v4 Pick up Games.
Here are the Defensive Stats from 3v3 and 4v4 pick up games:
There are a lot of reasons why pick up games are the best way to get better that you will read about in this chapter, but the quantitative portion makes it pretty obvious, doesn't it?
The 47 dodges in the 3v3 + Goalie pick up game aren't just a run of the mill 1v1 rep. They are dodges in context with on ball defenders, off ball defenders looking to crowd and help, teammates moving and communicating, and finally a goalie trying to take away angle. It is a phenomenal learning environment!
The off ball and defensive decision making opportunities are also undeniable. Regardless of what position you play, the opportunity to make massive improvements while literally having the time of your life is real!
Free Play Testimonial
Here is Free Play testimonial from Joe Dowling's father I think you will find interesting!
"Free Play" Podcast
This is a MUST LISTEN Podcast with Joy of the People Artistic Director and Co-Founder, Ted Kroeten.
This podcast was a game changer for me personally. I was already well down the road of the value of Free Play, and this new info helped me take my understanding to another level.
Kroeten dives into theories and experience with unstructured play which was both fascinating and validating. The concepts of "Athletic Fluency," "Under -loading", Second Language Learning Theory where acquisition must come before learning, the myths about the best soccer academies in the world and much more!
Click here to listen to Ted Kroeten Podcast.
Fluency in Sports
I am very interested in this concept of "Fluency" in sports. Kroeten introduced me to this concept Similar to second language acquisition where most of us studied a foreign language memorizing the rules, vocabulary, and grammar, but never achieving fluency, kids who practice in structure, dodging cones, and in environments devoid of decision making, will be limited in their fluency acquisition. You see, fluency is about the "Input" which is the receiving and processing of information, not the output of executing. Think about your trip to Mexico, where you could order off the menu, but could not understand one word your server said to you!
The literal element of Fluency is sports is the constant communication that is occurring. Not just the verbal communication between teammates, but the non verbal communication players have with the opposition. This is also known as deception! If a player has "Fluency" he/she will essentially communicate with their opponent in order to manipulate them. Go back and watch the Jeff Teat clip where he simultaneously manipulates his man, the sliders, and second sliders while attacking the net and creating a scoring chance by drawing a triple team.
All Athletes go through this 3-Step Process
There is a very simple process that occurs on the field in a game that I want you to think about:
Step one, perceiving and processing involves an incredible amount of stuff happening at one time. Let's say you have the ball you must simultaneously recognize how your man playing you, the off ball defenders and sliders, your outlets, the open space, the verbal and non verbal communication with teammates..... the list goes on and on! It's actually quite amazing if you really think about it!
Step two, making a decision, involves not only making a good "read" of the situation, but also confidence and personality. If a player is fluent, he/she will be decisive, simply making the play that needs to be made. If a player lacks fluency, sometimes they will hesitate or defer due to a lack of confidence, or they will force it trying too hard to make a play that isn't there.
In either case, the player that forces it or the player who won't dodge or shoot when it's clearly the opportune moment, will more shooting and dodging reps be the solution? I don't think so! Let's continue to dig in!
Isolated technique training slows down football development
For many decades in football there is a heated debate between coaches who believe technique training should take place in football training and coaches who believe in isolated technique training. The main reason why this discussion is already going on for many years is the fact that it takes place at a subjective wavelength. In other words, it is opinions against opinions. Experience versus experience. The only way to solve this subjective status quo is by zooming-out and introducing objective references based on the characteristics of the game.
By (non-verbally) communicating with their surrounding players collect information about teammates, opponents, etc. Based on this information players make a decision. Next, they have to execute this decision with their technique. So, technique in football means executing a decision and not just executing a technique like in, for example, gymnastics. For a sport such as gymnastics the technical execution is the objective. A gymnast receives points for moving the body in an ideal way from A to B. In football, on the other hand, players receive points for moving the ball from A to B, with B being the goal of the opponent. Therefore, the technical component is just a means to execute a decision.
In football, the movement of the body thus plays a very different role than in gymnastics. For football players, there is no ideal stereotype technique because each game situation is different. In their whole life, they will never pass the ball twice in the same way, because the circumstances and the opponents are always just slightly different compared to last time. So, a gymnast needs a perfect stereotype technique while a football player needs a variable technique. This is also called functional technique.
Based on the objective analysis of the game, it shows that football technique is the execution of a decision that can only be trained in football situations in which players have to make a decision. In an isolated training situation without opponents a player does not have to make a decision. In that case, the player is not practicing the execution of a decision but just the execution of a technique. In other words, he is not developing football technique. Despite the above philosophical analysis of the game, all around the world there are football coaches who stick to isolated technique training based on their subjective opinion. They believe that children have to start with isolated technique training before they can do more complex football training.
Just image six or seven year old children play ten versus one on a whole pitch. What do you think the defender will do after 30 or 60 seconds? Yes, the defender will probably give up because he cannot get the ball. So, this passing exercise is too simple. It is underloading passing. Players are not challenged and as a result will not improve their passing. But if 10v1 is too simple, why do coaches do isolated exercises? An isolated exercise 4v0 is even more simple and more underload compared to 10v1.
