We talk about wanting team unity, but often as leaders we end up in a Me vs You battle when it’s time to correct behaviors.  When effort levels, focus, distractions, or priorities become an issue, the old school form of leadership is still quite popular. That’s the one where we immediately take that authoritarian stance and start yelling or doling out physical punishment until they comply. It is, after all, our job to get them to their potential, to push them and keep them on

Occasionally I get asked by a program if one of my blog posts was about them. (Ironically several different programs may think a post is about them all at the same time). I usually don’t even know which post they are referring to. Maybe they identified with something in it and thought, hey she sounds like she’s talking about us! Maybe the entire post was spot on for your team practices or philosophy. Here’s the truth coming straight from the source. I don’t write blog posts a

By nature, coaches are problem solvers. Rarely do we come into a situation that goes as planned. How many times a season does a coach show up to a situation where the field is not available, the gyms are all taken, half the team is on a field trip, someone forgot the ball bag, etc. You name it, we’ve experienced it and come up with some pretty creative solutions in record time. There are other problem solving skills we all share as well. Motivation and getting the most from o

Not that it can’t be recovered from, but it’s unpleasant. For the programs unfortunate enough to have a new coach every couple of seasons – the norm these days with coach turnover- it’s becoming a hazard that can and should be avoided for the sake of the kids having to face it year after year. It all stems from pressure and often, really bad advice based on old ideology. Pressures that are perceived, whether they are entirely real or or simply magnified under the spotlight. M

I’m going to answer that for you 🙂 Head knowledge doesn’t immediately translate into ability. I can study how to make the perfect golf swing but struggle to carry it out until I’ve had significant practice. Our bodies have to do it, create feedback on its own, adjust and continue as the learning process continues. Every time you interrupt to again show and explain it, you break up the learning process. You’re actually making it take longer for them to learn rather than helpi

Just a quick blog update to announce the availability of Confessions of an Imperfect Coach on Amazon! If you pre-ordered through kateleavell.com, your signed books ship out tomorrow. If you’ve read a pre-release copy, it would mean a great deal to me if you could take a minute to log-in to amazon and leave a review. Signed copies are still available by ordering through the store on kateleavell.com Email me for bulk purchases kate@kateleavell.com Thank you for allowing me the

But in the eyes of this player, I was a life ruiner. I’ve held that unintentional feedback close to me ever since. Because we can win every trophy, title, newspaper headline there is, but if there are players that don’t feel valued, a part of the success, or cared about by the coach, then we aren’t winning at all. In our quest for streaks, wins, and awards, we can certainly come out on top and be admired as the winningest coach around. But there is no correlation to our team’

High School coaches, your players are often coming to you with a distinct lack of understanding of how to play lacrosse. I know they know the rules, have been playing a few seasons and can follow directions. But if you gave them no play, no motion, and weren’t allowed to speak at all to your players while they ran a settled offense what would it look like? My guess is likely statues standing still with one person running in and out until the ball turns over, or commotion in m

Striking a balance that brings sanity, joy, growth, organization, accountability, and development back into our youth programs comes from a well designed and executed plan. So often in our rush to gather volunteers, fields, enough players and the other usual preseason chaos we allow our structure to bend or maybe even break in order to meet current circumstances.  Often we put out fires at the expense of quality volunteers and principles. At the end of the season we promise t

Turning a quitting mentality into greatness: How much of an edge would we have over other teams if our team could bounce back from anything, love learning, always be focused on positivity and building together? The old tough love approach to coaching is at the forefront of our youth participation decline. That drive we have to make them better by focusing on, calling out, and shaming mistakes may in fact be driving them into a pit of hopelessness.   I learned this first hand,

The Coaches Emergency Practice Guide is the perfect gift for yourself or a coaching friend and I’m giving some away! Productive, fun practices for your girls youth lacrosse team are what you can provide all season long with the right tools. I’ll be randomly picking winners until Christmas! To be entered: subscribe to my blog at http://www.kateleavell.com  Tag me on Twitter @kateleavell #CEPGGiftAway Tag your favorite coaching friend to enter them for a chance to win one

But what is the cost to a sport growing at an unprecedented rate, and is it too late to back up and build up our foundation to ensure that the growth is positive and sustainable? Lacrosse, no matter how it grows, has a reputation for being a small and close knit community. In the past chances are, if I met you and you were involved in lacrosse, we were either from the same state or we had mutual friends somewhere in the country.  But with more players and teams, the community