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“My young athlete seems to love sports, but just doesn’t apply himself. I remind him every day to practice more and concentrate more, but that doesn’t work. How can I motivate him?”

This is a question we often get from parents. They say their kids love sports, are eager to go to games, but seem to spend a lot of time fooling around during practice. Or they don’t like to practice.

What should parents and coaches do in this case?

First of all, you need to understand why your kids are playing sports in the first place. Keep in mind that they may be participating for different reasons than your reasons for wanting them to participate.

Talk to your kids–and observe them–to better understand why they like playing sports.

They often like participating because they want to be with friends. They like the social aspect and part of being a team. Or they may like competing. Or they may simply like the coach and want to spend time with him or her.

Once you understand why your kids are participating in sports, try to tap into those reasons…

Provide situations that your child will enjoy–playing in the park with friends–if they’re in it for the social aspect, for example. Or you might arrange neighborhood games if your child likes to compete. This will help provide the social support they need.

Be sure to separate your reasons for wanting them to play sports with their reasons for wanting to play…

For example, you may want your kids to play to get exercise. Or you may want them to play because you hope they’ll get a scholarship some day. On the other hand, they may want to play because they like being outdoors after school, or because a best friend is on the team.

Nagging kids to practice can backfire. It won’t support their own reasons for participating in sports. If they succumb to parental pressure, they’ll be playing for you–not for themselves.

That won’t lead to a positive experience. You want the drive to participate to come from within–not from you.

So how do you motivate your young players?

As part of ESPN’s Build A Better Athlete series, Sarah Snyder, coordinator of sports nutrition at University of Florida, has nutritious post-workout shake recipes that will help athletes maximize their muscle repair and growth.

“Right after a workout, the muscle-building and repair process begins. The longer you wait to take in nutrients, the longer it will take your body to absorb them and your window for recovery closes.

Each recovery smoothie recipe below includes some sort of protein, whether it’s yogurt, milk or whey protein. Protein repairs muscle tissue damage and stimulates growth after a workout. Whey protein absorbs in your system quickly, while casein protein continues the process.

The other key ingredients you need in your post-workout shake are carbohydrates. The sugar you get from chocolate milk or cherry juice are two good examples of carbohydrates.

Anything with a high fat content in the shake isn’t ideal because it takes longer to break down. So try not to go overboard on the peanut butter or use ice cream.

 POST-WORKOUT SHAKE RECIPES

Strawberry Banana Orange Smoothie
1 cup Greek yogurt for protein and probiotics
8 oz. of orange juice for Vitamin C
1/2 banana for potassium
1/2 cup of strawberries for Vitamin C and fiber

Very Berry Smoothie
1 cup Greek yogurt
8 oz. skim milk
1/4 cup frozen blackberries for antioxidants
1/4 cup frozen blueberries for antioxidants
1/2 frozen strawberries for Vitamin C and some fiber

Chocolate Banana Shake
8 oz. low-fat chocolate milk
1/2 frozen banana
1 scoop of 100 percent chocolate whey protein
Ice

Strawberry Banana Shake
1 scoop of 100 percent vanilla whey protein
1/2 cup frozen strawberries
1/2 frozen banana
1-2 tsp. of honey
8 oz. of orange juice or skim milk

A shake is ideal for athletes after their workouts because it will digest quickly and will get nutrients in their systems right away.”

Share your recipes here.

“If you have teenagers, you know that they’re probably the most hydrated age group on the planet. For some, drinking water becomes almost a fetish and certainly is a common teen affectation.

“Younger kids, however, will drink when they’re thirsty – sometimes not until they’re REALLY thirsty. They dutifully bring their water or sports drink bottle to practice and to games but rarely bother to use it. As soon it gets just a little bit tepid, they’ll have nothing to do with it.

“Not that you need one more thing to think about, but try to monitor how much they’re drinking during practice and games. With the heat of summer on the way, they’re going to lose more water through sweat and physical activity and need to replenish themselves.

