thanks to Chris Mattes of the Florida Launch for the first in a series of articles explaining the faceoff position at various times of a player’s development!   Finding/Developing Youth Faceoff Athletes   A common misconception in finding and developing youth face-off athletes is looking at them and pushing them towards being so called “FOGOS”.  The term FOGO meaning “Face Off Get Off” is one I personally never use.  A couple reasons behind this include the following:  any coach that makes a youth (2^nd – 6^th grader) a “FOGO” is failing them. They need to be taught to be an athlete first, lacrosse player second, and a face-off man third.  The athlete is too young to be made a specialized player.  Second of all we want to develop them as a lacrosse player so down the line they are able to be a threat on offense and not a liability on defense or with the ball in their stick.  If you look at the top faceoff men in college today, they can all handle the ball in their stick as well as play defense.  Last but not least, building off the previous statement, when we look ahead at the recruiting process for these kids in college, coaches don’t want to recruit a one trick pony.  The coaches want players that can help them out in multiple ways.  For faceoff men, someone who can faceoff well and play strong defense is extremely important.  It is important in college for these faceoff athletes to be able to play defense so that if they do end up losing they are not a liability out there for their team. Now how do we find and develop these athletes? As a coach or parent that works with youth players, be open to who faces off as you never know who will be into it and dedicated to working at it.  Just like anything in lacrosse facing off takes practice to master the craft.  The best traits to look for when searching for a faceoff athlete are attention to details, scrappiness, and dedication to practicing on their own.  Some of the best faceoff athletes have wrestling backgrounds because they understand being down in that position and the footwork involved. When working with youth faceoff men, attention to detail is HUGE.  The important thing for them is to master a stance that works best for who they are.  At The Faceoff Academy we do NOT tell a kid that they have to go to their knee or have to be on their feet.  We teach them both ways and the nuances to each that will make them successful and let them choose from there.  Also, with youth players teach them the basics to quick clamp and exiting with the ball.   As you can see with them, there is a large emphasis on technique and getting that muscle memory down. Last but not least a large focus on footwork with facing off.  If a faceoff athlete has strong footwork at a young age (which many wrestlers have) they can find quick success in facing off.  

  The Faceoff Academy does offer a “Video Coach” that addresses the basics to each stance, techniques, moves, wing play, and drills. We recommend to players, coaches, and parents to use as a reference so that each faceoff can check themselves when training on their own or as a coach to teach your kids.  The video is a one time charge of $40 and once purchased can be used as many times as you please.  Here is the link to the video:  https://vimeo.com/ondemand/12443