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Coaches

FYLA Coaching Philosophy

The FYLA mission is to grow the sport of lacrosse in Farmington and for the sport to be a positive force in the lives of our youth. 

Your Lacrosse Association has adopted a "positive coach" and "honor the game" philosophy as taught by the positive coaching alliance www.positivecoach.org.

Youth athletes often join sports for fun and friends. As your lacrosse association, we are focused on building and improving lacrosse skills in our youth while offering that opportunity for friendly competition.

Sometimes coaches, parents and fans get into the competition and want the team to WIN no matter what.  As players play up to the high school varsity level, winning and individual statistics become even more important. 

But, for our youth in elementary and middle school, lacrosse should be about skill development first, fun second, and winning third.

Some coaches may step over the line and adopt a win-at-all-cost mentality, bully or berate their players, or yell at the referrees.  The FYLA Board will not tolerate this behavior.

The FYLA board will do our best to recruit and select the best coaches we can who uphold a positive coaching attitude and who have a coaching philosophy that is focused on skill development, friendly competition, and fun. 

A win-at-all-cost coach has only one goal – to win. A Positive Coach shares that goal (wants to win) but has a second goal that is even more important – to use the sports experience to help young people learn life lessons and positive character traits that will help them be successful throughout their lives.

Honoring the Game

Honoring the Game means that we ask all players, parents and coaches to respect the following:

  • Rules: We don't bend the rules to win
  • Opponents:  A worthy opponent forces us to play to our highest potential. 
  • Officials: We treat officials with respect even when we disagree with the call 
  • Teammates: We never do anything that would embarrass our team on or off the field.  
  • Self: We live up to our own standards regardless of what others do.

Follow these steps to become a FYLA Coach

BECOME A COACH

  1. Become a US Lacrosse Member.  Create an account on uslacrosse.org as a coach.  For coaches with players, use the same account that you created for your player, just add yourself as a coaching member.  Fee is currently $55 and is reimbursed by FYLA for completing your duties as a coach.  Go to http://www.uslacrosse.org/ and click on JOIN.

  2. Take the Fundamentals of Coaching Boys' Lacrosse-Level 1 or Fundamentals of Coaching Girls' Lacrosse-Level 1 online for free with US Lacrosse membership.  Download a copy of your Level 1 completion certificate from the transcript menu option and submit with reimbursement form. https://learning.uslacrosse.org/#/dashboard

    1. Chapter 1 - Fundamentals of Coaching

      1. Coach Development ~30 minutes

      2. Player Development ~ 1 hour

      3. Team Development ~ 1 hour

    2. Chapter 2 - Diversity and Inclusion ~ 10 minutes

    3. Course Evaluation

  3. Complete the HEAD UP concussion training video presented by the CDC ~ 1 hour.  Follow the this link and click on Launch the HEADS UP Course.  Download your certificate and submit with the reimbursement form.  https://www.cdc.gov/headsup/youthsports/training/index.html

  4. Complete and submit a reimbursement form along with the invoice for US Lacrosse registration and course certificates.

  5. Once the certificates are received, we will send you a link to register for a background check.  Background checks are submitted through SportsEngine.  Complete the registration form online for background check and accept the coaching code of conduct.

Positive Coaching Resources

PCA CERTIFICATION

Positive Coaching Alliance Double-Goal Certification is an additonal required item for any head coached in the MSSLax (Girls) league.  The document linked below describes the expectations for a double-goal coach.
http://www.positivecoach.org/pdffiles/coach_job_description.pdf