“Dehydration is very common among kids playing youth sports, and they need to be aware of the importance of consuming fluids to keep themselves alert. According to the Mayo Clinic’s website, common symptoms of moderate dehydration include headache and lightheadedness as well as sleepiness and fatigue, all of which puts the player at risk of suffering a painful injury through not being sharp. They won’t see that baseball headed toward them, for example, or will twist an ankle from running awkwardly because they’re sluggish.

“Symptoms of severe dehydration can include rapid heartbeat and breathing, drop in blood pressure, among other severe concerns, all of which are very preventable with a bit of parental nudging to drink while on the bench.

“Coaches and parents should know – and watch for – symptoms of dehydration. We also need to know the basics of how to treat other common youth sports injuries. Which is why I was happy to find a new website from Safe Kids USA that offers some basic tutorials and instruction to help us prepare for safety concerns ranging from dehydration and heat illness to concussions. Check it out.”

First, the Lacrosse IQ blog is focused on developing the Lacrosse IQ for all players and to develop a higher IQ, players and coaches must become students of the game and sports overall. Closing the mind to other sports – including those across the gender lines — will retard the development of a higher lacrosse IQ. Simply, when boys call another sport lame and fail to open their minds to learn from it, they deny themselves the ability to grow as athletes and lacrosse players.  Lacrosse players can learn angles and anticipation from tennis, torque and follow-through from golf, bowling and baseball, vision from hockey and basketball, etc. If you’re not learning as a lacrosse player, you’re not growing.

Next, the post was written from the perspective of male lacrosse coaches, educators and former college players. The negative comments depict a pervasive attitude in men’s lacrosse that a sport without contact is less-than and provides no insights into the sport overall. This could not be further from the truth and frankly undermines the boys’ games and the development of players. Boys lacrosse players and coaches should be watching and learning from girls’ lacrosse and vice versa.  If you don’t, you do so at your own peril because those who do, will develop a higher lacrosse IQ.

While the warlike element of lacrosse is often touted, lacrosse historians remind us that it was called the medicine game and the creator game and was seen as a spiritual journey and that’s exactly how our boys and girls should view the sport… a journey.

Take the journey. Open the mind and develop the body. Grow your lacrosse IQ.

Please share your comments here.

To begin with, girls’ lacrosse is a purer form of the game, with a lineage closer to the sport’s early history.  In the female version of the game, players abide by rules that are closer to the original regulations, with being “out of bounds” only recently resulting in a stoppage of play.

The sticks used in girls’ lacrosse have a shallower pocket than the sticks boys use in their games.  This lack of pocket depth forces girls to be more aware of where the ball is, since the ball is more likely to fall out of a shallow pocket.  For this same reason, girls also must be aware of their body positioning, grip placement, and stick location at all times since any false movement could mean loss of the ball.  From this, boys can see how increased awareness makes girls more attentive to the physical aspect of the competition and can learn to increase focus on the mechanics of the game.

Girls are also experts at defensive positioning.  Much like in basketball, girls’ lacrosse players are not permitted to openly check each other so girls don’t have the option of knocking another player out of position.  Instead, girls are always aware of their location and must be precise about their positioning.  If boys can add this additional consciousness to their game, they would be able to improve their method of body-checking while remaining in proper position to defend their goal as necessary.

Teamwork is also hyper-important in girls’ lacrosse.  In the girls’ game, each player needs to always be aware of their position on the field and communication plays a huge role in that.  When the whistle is blown to stop the game, girls are not permitted to move.  Therefore, they must think ahead when they see a ball going out-of-bounds.  It can be easier to beat someone one-on-one without the physicality allowed in boy’s lacrosse, so girls rely on their teammates to let them know when their competitors are in their area so they can make the moves necessary to retain ball possession.  Enhancing team communication for boys’ lacrosse can make a team stronger and more primed on both the offensive and defensive zones of the field.

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There is no doubt about it – lacrosse awareness is spreading and interest in the game is exploding.  While participation numbers are growing each year at every level of the game, more than half of the total players compete at the youth level (15 years of age and under).  And with all these new young athletes stepping up to the stick, the sport will, more than ever before, need experienced and knowledgeable coaches to train them.

