Ever since I was young, I wondered why my father, Bill Tierney, was so intense on the fields. He was always yelling at players during practice, either scolding them for mistakes or praising them for good plays. That’s what a coach is supposed to do right? But, why do they have to yell? I used to wonder the same things and sometimes I still do.

But, now that I coach a lot myself, both for the Outlaws and for our ICON teams, I realize why it is not just yelling. It’s not like I am angry when I yell as a coach. I don’t get “mad” at a player when he makes a bad play. But, as a coach, there has to be some level of intensity. The day I stop yelling during practice, is the day that I no longer care about my players.

There are also the practical aspects. A lot of time players are spread all over the field, so you have to yell as a coach so everyone can hear you. Also, lacrosse players do not typically have the longest attention span in the world, so it also helps to keep their attention. A lot of times, it just makes sense.

There are certain considerations that a coach must be aware of when bringing a high level of intensity on to the field. There are personality differences between players. As a coach, you have to know which players respond well to that type of intensity and those whom it simply frustrates. Furthermore, yelling should never be a personal thing ever and a coach has to be very considerate of what he actually says when he yells. I believe that it is very important to yell at the play and not the player. A lot of times, I will call out a player on my team for making a bad play, but he knows it is nothing personal and that it is for everyone to learn from. I like to remind my players that it is never personal when they get made as an example for the team. They made a bad play, it is being displayed to the whole team as an example, and we move on and learn from it.

So, even after all these explanations, is yelling really necessary on the field? I guess not. I would much rather prefer not having a sore throat after practice. However, there are some things in life that take a certain level of high intensity. There are a select group of athletes who are better off going into a game or practice laughing, joking around and being extremely relaxed. But, for the majority of players, the level of focus that it takes to compete in a fast game like lacrosse, takes a high level of intensity.

However, the greatest lesson that I learned from my father when it came to intensity and all his yelling and carrying on, was that it prepared us for the big game. The pressure of constantly having a coach in your face throughout practice made it easy for us to deal with 30,000 fans in championship games. Developing some thick skin, being able to perform under pressure, and being able to stay focus amidst chaos are all huge lessons for athletes to take on the field and into the real world after lacrosse is all over.

And that is what lacrosse and other athletics is all about...giving young men and women opportunities to develop as people and provide them with the confidence and ability to handle whatever life throws at them.

Yesterday, at our 8th grade ICON team practice, we worked a lot on one on one defense. One of the things that I learned most from my father about lacrosse, is that defense wins championships. When you face better teams, or the pressure gets higher in the playoffs, you need to be able to shut teams down on the defensive side of the field.

People used to come up to me all the time when I was at Princeton and ask how many different defensive schemes we ran. Everyone thought we had this complex set of 80 different defenses! The fact of the matter was that we pretty much ran only one defense. We added some wrinkles here and there, but for the most part, we were in the same defensive scheme the whole time. However, within that defensive scheme, we were extremely sound fundamentally.

A couple of the fundamentals that we have been working on lately at ICON are the ones that made our team great at Princeton. The biggest thing that the defense did well at Princeton was they NEVER GOT BEAT TO THE TOPSIDE! The topside is to the middle of the field. So, midfielders are in charge of driving their man down the side, defensemen on the wing are told to make their guy go underneath to goal-line extended, and defensemen from behind our taught to beat their guy to goal-line extended, turn their hips toward the endline, and use their body to make the offensive player roll underneath. Keeping the offense from getting to the top-side does a number of things. One, it makes the offense take poor angle shots, which helps your goalie make more saves. Two, it gives them fewer options on where to feed the ball. Usually if you keep a guy down the side or make him go underneath, he has to make an outlet pass to an offensive player who is not in a dangerous spot to score. Three, if the rest of the team knows where they will have to slide to if someone gets beat, then the defense is that more affective.e

The next fundamental that we have been working on is sluffing in and looking away. If you are not the defenseman who is on ball, and you are not the defenseman who is adjacent to ball, and you are not the defenseman who is on the crease and is the first slide man, then you are AWAY FROM BALL. If you are away from ball, then you are getting in on the crease and LOOKING AWAY FROM BALL. This allows the defense to pack in tight, helps if you have to slide from the crease because you have help inside, and keeps teams from getting open on back door cuts.

The final fundamental we have been harping on is talk and communication. Communication is what brings a team defense together on the lacrosse field and if you are not talking, then it is going to be very hard for you to all be on the same page. A team defense can intimidate the opposing team by yelling out their positions, calling out ball, calling out if they are the slide man, calling out if they are away, and just being loud in general. By communicating and helping your team come together as a unit, you are making yourself a better defenseman, individually.

So, these are a few fundamentals that must be constantly worked on throughout the year. They are things that no matter how long a player has been in the game, he always can get better at and work on. Remember, offensive guys get the glory, but the defense always wins championships!