“Brick by brick” and “one step at a time” — ’Tis the season for coach speak. As preview issues — including USA Lacrosse’s — and features begin to circulate, coaches focus on discussing how teams aren’t trying to get ahead of themselves, even if year-end, big-picture goals include conference and national titles.
It may sound like a cliche, even if it’s genuine. But Karen Healy-Silcott, now in her second season at Howard, believes coaches can — and should — apply the same outlook to building up to drills in practice. She'll share those ideas during a featured presentation at the 2023 USA Lacrosse Convention, which takes place from Jan. 20-22 at the Baltimore Convention Center.
“A lot of coaches set teams up for failure and have expectations for things to happen that they never taught kids to do,” Healy-Silcott said.
Healy-Silcott will lead a classroom-field session on the small drills that can make a larger drill successful. Alexis Joseph, an assistant coach at Howard and former Duke defender, and Megan Whittle, who won bronze with the English national team at the world championship and is one of the most prolific scorers in Maryland women’s lacrosse history, will join her. The duo will showcase what offensive and defensive players can do.
“Our warm-up drills will be specific to what attackers have to do in a particular drill and what defenders need to have in a particular drill,” Healy-Silcott said.
For example, instead of doing shuttling lines, attackers and defenders will be doing stick work that is precisely what they’ll do later in a larger drill. Members of her team at Howard, Joseph and Whittle will be on hand to demonstrate. Healy-Silcott hopes coaches take the examples and tweak them for their own practice plans.
“I am going to have a very specific drill with examples, but we do it with so many drills,” she said. “They can cater it to their level. We might go at certain speeds, and they’ll have to tweak our drills and suggestions, but I hope it helps them be more creative and more efficient with their practice plan.”
Attendees will be able to hear and see the steps and examples, making it more accessible.
“Everyone learns differently,” Healy-Silcott said. “Some people need to learn visually. When you see it in a classroom and on the field, it makes more sense.”
And Healy-Silcott believes drills and expectations make more sense to players, especially newcomers when you build up to them throughout practice.
“We want to make sure kids are having fun and being successful,” Healy-Silcott said. “I feel like a lot of kids give up the game because it’s hard, and they don’t find success right away. We want coaches to focus on the little things before they get to the big picture, and that will help them.”
Healy-Silcott said she’s seen a difference in her team’s confidence at Howard since she started implementing this practice strategy. The former Syracuse All-American knows a thing or two about building. She was on the Orange’s inaugural team in 2002. She later successfully transitioned Bryant from Division II to Division I as the school's head coach.
Now, Healy-Silcott is trying to help Howard build toward success. The Bison went 0-14 in 2019. Then, Howard lost most of 2020 and the entire 2021 season to COVID. Healy-Silcott took the reins in July. Though the team went 1-16 last season, the HBCU program’s impact was most noticeable after the final whistle blew.
“The girls coming to our games didn’t care whether we won or lost,” Healy-Silcott said. “They just cared that we were doing something that they were doing and looked like them. Even if we lost, they still asked for autographs. They still gave us hugs. Their eyes still lit up when we spoke with them.”
And that is part of Healy-Siclott’s motivation for speaking at LaxCon. Maryland has been at the center of elite women’s lacrosse. USA Lacrosse hosted both the women’s world championship, in which Healy-Silcott played and coached for Jamaica, and the Athlete’s Unlimited season. But, though Howard had its share of admirers, Healy-Silcott still feels the Bison are an outlier in the Maryland lacrosse community. And she hopes her presence helps change that.
“For me, it’s putting our program and myself out there and making sure women of color are represented in the coaching world,” Healy-Silcott said.
Healy-Silcott is realistic. She knows one session isn’t going to change the world. But, just as she’s encouraging coaches to do, Healy-Silcott is focusing on taking one step at a time.
“Sometimes, you have to take small victories and successes,” Healy-Silcott said. “If I affect one person, I can feel good about myself. It doesn’t have to be a big, elaborate thing.”