At the younger lacrosse levels, many town teams are being coached by well meaning parents of players who want to help out and spend time with their children . . .but know very little about the game itself.  While this motivation is great, it would be even better if it were paired with training and lacrosse education.  New lacrosse players need to learn the fundamentals of the game early on and without an experienced coach their chances of doing so are slim.

Youth lacrosse coaches need to have specific skills that would not have been acquired along the way while coaching another sport or watching lacrosse on TV.  They need to be well-informed about lacrosse-specific skills, on everything from how variations in how a player holds his/her stick will change the way a player throws to why different offensive tactics will work for some teams but not others.  Good training programs will not only assist less experienced coaches to be positive role models and great motivators but will also educate them on how to effectively, safely, and age-appropriately coach young players.

Town programs work very well for instilling the love of the game in children but would be better prepared to develop more well-trained players by investing more resources in the training of coaches.  There are also certification courses available (such as the Coaching Education Program offered by US Lacrosse) for coaches to obtain necessary knowledge about the sport and about coaching, specifically.  Beyond that there are private clubs that may be able to provide additional training resources.

For a lacrosse player to advance and become a better athlete, he or she requires proper coaching, which might need to be found beyond the town program.  For a more advanced education, there are training academies and elite leagues that youngsters can participate in.  Similar to ice hockey, these training academies provide specific skill development that is not available at the town or school level.  These league teams consist of separate, individual teams made up of the best players and trained by skilled, certified coaches.

# # #

AP Images

Like many athletic children born in the 1980s, Casey O’Neill spent his free time playing basketball, football and baseball, three sports that have long been popular with young athletes in the United States. His favorite sport was basketball; he idolized Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics and dreamed about going pro. But when he was in the fourth grade O’Neill, who grew up in Montgomery, Md., had the opportunity to play lacrosse. Though he could not have predicted it at the time, lacrosse would end up shaping his future.

O’Neill’s first lacrosse league was not well-organized. “There was maybe one practice a week, if that,” he says. In spite of this, O’Neill was drawn to the speed of the game and the active participation it encouraged. Like basketball, every player on a lacrosse field plays some offense and defense, and players are constantly in motion unless the ball goes out of bounds. “It was fast and it was fun,” he says. “You get on the field and there’s a good chance that the ball’s coming towards you at some point.” This differentiated it from baseball, in which players at certain positions can go several innings without getting the chance to field a hit, and football, in which a player is assigned to either the offensive or defensive side of the ball.

In high school it became apparent to O’Neill that his best sport was lacrosse, so as a junior and senior at Gonzaga College High School in Washington, D.C., he spent his summers attending lacrosse camps and working to become a better player. It paid off: He earned an invitation to play lacrosse at Lehigh University, which at that time did not give full athletic scholarships to lacrosse players, and played on the university’s team for four years.

In college his love of the game continued to grow and after graduating with a degree in journalism, O’Neill decided to return to his roots. He now coaches varsity lacrosse at Gonzaga and is not surprised that this overlooked sport is increasingly becoming the favorite pastime of young athletes across the country. “Young boys like to be aggressive and physical, and they enjoy that aspect of the game,” he says.

NORTH AMERICA’S FIRST GAME

Invented by Native Americans, lacrosse is considered by many to be North America’s first sport, but its rich history is unfamiliar to many sports fans today. Lacrosse was football hall-of-famer Jim Brown’s favorite sport. It is the official summer game of Canada, and Wayne Gretzky is a noted lacrosse enthusiast. American lacrosse has historically been concentrated in New York, New England, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, where it has been played predominantly at prep schools and private universities, but after World War II its popularity began to grow and that growth accelerated during the 1970s.

