Play Catch With Your Kid

Young boy playing catch with lacrosse stick

You have made a wonderful commitment to your child by enrolling him or her in the best lacrosse clinics and programs around. You have spent the price of a really nice spa weekend on backyard goals, rebounders, balls, and sticks. You clutter your already busy weekends with scheduled clinics, practices, games, and tournaments. Sorry but that’s not enough!

Play Catch

You need to play catch with your kid.

Think of it as helping him with his math homework. You don’t necessarily know how to do it, but you know he needs to do it. And unlike math, he probably wants to do it too. Just like his math homework, you may know how to do it a little differently than his teacher or coach. That’s OK. You don’t even need a lacrosse stick either. A baseball or softball mitt works fine if you are more comfortable with it. And don’t worry about the ball being on the ground or using perfect technique. It’s supposed to be fun—and that’s where the ball ends up a lot in a real lacrosse game. Don’t focus on the catching and throwing (leave that for the coach).Just enjoy the time you get with your kid. Have a conversation, relax. Focus on your child. You don’t need to do it for hours at a time, 5, 10, 15 minutes tops. If you find time during the week, awesome; if not, go out once or twice on Saturday and Sunday. She’ll get better the more you do it—you might too.

Play catch. You will probably get more out it than your kid.