At Homegrown we believe it is of the utmost importance for coaches to come to practice organized and with a plan. This is imperative to player development and also your team's development throughout the season. Below is a practice plan template that we would like to share that outlines our philosophy on practice planning.

There are a handful of drills out there that will benefit your players and team. We recommend creating your own "drill bank," which ideally includes diagrams of all the drills that your team can run at practice. This is incredibly helpful in practice planning because it allows you to filter through a number of drills in a timely fashion. Below is a blank field template which you can use to diagram drills and schemes that can be saved in your "drill bank." 

Building team chemistry can sometimes be difficult for a variety of reasons. Below is a series of small group discussion questions used by the Loyal University Greyhounds  (NCAA D-1 Champions '12) in hopes of developing team chemistry for players and coaches alike. We recommend you tailor these questions to your team in order to build a strong team-first environment for your program.

On top of engaging in challenging and exciting on-field sessions designed to develop on-field skills, above is a document of weekly goal setting exercises that put the whole playing experience into perspective.

Taking a moment to reflect on your past experiences is always beneficial for players. Especially, those who are continually trying to develop into better athletes and people. Above is a series of questions designed to help your players reflect on the past season and also get them thinking about the things they can do in the off-season to help them in the future. 

Film has become a more frequently used tool in the game of lacrosse. It is one thing to know how to broadcast your film, but to truly maximize film potential it needs to be taught the right way. Film can be challenging for some individuals so finding a happy medium between positive and negative film clips is recommended. 

How to watch film 

Hudl 

Scorebreak 

Learning from other's techniques is an incredibly valuable tool in building and refining your own coaching philosophy. We've compiled a list of books and readings that may help you grow as a coach and mentor. The list varies in content, spanning coaching philosophies, autobiographies, or lacrosse skills and schemes:

• “The Winner Within: A Life Plan for Team Players,” by Pat Riley
• “Wooden on Leadership: How to Create a Winning Organization” by John Wooden
• “Wooden: A Lifetime of Observation and Reflections On and Off the Court” by John Wooden
• “How Good Do You Want to Be?: A Champion's Tips on How to Lead and Succeed at Work and in Life” by Nick Saban
• “The Servant: A Simple Story About the True Essence of Leadership,” James C. Hunter
• “Season of Life: A Football Star, A Boy, A Journey to Manhood” by Joe Ehrmann
• “InSideOut Coaching: How Sports Can Transform Lives” by Joe Ehrmann
• “Win Forever: Live, Work and Play Like a Champion” by Pete Carroll
• “Lacrosse: Technique and Tradition, The Second Edition of the Bob Scott Classic”   by Dave Pietramala
• "The Coaches Guide to Teaching" by Doug Lemov 

 Game Changer Lacrosse Podcast -  The GameChanger Lacrosse Podcast is about talking to people who have dedicated their life to the game of lacrosse and learning about who they are, how they got to where they are today, and what they do to improve themselves and their teams.

Rebuilding a Program - Article focusing on various college football coaches and how they rebuilt a losing program into a winner