Today, lacrosse is considered the fastest growing team sport in America. According to an annual survey produced by the organization US Lacrosse, the number of lacrosse players increased from 253,931 in 2001 to 624,593 in 2010. That figure includes 324,673 youth players. To put those figures in perspective, in 2010 The New York Times reportedthat one million boys and girls play basketball, making it America’s most popular youth sport. But basketball and other team sports cannot rival lacrosse’s explosive growth over the past several decades, which has occurred at every level of competition. The NCAA Division I Men’s lacrosse championship now regularly draws crowds that are smaller only than those at the men’s basketball championship and certain bowl games. There are two professional leagues in North America with 17 franchises between them, and franchises in Denver and Buffalo regularly have an attendance of more than 15,000 fans.

So why has the sport with the incredibly marketable nickname “the fastest game on two feet” exploded in popularity in recent years? And can lacrosse transform itself from a sport with niche appeal to a commodity that is well-known and popular with casual sports fans across the country?

Donald Fisher, author of Lacrosse: A History of the Game, says that unlike other American team sports, lacrosse was plagued by limited access to equipment during the 19th and 20th centuries and this inhibited its growth. “In the late nineteenth century, manufacturers such as Albert Spalding provided America with a large supply of baseball bats, balls, and gloves,” he told me via email. “Conversely, virtually every American lacrosse player’s wooden stick was produced by Mohawk Indian craftsmen from the St. Regis Reserve near Cornwall, Ontario.” These craftsmen’s limited production capacity effectively kept lacrosse’s growth in check until the 1970s when mass-produced synthetic sticks hit the market, allowing more players easy access to the essential piece of equipment.

Another factor that inhibited the sport’s popularity with mainstream sports fans in the 20th century is that it was pigeonholed as a sport for the affluent. “Throughout much of the twentieth century, the prototypical American lacrosse player was a college student who then went on to a career in a profession requiring a bachelor’s degree,” says Fisher. Lacrosse players attended good schools and then worked in esteemed professions such as law, medicine and finance. As a result, young athletes who saw other sports as potential pathways to fame and fortune avoided it.

Fisher also argues that the men who controlled lacrosse during the 20th century—the college coaches, referees, and former players who ran post-graduate lacrosse clubs and wrote rulebooks among other things—were steadfastly devoted to the amateur ideal of sport. They saw lacrosse as a game for gentlemen and valued the idea of sport for sport’s sake. They wanted no part of the commercialization other American team sports embraced. “I suspect for many lacrosse players part of the appeal of the sport is that unlike baseball, football and basketball, their sport has long been a players’ game—rather than a spectator’s game or an owner’s game or an advertiser’s game,” says Fisher. So while football, baseball, basketball, and ice hockey players were embracing the idea of professionalization and the increased popularity that came with pro leagues, lacrosse players were resisting it.

Today, the idea of a sport and its players resisting professionalization seems alien. Over the last 25 years mainstream sports culture has embraced professionalization and all but forgotten the ideal of amateur sport and the values once ascribed to it. The Olympic charter no longer makes the distinction between amateur and professional, elite college players increasingly treat Division I basketball and football as stepping stones to the pros, and talented baseball, tennis and golf prodigies join pro circuits as soon as possible. Rarely, if ever, does one hear an elite athlete espouse the values of sport for sport’s sake, but it’s not uncommon to hear an athlete express a contrasting opinion.

Considering that young lacrosse players have grown up in a sports culture where professional athletes command all the attention and carry the most cultural cachet, it’s reasonable to surmise that these players will not harbor the dedication to amateurism held by previous generations. If there is a chance to get paid, athletes today will jump at that opportunity. As it stands, however, the two professional lacrosse leagues, the National Lacrosse League and Major League Lacrosse, are not as large and do not attract nearly as much revenue as the four major American team sports. Consequently, the players do not make as much money as other professional athletes. But as lacrosse continues to attract young players who have the potential to grow up to become paying fans willing to buy tickets, watch the sport on television and buy products from sponsor companies, the chance that professional lacrosse can grow more relevant will increase.

