KKUATeach

SUMMARY Even though the last few posts came fast and furious, this has been a long journey for me.   Until I started thinking about how to summarize this project in terms of the class, I really didn’t think about how much tech is involved in anything. Let’s list different “tech” I used in this process. Laptop Mobile phone (including SMS) Many different WiFi’s NFHS learning management system US Lacrosse learning management system Twitter YouTube Microsoft OneDrive (cloud storage) Excel/Word Google Sheets Digital camcorder Portable projector Email Whiteboard Good old pencil and paper F2F (face to face) – the new-fangled way of saying talking to people Lacrosse game equipment Blogger After looking back and considering the different tools I used to help me be a better coach and hopefully make my kids be better players, I understand what the hell this assignment was all about. Teaching is about using whatever yo...

Film Study Wow, did I underestimate film study by a high school coach. There are two main areas I was not ready for at all. How Valuable It Is How Much Time It Takes Let’s discuss them in that order. I mentioned earlier that I was worried about making in game strategy adjustments. Since that is not my primary concern during the game, I do most of my strategy critiques after the game while watching film. Anytime I’ve watched lacrosse game films for the past 6 years I have only been worried about my sons. You look at things differently when you are looking at all the players than when you are only worrying about one or two (I know, the quote is a bit off. But it’s close. Give me a break!). After our fist scrimmage, I sat down with my laptop and a note book to compile notes to show the kids. Without making a big deal, I just went to the AV room off the locker room and started reviewing the films. Soon, players started coming in and I had them hooked. Being prepar...

For the sake of a narrative, I’m jumbling the time line a bit. This post will be more about my kids than me.  It’s funny – I naturally typed “my kids,” but I’m actually talking about the team. Last year we had a decent team. We finished in the middle of the pack, but due to a bunch of factors that will bore you, that was a pretty good result for the regular season. The team even earned a home playoff game that they won in OT. I’m tempted to say that my youngest son had a lot to do with the win because of a change in momentum that came with him creating a turnover, beating several players on a run down the field and scoring a goal that electrified the team and the crowd, but there’s no way I would brag on him so I won’t say it. The reward for that win was a trip to the #1 regional seed and a definitive butt-whooping, but the first game is what everybody remembers. This year, our team is disproportionately made up of underclassmen, but some of the older kids are causing a bit...

Ok, it’s been a while. Let me ‘splain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up. (If anybody reads this AND gets that, I’d love to hear it.) Last we left this thread, I was going into the first couple scrimmages for my team. I have been keeping notes all along on how this was going, but as I talked about way back in February , I have a tendency to worry about my writing so I was editing as I posted. So, while my last post on my coaching stuff was in early April and covered stuff that happened in early March, I still spent time rewriting the post instead of just putting it up. That worked well until both school and coaching got into full swing, so I got a bit behind in worddsmithing. Now I’m catching up. You’re going to see a few posts in the next few hours catching up about 6 weeks of stuff. Try to remember that time frame, please. First - I really wish I was better at remembering names. That is going to be such a big thing for me to work on as a teacher.   I don’t think I’l...

I’ve just finished the first week on the field with the kids. It was quite the learning experience. One of the first things to figure out was how I was going to interact with Mike, the Head Coach.   Like I mentioned in my first post, I had plenty of interaction with Mike last year when he coached and I worked the scorer table. But that is completely different than coaching. Much of this week was spent with me figuring out what he wanted me to do and figuring out what is was OK for me to say to the kids. Like I mentioned last time, I spent my prep week documenting ways to teach a few rides and clears. Along with these, I found some help online to develop practice plans that brought these together in a series of drills that built upon each other. We did a couple of them the first few days and Mike asked me to introduce the drills and run them. My coach voice returned very quickly, and I found myself in the middle directing two groups of 20 kids each running the drills at...

So, at the end of my last post, I had all my mandatory coaching training done, now I just have to wait until the paperwork gets through the school district and the state for my permit comes through. I have to wait until that is all done before contact with the team, so for now I’m focusing honing what I know about the mechanics and adding new drills and game play strategies to my toolbox. My first go-to for this is the US Lacrosse Coaches Education Program. As I already mentioned before, the Level 1 certification I hold focused on the basic techniques – how to teach a kid to pass, catch, shoot and pick up a ground ball. If you’ve ever watched a youth or developmental middle school game, you see how important it is to focus on the fundamentals of these particular tasks. The level 1 courses also gave me important lessons on how to teach the proper way for kids to hit – making sure we are playing a safe and controlled, yet physical, game of lacrosse without reverting to ...

There is one large difference in becoming a coach at the community youth level and high school varsity – bureaucracy. Youth activities rely so much on volunteers they are usually just happy to get anybody, let alone somebody who knows the game. I was certified in CPR/AED and First Aid through work, so I at least had that, although in the early years of the club they hadn’t started requiring those certificates. Before I can have contact with the high school kids, I need a valid Pupil Activity Permit from the Ohio Department of Education. There are some courses/certifications that were no brainers – First Aid, CPR and concussion awareness. A biggie, however, is the Fundamentals of Coaching through the National Federation of High Schools (NFHS).   This is a mandatory training and is available on-line through the NFHS learning portal ($65). This was a little bit different than the coaching basics I had for my US Lacrosse certification. Some of the new information is empha...

In my tech class, I have an assignment to learn a new skill and share the journey on my blog. I kicked around a few things, and even had one in mind, when situations change (as they often do). About 10 days before the start of the practice season, I joined the coaching staff of the boys’ lacrosse team at my local High School. I may be understating this a bit, as I doubled the size of the staff. So, how did I get here? Eight years ago, my youngest son started playing lacrosse at the youngest age in our brand-new youth lacrosse program. I didn’t know much about the game, but I found a way to help by being the guy who fetched balls that went off the field and returned them to the sidelines. The next year there was only one coach for 20 middle-schoolers, so I gradually moved closer to the sidelines to help watch the kids during the games. That led to me being an official coach for the third season. I had never played, but I figured that a lot of my job would be just to help manage beh...