As the fall select season gets underway our 3d Methodology team wanted to reach out to all those families with players looking to get better and share some insight into what we’re aiming to accomplish as coaches this fall season. The 3d Methodology, 3d Lacrosse’s cutting-edge teaching paradigm, is built on the collective work and knowledge of coaches who are constantly out on the lacrosse field or in a box lacrosse arena coaching players of different skill level and advancing how the game is taught. Led by Chief Lacrosse Office Regy Thorpe and Director of Training Logan Bobzien, the 3d Methodology is at the heart of what 3d Lacrosse does and our team will be bringing you more updates to keep you better informed on what we are teaching your son or daughter, and why.
AUTUMN BRAINSTORMING
As every season does, our fall season kicked off with a brainstorm within our Office of Lacrosse—an internal team of our top coaches that collaborates year-round to discuss strategy and our 3d Select curriculum for the larger group of 3d coaches and players. We are always looking, learning, and evolving our focus for each season, and we spent considerable time deciding what we would focus on during training this fall. The conversation always circled back to skill development. With a limited time allocated for training in any given scenario, we want to maximize that time and challenge our players with new skills—how to dodge, defend, fake, shoot, pass, check, approach—that they can then take to the backyard to reinforce on their own. Additionally, we will integrate positional training into practices to help players build more advanced skill sets at the positions they play on game day. Finally, we always discuss age appropriate training, ensuring what we do within a practice is adjusted for our younger players. This is just a snippet of the larger conversation being had this fall among coaches teaching the 3d Methodology across the country.
FAMILIAR OFFENSES
We wanted to limit the amount of time our coaches and teams would spend installing an offense, which is why we chose the offenses that we ran at the STX Rising DI Showcase and Girls Showcase events this summer: Team Canada’s offense for the boys and Team USA’s offense for the girls. Both of these offenses flow, require limited time of installation, and provide new opportunities to learn how to attack space and defend it.
On the other side of the field, defenders are taught how to slide, recover, and communicate as a team against these offenses and other sets to prepare for game play. Most importantly, we want to create an environment in which all players learn through experience, learn how to play as opposed to simply running plays, and get as many reps as they can when they are training with us.
WALKING THE WALK
We at 3d Lacrosse practice what we preach and have been having a weekly 3d Methodology web conference with our coaches since early September. We want our team to consistently #getbetter and improve. Having these group calls allows our coaches the opportunity to refresh and reinforce old ideas, as well as gain insights into new ones. Following each weekend, we receive feedback on what worked well, what we need to revisit, and what we can incorporate, and then we adjust our training plans as necessary. We are always evaluating ourselves and what we can do to help our players love the game, love the process, love their teammates, and love the experience with 3d Lacrosse. And we want to give them the best opportunity to improve their skills, and that means constantly evaluating ourselves as coaches.
3D IN THE BOX
3d’s Chief Lacrosse Officer, Regy Thorpe, is busy preparing for the upcoming National Lacrosse League season as the Head Coach of the New York Riptide, one of two expansion teams beginning play in 2019. Coach Thorpe is coming off a recent trip to the 2019 World Indoor Lacrosse Championships in British Columbia, where he guided Team USA to a bronze finish as the squad’s Head Coach. Coach Thorpe began building the team more than two years ago, and he assembled a staff of experienced and respected American coaches with box and field experience. 3d’s Director of Training, Logan Bobzien, was on staff as a video analyst breaking down film and assisting the coaching staff in scouting opponents and evaluating Team USA throughout the tournament. While the end was not how Team USA had hoped, the process, the learning, and experience was a benefit to the players and staff, including Coaches Thorpe and Bobzien who will bring what they learned back to 3d Select training sessions.
THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS
At 3d Lacrosse, we focus on creating the ultimate environment to foster development and growth. Constantly taking the best from the box and field and working with a massive network of coaches with their own unique perspective on the game, we’ve made our Box/Field Hybrid Development System the industry standard for lacrosse training. No program is currently helping more boys and girls across the country develop their skills and their love for the game, and it didn’t happen by chance. It is the result of a decade of collaboration and a dedication to improving in every step of the way.
If you would like to learn more about the 3d Methodology, you can visit our website here (3dlacrosse.com/3d-methodology) that outlines our philosophy in greater detail. Additionally, follow along on Twitter and Instagram @3dmethodology to learn more about how we teach the game of lacrosse and how that translates on the field.
