With my desk calendar officially flipped to February, I turn my attention to the 2019 lacrosse season – whether it’s the gratification of schedule releases and game coverage announcements mapping out the next few months for invested viewers, or early-season profiles illuminating the sheer depth and diversification of impressive talent across programs and divisions.

Whatever your draw, 2019 has the makings of what can only be described as "the most dramatic season yet."

Even for me now, a few years removed from the collegiate scene, there’s something magical about this time of year. It’s the air of new beginnings and opportunities for teams and individuals to break through. It’s the deep-rooted program pride behind legacy rivalries setting the stage for impassioned performances.

And swirled throughout the reflections of seasons past and visions of what’s to come, it’s a quiet and uncertain pause between breaths, wherein for a moment – and for this moment only – everybody starts at zero.

While the image of now-silhouettes hoisting the championship trophy feels distant to those of us on the perimeter, in reality we’re rounding the final turn of an already action-packed year for teams who have been in prep mode since the close of last season. We’ll follow closely as teams populate their win-loss columns. But less visible to track and substantially more important to lock are team development and endurance.

The following sections outline a few key areas of learning and growth that teams will face in the coming months.

COMPETING WITH CONTEXT 

At the very beginning of the season, the gap between present day and Memorial Day weekend is as wide as it will ever be.

The implication for teams? Balancing the power of long-term vision with the urgency of short-term tasks is incredibly difficult.

On one hand, big-picture thinking can drive the deepened commitment, inspired motivation and contagious passion essential to handling the stress and tension that come with playing at this level. But at the same time, teams will need to navigate a schedule of tough competition on a game-by-game basis. To get the maximum value of each school of thought, teams will need to understand and communicate the context in which they are competing.

Long-term, high-level vision can serve as a thesis statement for the season – broad enough to provide enough of a conversation to last through May, but focused enough to communicate value. On this level, teams can structure discussions around goals. Whether it’s a better record or a specific game outcome or even advancement into postseason, these measureable moments can provide team members with a sense of direction and purpose. In supplement, teams should also outline core values and conduct principles to guide behavior throughout the season to recalibrate in moments of uncertainty or conflict.

Where long-term thinking draws on clarity and direction, short-term efforts are linked to tasks and immediacy. At this level, we’re dealing with daily operations – practice, recovery, film, fitness, and the many, many subtasks within each of those help to form consistent, high-intensity repetitions and routines. This is the time for fine-tuning and finessing technique, and making small, consistent growth day in and day out.

At the same time, short-term focus addresses opponent-specific preparation. Competition is at its highest and widest point to date. Any team can pull ahead on any given day, so every opponent deserves a full commitment to physical and mental preparation. By keeping game management at the short-term level, teams will have the opportunity to fully dissect their opponents’ strategies and tendencies, and hopefully to capitalize when they take the field. Plus, the fast-paced nature will allow teams to reset and refocus after a win or a loss to tackle the next challenge. By managing focus on both planes, teams can maximize the impact of development to extend the full length of the season. 

FAILING FAST  

From their arrival on campus up until opening day, teams have had the time and opportunity to plan strategically for the season ahead.

In addition to managing rigorous strength and fitness programs, coaches have experimented with everything from player combinations to offensive and defensive tactics in a fairly controlled environment. It’s a fluid and introspective attempt to strike natural harmonies with personnel.

From there, scrimmages and exhibitions provide that first instance of external exposure. A pre-set amount of progress and performance gut-checks are allotted to every team in a relatively risk-free environment. Albeit limited, there is a fairly sufficient amount of time to cycle through performance, evaluation, feedback and adjustments.

But as soon as teams take the field in their season openers, that timeline shrinks dramatically, and every opportunity for growth has to go much further than it did before. There are two major drivers of growth – strengths, to be built upon, and weaknesses, to be improved upon.  

The tricky part about actioning strengths in the early season is that they are so subjectively anchored to the level of the opponent by which they are measured. So when you consider quantifiable successes like shooting percentage, draw controls and clears, there is ambiguity around what exactly the stats signify. Is it sheer dominance in a category that will stand to be repeated week in and week out? Is it a satisfactory effort in a category that this week’s opponent is really struggling with? It’s difficult to say.

