FLN has asked new Head Coach Doug Shanahan of St. Brendan High School in Miami to share his thoughts on how he is building his new program through their inaugural season. Here is his third submission! We thank Doug for taking the time to do this and letting our readers experience this unique insight. Entering the 3rd week of the season, we find ourselves looking forward to competition this weekend at the Pope Cup. We will face some very challenging teams on Friday and Saturday. There will be some significant growth as we are playing against teams from programs that are much more established than ours. With that said, it will be a great experience for our boys to get out and compete at a higher level than they are used to. We must face superior teams to grow and develop. This past Saturday we had our first ever St Brendan Lacrosse Family Day, including our inaugural Green and White scrimmage. Developing parent support is vital in any program. The coaches and the players are the substance and back bone our program, but parent involvement makes it special. A lot of coaches shy away from this aspect, however, I feel it is not only a benefit, but a vital component to making this program all it can be. Building the relationships with parents has been a huge focus point of the St Brendan staff, and I look forward to making the bond even stronger. We are grateful for all the support received to date. Our Green and White scrimmage showed that some players are really starting to pick up the game. We were pleased to see the growth of individual players, but much happier with the growth of the cooperative play. The boys are starting to function as a unit however we need to continue to develop our skills and practice hard before we open up next Tuesday versus South Plantation. Today’s practice is a ‘back to basics’ day; fundamentals, fundamentals and more fundamentals. Obviously we understand where our team is in the scope of the lacrosse community, which is challenging and frustrating at times, as we take steps forward and back. However, everyday we advance forward because our boys have been highly coachable and willing to put ideas into action. If we continue doing this we will reach our objectives together. St Brendan Lacrosse Practice #13 400 – Prepractice Drills – Break outs with goalie, overs, Faceoffs and Box Shooting 410 – Conditioning 17’s 2x 80secs 415 – water 420 – 3 man 2 ball 435 – Ground ball- 21,32,43,54 455 – 2 down the field 505 – water 510 – team split, half field 43/ 54’s 530 – 6v6 550 – Uppers & Downers 600 – ball hunt