Here is a question for you all, what separates the best lacrosse players from everyone else? What makes some teams "unbeatable", and others a "walk over"? Well according to a new organisation that has just sprung up on the UK Lacrosse horizon, that one word is..."Preparation". When this word is brought up in front of the coaches running the newly formed ArchLevel Lacrosse they quickly jump in to tell us that one word is what they are all about - preparing you and your team for the intense mental and physical challenges of your Lacrosse season. After hearing their motto "Our obsession is Your progression" we decided we should find out more.
Founded and launched in May 2010, (Ed: right about the same time that your own TopJLax was coming onto the scene), ArchLevel Lacrosse is an organisation inspired by over 20 combined years of coaching and playing lax in the US and UK, and has now developed into a coaching and development program encapsulating the UK. The organisation offer programs for player and team development, camps and clinics, coach development courses and referee and umpire supply routes. All of which are options for the UK Lacrosse player that have been severely lacking in recent years.
ArchLevel Lacrosse are pitching their services to aid development of all level of laxer in the UK, and to achieve this they are running camps and clinics on a regular basis which will focus on different areas of the game to ensure your Defense, Midfield and Attack are "as untouchable as can be". On pressing the coaches further we've been told these split into two main types of camp. One being bespoke hosted university clinics which focus on entire team development and in addition to this ArchLevel Lacrosse offers camps streamlined to develop individuals, focusing on personal skills or a particular area of the game. These currently include face-off and goalie skills clinics.
ArchLevel Lacrosse are pitching their services to aid development of all level of laxer in the UK, and to achieve this they are running camps and clinics on a regular basis which will focus on different areas of the game to ensure your Defense, Midfield and Attack are "as untouchable as can be". On pressing the coaches further we've been told these split into two main types of camp. One being bespoke hosted university clinics which focus on entire team development and in addition to this ArchLevel Lacrosse offers camps streamlined to develop individuals, focusing on personal skills or a particular area of the game. These currently include face-off and goalie skills clinics.
Where TopJLax has found that ArchLevel Lacrosse are different to many camps or clinics is that they are looking to provide more than just coaching. They are looking to provide the whole infrastructure behind the Lacrosse community. There are two further steps they currently see to begin doing this and here is what we were told about these by ArchLevel Lacrosse Director Vince Grimes:
"Firstly The Confident Coach is a new program which is dedicated to the development of LAX coaches in the UK. This will run in concurrence with coaching seminars which aim to develop and hone the skills of coaches around the UK. There will also be an annual coaching symposium in the UK. The collective coaching program will also offer free resources on the website aimed at developing the standard and quality of coaching across the UK. These will include seminar clips, play diagrams, and the latest and greatest articles from top coaches, players and names in Lacrosse to name a few"
If there is one thing that TopJLax has noted over our years of experience is that whilst there are an innumerable amount of people with boundless enthusiasm to develop the game, those with genuine coaching skills and experience are at a premium and less easy to find. The more of these the better.
"Secondly The Zebra is also a work in progress that looks to make the organization of Lacrosse matches in the UK vastly easier and more intuitive. It aims to revolutionize the way reffing and umpiring is viewed and organized. ArchLevel Lacrosse aims to standardize the ref and umpire field by offering set contracts between ArchLevel and individual Lacrosse teams to guarantee referees and umpires at all of their home games. They will also guarantee greater levels of pay for the refs and umpires to help build and develop the number of trained officials in the UK."
This idea, in our opinion, is also a no-brain-er. Anyone else know that feeling of scrabbling around for a last minute ref? Or having to give up a player each quarter to ref? Well that's not productive for anyone, and ideas like this, if they work, would see an end of that. Check out their trailer below:
"Firstly The Confident Coach is a new program which is dedicated to the development of LAX coaches in the UK. This will run in concurrence with coaching seminars which aim to develop and hone the skills of coaches around the UK. There will also be an annual coaching symposium in the UK. The collective coaching program will also offer free resources on the website aimed at developing the standard and quality of coaching across the UK. These will include seminar clips, play diagrams, and the latest and greatest articles from top coaches, players and names in Lacrosse to name a few"
If there is one thing that TopJLax has noted over our years of experience is that whilst there are an innumerable amount of people with boundless enthusiasm to develop the game, those with genuine coaching skills and experience are at a premium and less easy to find. The more of these the better.
"Secondly The Zebra is also a work in progress that looks to make the organization of Lacrosse matches in the UK vastly easier and more intuitive. It aims to revolutionize the way reffing and umpiring is viewed and organized. ArchLevel Lacrosse aims to standardize the ref and umpire field by offering set contracts between ArchLevel and individual Lacrosse teams to guarantee referees and umpires at all of their home games. They will also guarantee greater levels of pay for the refs and umpires to help build and develop the number of trained officials in the UK."
This idea, in our opinion, is also a no-brain-er. Anyone else know that feeling of scrabbling around for a last minute ref? Or having to give up a player each quarter to ref? Well that's not productive for anyone, and ideas like this, if they work, would see an end of that. Check out their trailer below:
If lacrosse is going to grow beyond it's current size then increasing pressures will be put on the infrastructure and system that we have here in the UK. Currently organisations like EnglishLacrosse, NEMLA, SEMLA etc. do a great job, but what about the next step, will it cope? We ask ourselves these questions: who will up the level of coaching? or the number of referees needed? Our discussions with Vince Grimes and the ArchLevel Lacrosse team have left us sufficiently intrigued that we promise you that you'll be hearing a lot more from us here @ TopJLax in regards to this setup. They look set to be a great force for developing LAX in the UK on every level. We recommended whether you are a LAX player, coach, or ref, make sure you log on to ArchLevelLacrosse.com today to make your own decision, and give them a try out.