Instead of making 10v1 even more easy by taking out the opponent, coaches should develop the 10v1 into a more realistic and challenging exercise. The coach can reduce the number of attackers from 10 to 8, 7 or even 6. He can increase the number of defenders from 1 to 2 or reduce the pitch size. With all three adjustments the players will get less space and time to control and pass the ball as the defender(s) will be closer to the player with the ball.
In other words, isolated technique training is not necessary for children who are able to play 10v1 without losing the ball. And for those players who will even lose the ball in 10v1 isolated technique training is the perfect solution to develop kicking the ball. So, football training like 10v1 (or more demanding football situations) is the rule with respect to football technique training. And isolated technique training is the exception on the rule in case players keep losing the ball even in extremely simplified football situations like 10v1.
For decades people are having an intense debate about football training versus isolated training. Based on the above objective analysis of football we have now broken the subjective status quo. Players should develop football technique in football situations because football technique means the execution of a decision. And for those players who struggle even in the most simplified football situations, isolated technique training is the perfect exception on the rule.
FCE Founder
Why Isolated Skill Development Slows Down Player Development
As many of you know, I'm passionate about Free Play as the best model to get better. For many folks, they'll say, "Yeah, yeah, I agree, Free Play is great." but then they go right back to the private lessons, the high level club practices and there is a huge opportunity cost!
I am a student of this game and a coach. I believe in coaching and I believe there is a place for sharpening skills through reps, but the more I look at the athletes I work with or teams I coach not playing to their potential, it is more about the processing of what's happening and subsequent decision (or indecision!) making than the actual skills themselves. Think back games your teams have lost, or games your son/daughter played in where they didn't perform: if they had executed the skills in the game that they execute regularly in practice or private lessons... outcomes would be different. Right?
Watch the video below and look at how many decisions are being made! With ball decisions, off ball decision, defensive decisions, skill choice decisions and more! This is the miracle of Free Play!
Below is a pretty funny Free Play ground ball battle on the grass. It was a little egregious, but everybody was right back into the game!
Behind The Back Feeding
Another example illustrating my point: have you ever noticed how few players feed behind the back? It seems to be a skill reserved for world class players in the NLL or PLL/MLL, yet most serious high school and middle school boys and girls can execute this skill on command no problem. In my opinion, behind the back feeding is one of the most impactful weapons in any player's arsenal because it it is a combination of being un-guard-able by the on ball defender while being nearly impossible for off ball defenders to to react to. In essence, BTB feeding buys time for the receiver resulting in a better chance of scoring!
Therefore, Step three, the actual execution of a skill or technique is the least important part of this process, yet it is the focal point of #Reps for most coaches! In fact, one could argue that working on skills in isolation has an opportunity cost that will slow down development since that athlete will not be working on perception and decision making.
Box Lacrosse and Fluency
Last October's 1 goal game, where Team USA nipped Team Canada in a comeback victory is further proof that box lacrosse is a better learning environment than field lacrosse. There are fewer than 100 thousand players in Canada while there are close to 1 million players in the US. When we think of box as a better environment, we attribute it to the goal size, boards and glass, all short sticks and small sided-ness as the chief factors, and I would mostly agree. However, I would add that the shot clock might be the most powerful part of the environment. The shot clock in box lacrosse makes the game itself less structured and less controllable by coaches and less "Risk averse" therefore allowing players to learn on their own through the environment itself.
I've always said, "Box time is 'Double Time' and I now understand this in a different way. I used to think it was just because of the number of reps of shots, passes, etc, but really it's a massive increase in perception and decision making on and off ball combined with the challenge of scoring a small net with a big goalie.
The Power Free Play
Free Play is truly a miracle that most people cannot wrap their head around. Most folks will agree Free Play is a very good thing, but when push comes to shove, coaches and parents feel better about structure, about #Reps, instruction, and high level competition. The environment of Free Play is that of "Joy", "Acquisition", experimentation, and learning. Playing small games like in the video below with small nets, no equipment, and tennis balls is truly a version of box lacrosse. Look at the skills, teamwork, and fluency being illustrated!
It's run to watch the light bulb go on with parents as it relates to free play when they finally really watch their kids playing. They all have the same reaction, "Now I understand!" , "I just watched my son / daughter totally fake that kid out" or "My son is feeding BTB's!"
Oh yeah, and it's free!
Evolving from Structure to Free Play
I have spent a lifetime studying the Great Game of Lacrosse! I have watched every player, tried to breakdown every skill, and figure out a way to teach it in a smart progression. Usually starting with a name, introduction the skill in a vacuum, working on the skill in live drills usually uneven drills, then transition to live play. I have watched this work beautifully in the sense that I was successful at teaching just about every skill to my players. The only thing I needed was the time to do it. So I thought.
Then I began realizing that even though my players could do literally every skill in the book, the percentage of skills they actually used versus the skills they possessed was not as strong as it should be. This percentage was probably stronger than most, but still, it wasn't acceptable. I needed to find another way.