FROM THE FRINGE TO THE MAINSTREAM

The success of a professional sports league depends upon more than grassroots support from fans. Often times it takes the help of an external event to put a particular sport on the path to mainstream relevance. Take professional soccer, for example, which has a long and complex history in the United States and according to Michael MacCambridge, author of America’s Game: The Epic Story of How Pro Football Captured A Nation, is the best recent example of a fringe sport that has found what he calls “a foothold in a glutted American sports market.”

America’s current love affair with soccer can be traced back to the 1994 World Cup, a tournament hosted by the United States in sold-out stadiums throughout the country. “I think the 1994 World Cup was a milestone moment, because it allowed the U.S. soccer audience to get a sense of its own potential, and put the rest of the world on notice that this was a market that could no longer be ignored or blithely dismissed,” says MacCambridge. Two years later Major League Soccer (MLS) started its inaugural season, and 17 seasons later the league continues to grow in popularity.

The MLS is, however, not America’s first professional soccer league, and the league has maintained its success partly by learning from the mistakes of its somewhat infamous predecessor. One year after the 1966 World Cup received good television ratings in U.S. markets, two professional soccer leagues commenced play. They merged in 1968 to form North American Soccer League (NASL), which in its heyday featured soccer legends like Pelé and Franz Beckenbauer. Teams like the New York Cosmos played in front of sold out crowds, but the NASL failed to sustain its success and folded in 1984, casting doubt on whether professional soccer could ever succeed in America.

When discussing the differences between the MLS and the NASL and why the latter failed, MacCambridge says the number one advantage the MLS has is that it has more stadiums specifically designed for soccer. NASL teams often played in stadiums and arenas designed for football and baseball, and these venues did not provide fans with good vantage points or create an exciting atmosphere. MLS stadiums like Crew Stadium in Columbus, Ohio, and the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., are soccer specific-venues that create better viewing experiences for soccer fans. Such arenas consistently draw enthusiastic crowds and this level of fan dedication at the stadium level helps make MLS soccer more appealing from a television perspective as well, something that will be critical to sustaining the league’s success. “Do you have a core group of committed fans who will turn up on a Saturday night to watch the home team play? That is really the ultimate test. Because then you have a scene at the stadium, and it’s a scene at the stadium that will televise well,” says MacCambridge.

When asked if lacrosse could follow in soccer’s footsteps and move from the fringe to the mainstream, MacCambridge conceded that it was possible but said that the sport, like soccer, will have to find venues that are suitable for the game and can draw enthusiastic crowd. He also added that like all niche sports currently vying for popularity, lacrosse faces the unenviable task of trying to attract the attention of casual American sports fans. “I don’t know that there’s a lot of people who call themselves sports fans who are sitting around going, ‘You know the problem is there’s just not enough sports to watch.’”

SPEED OF THE GAME

What lacrosse has going for it is that it combines elements of several established sports. Lacrosse players don helmets and padding similar to the equipment football players wear; like ice hockey players they check each other and use long sticks to propel the ball forward. The sport appropriates certain terminologies and offensive sets that are common in basketball. Outdoor lacrosse, which is played on long open fields, has a similar aesthetic to soccer. In this sense, lacrosse has no single sport that it must compete with for attention. It is unique but can attract fans by being somewhat similar to other sports they are already familiar with. And its fast pace is a good fit in a world where every life moves quicker by the year.

George Kirsch, a professor of sports history at Manhattan College and author of Golf in America, says sometimes a sport can catch on if its characteristics mesh with larger societal trends. For example, the golf boom that took place in America in the 1890s was helped by increased suburbanization that was taking place in many parts of the country. Golf requires space, and new suburban developments allowed for the construction of private courses. At that same time cities began building municipal courses in public parks where the working class could play. And golf’s popularity was also helped by the fact that it fit nicely with country’s burgeoning business culture: Executives could easily discuss business affairs over a round of golf and thus the marriage between business and golf was born.

