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Gone Campin': Team USA Starts Two-A-Days
by Nathaniel Badder | Special to Lacrosse Magazine Online
| Training Camp Photos
Day One: Pick-Up Hoops with Team USA
Day Two: Team USA Starts Two-A-Days
Intrepid reporter -- and US Lacrosse Director of National Teams -- Nathaniel Badder is embedded with Team USA at Bryant University in Smithfield, R.I., as it heads into training camp to ready for the MLL All-Star Game and FIL World Championships. Check back to laxmagazine.com this week for continuing coverage.
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Team USA midfielder Matt Zash moves down the alley on
long pole Kyle Sweeney during the first full day of training camp
Monday at Bryant University. Click here for more photos. © Nathaniel Badder |
MONDAY, JULY 5, 2010
7:08 a.m.: Entering the dining hall,
there’s a sign that reads “Bryant University welcomes
Team USA Lacrosse!” A very nice touch.
9:27 a.m.: As a long-time coach and believer in
teaching kids the right way to play, it’s refreshing to see
that a team loaded with the top players in the world still focuses
on the same concepts (spacing, communication,
decision-making), works on the same skills (stickwork, shooting,
transition situations), and runs the same drills (4-cone passing,
midfield shooting progressions, 3-on-2 to the goal, 1-on-1s) as
you’d see during any youth lacrosse practice. The
difference is the speed at which these drills are executed…
and that offensive players knife balls through invisible gaps in
the defense and stick shots long after you’ve heard the
goalie call out “no angle,” or that defensive players
materialize out of nowhere to pick off passes destined for
certain-goal shots and maintain solid position after two, three, or
four knee-quaking, ankle-breaking moves. It’s impressive to
watch.
10:32 a.m.: Practice concludes with some
enthusiastic conditioning -- guys run a 20-yard out and back each
time Coach Pressler calls out something that applies to them. He
yells, “Nittany Lions” and Chris Schiller (Penn State)
bolts up and back; “Blue Jays” and Stephen Peyser, Paul
Rabil and Shawn Nadelen do a sprint; “Ivy League” and
Matt Striebel (Princeton), Ryan Boyle (Princeton) and Ryan McClay
(Cornell) take off -- Doc (Maryland) sneaks into the group,
convinced that his assistant coach duties at Penn qualify him.
Coach Pressler calls out “United States of America,”
and the whole group heads off, hooting and hollering the whole way.
Team USA!
2:45 p.m.: The cavalry arrives: 10 Team USA
players stayed in Denver last night for the Outlaws’ 12-10
action-packed but rain-soaked win over the Bayhawks. A little
jet-lagged from the ride, the guys find their rooms to rest up
before the evening session.
6:30 p.m.: With everyone finally here and in
place, training camp is officially open for business and kicks off
with a full-team meeting. It’s hard to believe that
this is actually happening. It’s been so long in the
works, so many long days and weeks and months -- even years -- of
talking and planning and preparation. It’s actually
here. It’s pretty exciting. And it’s hard to
believe that in three short weeks it will all be over.
7:25 p.m.: 24 – The number of lacrosse
balls lost during one shooting drill. The woods surrounding
Bryant’s stadium field are now teeming with hard rubber
orbs.
8:02 p.m.: A set of 4-on-4s produces some truly
spirited play. Great passion… great energy…
great fire out there. Big checks… killer dodges… sick
shots. It’s really fun to watch.