Rather than spend time guessing, there is something better to be learned from a team’s early weaknesses or failures. Failure in this sense can be defined in a few different ways. Starting with those very same categories, shortcomings can highlight anything from issues with technique or even lack of repetitions. Underperforming in draw controls and 8-meter conversions? Well it will come as no surprise when coaches reallocate practice hours to make room for these skills and specialties. But not all failure areas can be as easily addressed with extra instruction. 

Failure can also surface in moments of misalignment, perceived or otherwise, between team members. Whether it’s a game plan communication breakdown, confusion around roles and expectations, or a lack of buy-in into the team vision, these types of failures can do far worse than just stunting positive growth – they can actually propel teams away from their goals. If left to root and mature, the effort and time required to course correct may exceed what is available. But if identified and addressed quickly, these learning opportunities can set the foundation for collaborative solutions and long-term success, the significance of which we will address below.

SEEING INWARD, SOLVING OUTWARD 

Ever year, as graduating classes cycle out, leaving gaps and holes in their absence, and newcomers arrive, bringing with them freshness and also mystery, teams dump out the box on a new people puzzle. While the net difference in personnel sits somewhere close to 25 percent, assuming a somewhat even dispersal of numbers across three classes of returners, the combination and interplay of new and old will ultimately create a one-of-a-kind picture when it all comes together.

These personnel-based adjustments are easiest to see on the field, as teams pull away from old strategies and activate new ones based on the skillsets available to them. Consider anything from a man-up team designed around players with especially quick hands or a circle team specialized in sealing space for a strong self-drawer.

Much like the implications of personnel changes on the lacrosse product, the same finesse carries into the locker room, as teams attempt to assess and address conflict. The teams who establish methods of problem-solving early on will be better equipped to efficiently and effectively conquer obstacles later on in the highest-pressure moments. 

When dealing with high-achieving individuals in a competitive, fast-paced environment, conflict is inevitable. With few exceptions, all teams will experience losses. And throughout the season, personal issues are guaranteed to arise when it comes to playing time, leadership roles, field positions, press exposure, awards and more. The stakes will only continue to grow as the season progresses.

But just like the on-field adjustments are meant to do more than simply neutralize the gaps from graduating seniors, conflict management is not simply about eliminating the issue and moving on. Conflict management is an opportunity for team members to put their heads together to identify the issue, evaluate its causes and then come to a resolution that considers the perspectives and interests of the wider group.

This exercise of evaluation and resolution provides a depth of development that on-field experiences simply cannot replicate. 

Before teams can even think about ideating solutions, they’ll have to understand the complexity of the conflict. Teams will have to address group performance:

Where are the lapses in effort and execution? Where are the flaws in mental and physical preparation?

And on a more personal level, players will have to reflect and answer questions that will uncover their humanness:

What do I care about? What are my priorities? What am I willing to do to guarantee team success? Are my actions and attitudes in line with my values?

While coaches and support staff can do their part to open the dialogue, any effort in finding solutions will remain at the surface level until team members dig in on an honest evaluation of self. 

From there, teams have an opportunity to see the problem and all of its complexities and then work with all of the information. As they communicate through the sensitivities, team members will learn each other:

How their brains work.

How their hearts are affected.

How they process feedback.

What motivates them.

What discourages them.

That richness of understanding can then be applied to framing opportunities for growth and improvement. Whether formalized in a large-format team meeting or a chance encounter between classes, once established as a welcome and proven process, individuals will be less tempted to seek validity from external outlets like a friend or family member who simply cannot provide the same level of perspective. 

It’s hard to predict where exactly the next few months will take us. But in understanding the complexity of team dynamics as players, coaches, families and fans, we can better appreciate the journey. 

LAUREN MURRAY, A 2016 NORTHWESTERN GRADUATE AND NATIVE OF CROSS RIVER, N.Y., IS A MIDFIELDER FOR THE WPLL’S UPSTATE PRIDE.