Why Sleepovers?

Years ago when we were running travel teams, we would travel out east together on buses. That's right, two teams on buses and we'd be in charge of your kids for the weekend. We would move them from point A to point B, we would feed them, we put them in hotels. And yes, for the older boys, we would tape their doors. Not electrical or masking tape, but just a little piece of scotch tape to see if any of them would leave their room. 

We wanted to simulate what a college team would go through on their road trips. These, to me, is where we built bonds with the players, and where the players built bonds with each other. It wasn't on the field during practice. It was on the bus. It was touring the Washington Monument. It's walking through Faneuil Hall in Boston. It was team dinners in windowless conference rooms. It was team bonding where players sang Sweet Caroline at the hotel pool.

We spent a lot of time together. I would argue that these were some of the strongest teams Michigan ever has had. Why? Because of the bonds these kids built and how much they loved each other and how hard they wanted to play for each other.

As costs of everything has jumped up dramatically, from food to buses to hotel rooms, we've decided not to do this for the time being. With that being set, we want to jump start our bonds with our kids and our players earlier. 

These sleepovers and two - a -days will do just that. We've done these this past year and it may very well be the highlight of the boys' year! 

We'll start on a Saturday:

-10am-12:30pm - first session - lots of touches, fundamental work
-12:30-1:30pm - lunch and film session - slow things down, get some IQ going that pertains to this age group
-1:30pm-3pm - competitive drills centered around unevens or team defensive or offensive concepts
3pm-4:00 - non lacrosse related bonding activity - dodge ball, sledding, basketball etc
5:30-7pm - team dinner and host house - (likely mine or alex's for the first weekend) - parents get to know eachother earlier in the year
-that night - 4 host families host a sleepover - divide the kids up so it's not too much for one family

Sunday:

-10am-12:30pm - Lax session - wrap up the weekend. More high IQ, more reps, very intentional drills that we're trying to accomplish. Work on leadership and ownership of team. 

Yes this is a ton of work and requires a lot of hands on deck from families. The differences and the growth we see in one weekend of their relationships and the growth of 6-7 hrs of practice is huge! We look forward to seeing the growth of our teams and with your son on this journey!!!!