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Well the west sure just got a lot more interesting now didn’t it? As Shanny stated in his CLA rankings, just when you thought the west was a three team race, everything changes and you have no idea how it happened. Trust me, I can’t explain it either. If I could I’m sure my Victoria Shamrocks would be at the top rather than fighting our way back up!

But the world of lacrosse is filled with peaks and valleys and it comes down to how you deal with them. Chris Hall always used to say ‘what’s next, what’s next, what’s next!?’ We used to joke about it when he said it but now I’m starting to realize that he wasn’t just emphasizing the fact that you have control of what happens, but he was also forcing us to remember that what has happened has happened and you can’t do anything about it. You have to forget about the last play and move on to the next. Get back to the face-off circle and do what you have to do for the team.

In the book Mind Gym: An Athlete’s Inner Guide to Excellence by Gary Mack and David Casstevens, which I highly recommend to every athlete or sports enthusiast, there is a quote from Yogi Berra that says ‘90% of the game is half mental’. Sure it doesn’t make mathematical sense but, when you look at the big picture, there is more to the game then picking corners, cross checks, dirty slashes and verbal diarrhea. The moment you let a guy get under your skin he has done his job. He has taken you off your game. Some guys are great at ‘chirping’ or giving you that little shot to the hip that gets you so rattled that by the time you get the ball you’re so concerned with getting even that you aren’t focusing on the team aspect of the game. You have to think of what’s next. Go out there and get that loose ball off the face off, go work the two man game or play solid D-fence for a shift. All of these little things will help you re-focus and get in a better head space allowing you to perform at the highest level.

While watching the NBA finals last night, Doc Rivers (head coach of the Celtics) said to his guys before the game ‘everybody wants to win; nobody in this room wants to win more than the guy beside him!’ He was trying to cement into his players heads that no matter what happens, every guy on the team is doing everything they can to help the team succeed. That’s buying into the team system.

No matter what happens on the floor, each player has to go out each shift and do what he has to do to win! And I don’t mean win the game. I mean win their individual battles. If you find yourself every shift being defended by the same guy, make that your battle. Each shift you are doing what you must to beat him to the loose ball, make sure he gets lost in the pick ‘n roll or beat him one on one. But all this needs to be done with a clear head. If you are still focusing on the high stick he gave you three shifts ago then you are at a disadvantage already. You are already losing the battle because your mind isn’t focused on the task at hand.

From Mind Gym- ‘What ever your age, what ever your game, you can learn to use your mind constructively. You can learn to stay focused. You can learn to deal with adversity. Stay motivated during difficult times. Avoid fatal distractions.’ The main idea here is that you can work your body as much as you want in the gym, but if your mind isn’t just as strong, if not stronger, then you aren’t giving yourself a fair shot at success. So climb to the peaks and ride down the valleys but know that you have the power to keep yourself on an even keel and if you train your mind to block out the unnecessary distractions then you can compete at the highest levels.

For the Shamrocks, it’s all a matter of moving past the last three games, focusing on the next one. For me, it’s about getting to the net, getting guys open and not getting beat in transition. If I can win those battles, and the other 18 guys win their own battles, then winning will come easily. The only way to win those battles is to not focus on the past and put all your effort into ‘What’s next!?’

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