About two years ago when I took a step back from being the owner and operator 3d Lacrosse, it allowed me see the world from a different perspective and allowed me to experiment with a different approach. The approach was Pick up games, Sandlot, or street lacrosse. I have slowly but surely dialed up this approach to the extent that I have never coached less and had players play more. The results are incredible!
First it is SO MUCH FUN!
Second, the athletes learn at warp speed. The funny thing is you never know what or how much they're learning because there are so many things going on!
Watch this video and you'll see what I mean!
Summers in Canada
My daughters and I spent the months of June the past two summers in Niagara on the Lake, (NOTL) Ontario which was truly one of the best experiences a father could ever hope for! I got to play pick up games with my daughters and their friends pretty much every day! A couple of my buddies and I rented a house in NOTL so our daughters could play girls box lacrosse in St. Catharines, ON and it was the ultimate opportunity for the kids to get better at lacrosse and have an awesome summer!
I purposely gave the girls their space by letting them access to my car while I worked during the days at my buddy Sean Allen's house. There was a really solid group of girls AND boys who worked out together, hung out together and got better at lacrosse together. There were a fair number of visitors to, which created a really fun dynamic on and off the sandlot and box arena!
One of the best things this motivated group of kids would do is at 1030am every morning, they would do their own work out: lift, agility, wall ball, yoga, or sprints then they would go to the beach on nice days or go to a mall if it was raining. They had the freedom to (and my car!) to cruise around and explore.
Then at 330pm every day we played lacrosse! Some days, if we had a box goalie available we would play box and local St Catharine's Midget age boys would show up making for a really cool environment! On most days we played pick up games, which is basically box lacrosse with out the pads
The box lacrosse the girls played was a great environment to learn how to play faster, deal with physicality, and how to play with very little space. Kind of like in the movie Dodgeball, where they said, "If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball." if you can score in box lacrosse, you can score in field lacrosse!
This past week I did a webinar for the Virtual Lacrosse Summit titled, "Teaching Girls Box Lacrosse". This webinar shows all the drills and explains the concepts behind the benefits of box lacrosse! Click here if you want to see this webinar. It's awesome!
On nice days we played in the parking lot outside the arena. On rainy days we rented floor time inside the arena and invited Canadian box goalies and players to play with us. If we went indoors, we would strap on the box gear and run a box style practice for an hour with the goalie and a lot of shooting. The second hour we played pick up with the box goalie in the net. It was pretty fun!
Our Free Play model extended beyond the lacrosse games. We rented a country house with a sweet yard, a safe setting where a group of anywhere from 5-10 kids were hanging out, working out, playing lacrosse and just being kids. Each week new guests would visit and spend the week with us in beautiful Niagara on the Lake. The kids had all day to themselves with a car and time to explore. At night we usually had big dinners or BBQ's at the house with friends who were in town and the girls would go on an adventure. Some nights they would go to Niagara Falls to the Haunted House, or just a trip to get Ice Cream.
The best part about this summer is the friendships the girls and parents have made. All of these girls are committed athletes and lax players who have wonderful potential, but they are also great friends who love just having fun. Niagara on the Lake, ON is one of the most beautiful places on earth, perfect for summer lacrosse experience. Throughout the summer visitors and friends come and visit us which only makes the experience better!
Create Your Competition
It's interesting to think about this concept in the context of pick up games. How much does it matter? Well, in an effort to make pick up games better for my daughter, I invited a few D1 boys committed players to join our game (I actually paid them $20, my wife told me I was a loser to pay people to play with me, but I didn't care, I wanted a guarantee). Usually we had me (old guy) the two D1 committed HS boys, my 9th grade daughter, and a couple other girls of varying ages.
I figured by inviting the boys I could create a level of competition that would be higher than the average girls lacrosse competition that my daughter would play in for club or HS. The girls benefited from playing with the boys. You can create a higher level of play in your backyard than you can joining an elite club.
Create Your Competition Part 2
We played our pick up games religiously with that group of boys and girls from August right through December. It got too dark and cold to play much once January hit and by Mid February, lacrosse season is getting going in Colorado. One day I was chatting with the two D1 committed boys about their up coming HS season. Both boys told me that playing pick up games all fall helped their games tremendously. One boy said it helped his confidence to be able to "just play" in a no coaching environment. The other talked about how much his play making skills improved and how he began fully utilizing his repertoire.
The point is, these boys were playing with an old guy and 3 girls every week, yet they felt is was pivotal to their development. I guess creating a higher level of competition isn't the end all. You can play with all levels of competition in a pick up game and get better!
What I didn't know when I wrote this two years ago, was that this is a prime example of the "Under-loading" concept from the Free Play Podcast with Ted Kroeten.
Moral of the Story
Do not depend on club lacrosse to develop your son or daughter into a high level lacrosse player. What can you count on a club to do? Clubs are fun, they can provide good competition and coaching, recruiting exposure, and can teach kids a certain level of team play. Even if you have an incredible club with a great coach, kids need unstructured play to gain the fluency referenced earlier in this article. Ideally, you will have a great club, a great HS environment, but your pick up games would be your chief mode of getting better.