When asked why young athletes like lacrosse, O’Neill says it’s the speed of the game. There’s no doubt that culture today moves faster than ever via a constant stream of Tweets, status updates and text messages, so it may only be a matter of time before slower, more deliberate team sports such as baseball and football seem antiquated, and fans start gravitating towards sports like soccer, basketball and lacrosse where movement is constant. If that happens, lacrosse holds a slight advantage over the other two since it incorporates some of the physical contact prevalent in football and ice hockey.

FROM PARENT TO CHILD

Innovation in sports can be a slow process, and it often takes a significant amount of time for a sport to gain traction with the mainstream. One reason for this is that a love of a particular sport is often inherited from a parent or older sibling. Kids who grow up playing catch with their fathers in the backyard are likely to have an affinity for baseball, just as a daughter whose older sister played basketball may feel drawn to that sport from an early age.

According to O’Neill, many of his friends who grew up on the cusp of lacrosse’s current surge in popularity are now passing their love of the sport to their children. They are signing their kids up for scooper programs that can start as early as kindergarten and taking them to games. Recently a close friend of his was looking for a way to spend a Saturday afternoon with his children when he realized there was a lacrosse game taking place at the University of Maryland. So they went to Byrd Stadium, bought three tickets for less than $10 each and were able to watch a quality lacrosse game between two college teams ranked in the top 10. “They had a blast,” O’Neill says. Experiences like that are where a love of a particular sport begins, and if more players who were on the front end of the current lacrosse boom pass the love of the game down to their children, the sport could grow exponentially over the next decade.

To the untrained eye, a lacrosse match may look like barely organized mayhem, but watch enough games and you are bound to witness the breathtaking athleticism displayed by its practitioners. While it still exists on the fringe—popular in certain areas of the country and somewhat unfamiliar in others—it is growing. US Lacrosse lists California and Ohio as two states with a significant concentration of youth players. In 2011 the University of Denver became the first university West of the Mississippi to make the Division I men’s lacrosse semifinals and did so with a semblance of local talent.

Whether lacrosse can capitalize on its recent growth and morph into a major American sport that can rival one of the four major American team sports remains a question mark. Making a professional sports league work takes a lot more than a large potential fan base. But considering that the sport has grown so strongly at the grassroots level without the type of exposure that comes from a major world tournament, it would be foolish to overlook lacrosse’s potential. If the sport’s popularity continues to grow, there’s no doubt the demand for televised lacrosse games and a more prominent professional league will follow.

University of Virginia’s men’s head lacrosse coach Dom Starsia discusses the qualities he looks for during the recruiting process. (Original link)

Offering high – carbohydrate foods (also called complex carbohydrates) versus high protein and fatty foods two to three hours before a game is very important to maintain the energy needed for them. Some examples of high-carbohydrate foods are foods such as pastas, breads and cereal which are digested quicker than high-protein and fatty foods. Unfortunately, most children, and adults, forget just how important nutrition is to good health and athletic performance.

Fruit is actually an excellent source of complex carbohydrates and fluids and can be eaten one to two hours before a sporting event.  My children enjoy raw, dried and canned fruits or fruit juice before we head out to a game.

Fluids are extremely important, before, during and after a game and my children have discovered that staying hydrated makes for a better performance.  For elementary and middle-school aged children, eight ounces of water before, during and after the sporting event is extremely important, especially if the outdoor temperatures are high. During a game, athletes should be allowed to take fluid breaks when needed to maintain their best and safest performance, and of course, caffeinated and carbonated beverages are not recommended.

If your child tires easily in practice and appears irritable, and their performance suddenly declines, dehydration may be the cause. The following are more signs that your child is dehydrated:

• Dry lips and tongue
• Sunken eyes
• Bright colored or dark urine or urine with a strong odor
• Infrequent urination
• Apathy or lack of energy
• Thirst

So pack up those water bottles and sport drinks (and don’t forget the fruit) and head out after a healthy meal full of high-carbohydrates to enjoy your child’s sporting activity.

SO WHAT ARE YOU EATING BEFORE YOU PLAY? Share your tips here.

Read more: http://www.justmommies.com/articles/sports-nutrition-tips.shtml#ixzz1qQvhyCe4