By Brian Hanson
USLIA writer

January 19th, 2003

As lacrosse in Northern California continues to expand, coaches of all
levels are in search of knowledge to make their athletes more complete
players, their teams more competitive, and anything else that can contribute
to making this great sport one of the best experiences of a young person’s
life.

Enter the Northern California Chapter of US Lacrosse.

Starting last October, David Lipscomb headed a group of volunteers that
planned the Coaches Lacrosse Clinic, now in its sixth year, hosted by
Stanford University. The group’s focus was to put together a clinic that
would provide valuable information for coaches in men’s and women’s
lacrosse, from beginning to advanced coaching levels.

“This has been a fun event to put together. I have had input from Hank
Molloy, our past president of the NorCal Chapter of US Lacrosse, Heidi
Faith, our secretary who is a tireless worker, Alexis Longinotti, our
current president, Joel Holland, Jennifer Long, and many others,” said
Lipscomb.

“Lacrosse in this area, including peewees to college players, has grown from
42 teams and 900 players in 1998 to over 250 teams and 5000 plus athletes
this coming season. We have close to 130 coaches here at this event. We’d
sure like to see that number increase because we are always in need of
quality people to coach lacrosse,” added Lipscomb, father of former Stanford
head coach Mark Lipscomb.

The continued expansion of lacrosse in Northern California has not gotten
past Steve Stenersen, Executive Director for US Lacrosse.

“I come to this clinic because to me, it kind of symbolizes the growth of
the game. California is the furthest away from the traditional hotbeds as
you can get, but it is the best example of how dramatically the sport is
growing. Traveling to these clinics in California and other developing
lacrosse communities shows people that we are very supportive of the work
they are doing and to just plain say thanks for helping our sport grow and
prosper. We would not have the increase in numbers we are experiencing
without the wonderful volunteers like the people running this clinic.”

In order to keep improving the lacrosse already in place and beyond, the
coaches need to continue to absorb as much information as possible, be
innovative, and pass the passion on to the young athletes. Many young
people see the game and say, “Wow, that looks fun!” But in order to get to
the fun, inexperienced players need to learn fundamentals and be put into
position to be successful.

That is where a coach like Peter Worstell comes in.

Last September, Worstell was named to the Atlantic Coast Conference 50th
Anniversary Men's Lacrosse Team. He also earned four All-American awards
during his playing days at the University of Maryland. Currently, Worstell
is living in Northern California with his hand stirring quite a few lacrosse
pots in the community of San Ramon. His presentation on the importance of
wall work in the development of a lacrosse player, was filled with so much
energy and passion, coaches at the clinic couldn’t grab his handout quick
enough.

“You need to take the show to the kids,” Worstell explained. “Challenge the
athletes and show them how to do the skill correctly; it will pay off in the
end. The coaches need to be passionate and encourage the kids to work hard.”

The coaches attending the all day clinic had many choices of interesting
topics. Coaches from Northern California gave presentations on goaltending,
coaching coaches, stickwork development, practice plans, rules, and how to
start a program. Matt Hogan, the former Penn head coach and longtime Navy
assistant, flew in from Annapolis, Maryland to teach his theory on
transition success. The Positive Coaching Alliance was represented as well
as a seminar on the prevention and treatment of sports injuries by Kevin
Stone MD of the Stone Clinic in San Francisco.

Doug Carl, head coach of the USLIA No. 1 ranked Sonoma State Seawolves,
presented his lecture on shooting. He also discussed the importance of
having this clinic in Northern California.

“This is a much needed kickoff to the season. Coaches can come in and fine
tune their game plan or pick up new ideas,” said Carl. “We can address local
issues on the problems these coaches are facing in our small lacrosse
community. When David Lipscomb asks these different coaches to present
topics, we get a better understanding of what the coaches need or want to
hear, so in that way, it is much more focused than the national lacrosse
convention.”

In the end, this clinic is a valuable tool for coaches to network, learn new
skills, meet other coaches, and take in as much lacrosse knowledge as
possible. Each attendee has a chance to take valuable pieces of information
and relay it back to their team, no matter what age group they coach. Each
person will be a better coach for attending this well planned event.

Chris Sparhawk, head coach of the Piedmont High School team and also a
former Ohio State lacrosse player, put it all in a nutshell: “I always feel
I have something to learn as a coach, attending this clinic. Every time I
come to these things, yeah, we go over a lot of the same stuff, but there
are always a couple of things I learn, or something that gives me the
incentive to do things differently, as I prepare for the season.”

“I had two specific things I wanted to learn here today—how to teach and
drill the give-and-go, as well as learning different ways to run zone
defenses—so I pulled a couple of guys aside and asked them those questions
and it was really helpful.”

“But beyond all of that, I think it is pretty important as a lacrosse
community to develop coaches. We need good teachers to teach the people that
want to become coaches. I came down here not only for my own education, but
also to support this event, because this clinic provides an opportunity for
coaches to learn.”