The extra lacrosse practice and work sessions you are doing with your children are great, and a great way to keep lacrosse fun. Practice sessions are the difference makers as to whether or not your children will get that scholarship — just kidding. But it is fun to do something with your kids that you both enjoy. Don’t ruin it by taking lacrosse practice too seriously.

Lacrosse Fun

It’s important to make sure lacrosse stays fun. Try to:

• Restrict your practice sessions to 20 minutes or a half hour

• Focus on one or two skills each time instead of all of them

• Play music they like

• Keep it positive

• Limit the number of corrections you suggest at one time

• Make the sessions enjoyable

Town, Rec, and School Lacrosse Teams

A pet peeve of mine: Don't neglect your child’s town/rec/school teams. Playing elite club sports can minimize these programs with the cachet of playing at a higher level against elite competition. “Johnny can never get better playing at that level.” “Janie will never get looked at in those games.” Who cares?!

Nothing beats playing with your friends and classmates — whatever the team’s level of play may be. The kids you sit next to in class and in the cafeteria mean much more to you than your club teammates who you see a couple of hours a week. Those games are always more fun, and college coaches will find talent — or they will find themselves unemployed.

The More Sports the Merrier

Consider encouraging your children to play another organized sport when lacrosse is shut down for a while. Coaches (the ones who are not trying to sell you something) will tell you how great it is for kids to play multiple sports. The players come back to their primary sport refreshed and eager to play and practice. They also come back with some skill sets they might not have if they only played lacrosse. It keeps them in a competitive state of mind and works other muscle groups. I like it because it often lets a player learn a different role on a team. A star player can see what it was like to be a role player, or vice versa. This gives the kids a great new perspective. As a high school coach, I always encourage my players to play other sports and to take them seriously. As a college coach, I used to love getting videos of my recruits playing soccer, football, hockey, and basketball. It gave me a much better picture of their athleticism and competitiveness.

I hope these ideas are helpful. You know your child much better than I ever will. Keep lacrosse fun for as long as you can.