Pete Stevenson: “That Was Fun!”
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Natalie proclaimed, “That was fun, let’s do it again!!” at least fifty times this past weekend. She is certainly my daughter. I must have thought those same lines everyday of my life. And now you know what I am like as a coach. Fun is what I strive for. Lacrosse is supposed to be fun. Of course there will be times when it is not, but everyday I leave practice happy. Not just because of the way we are progressing, or the ability of the O to score or the D to clear, but because this game is fun. There is greatness in it. There is something in this game which gets each of us a little bit, that gives us those goosebumbs on that first day of practice.
It is why we do what we do. It is why we spend hours and days and weeks of our lives to perfect that shot, save or drill. Cause we want to do it again. I wake up every morning earlier and earlier because I can’t wait to get to work. I can’t wait to do it again. Practice seems more and more fun.
And that is important to me. That the players go home with the same feeling. Practice is going to be so fun tomorrow that I have to make sure I am physically and mentally prepared for it. That we as coaches prepare a practice plan which makes the players work hard and learn our system while having fun. The drills we do, focus on one aspect of the game so that we can learn what we can and can’t do well, while making sure that they will want to do it again.
Now, fun is often misinterpreted to mean only laughter and smiles. I had fun when I was a kid and completed the 50/20 (Walk fifty miles in less than twenty hours – I did it in 17:28). That may have been one of the toughest things I have ever done and I would do it again if they still had it. I had so much fun.
Fun can mean accomplishing a challenging thing. Perfecting a task. Creating a new way to do something. Beating the odds. Creating better odds. Getting better. Fun is different for everyone. I don’t expect all of my players to love every second of practice. I don’t plan on joke time between drills. I do plan on running between drills. And that is fun. That is what gets us the hardware after the season, which provides the most amount of fun for all of us.
So that is why everyday I say the words, That was fun. Lets do it again.
Pete Stevenson hails from Orem (pronounced ARM), Utah and is now the head coach of the University of Colorado Buffaloes. He was an assistant at Brigham Young, where he learned the value of a good ride, and great hair. You can read more of his ponderings on his very non-lacrosse related blog.
