Happy Friday everyone

What do Toby Keith, Adele, Frank Sinatra and Drake all have in common? Well, they’re musicians, yes, AND they all made the FCL NIL college athlete pregame playlist.

We asked our 15 NIL Athletes to submit their favorite pregame music.

Not bad if you don’t mind listening to SICKO MODE by Travis Scott directly after Toby Keith’s Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue.

Today you can expect:

Let’s get into it. Happy Friday ☕️,
Matt & Deemer

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Caddix cleats are the only lacrosse cleats designed with athlete safety as the priority.

Their patented SmartStuds™ flex and rotate to release your foot from the turf, reducing the torque that causes ACL and ankle injuries.

Elite athletes like Ryan Drenner, Anna Brandt, Colin Kirst, and Kori Edmonson have all chosen to wear Caddix in championship competition. 

Just over a week ago, we wrote a blog on Gold Medal Shots in lacrosse. Today, we want to expand on why they are important.

Taking great shots is one of the most important things to focus on as a player or as a coach. Everything (for offense or defense) ties back to shot quality.

At the Division 1 level, many men’s programs aim to shoot 33% or higher as a team. That’s not a random benchmark.

Right now in this young season, only 19 teams are shooting at or higher than 33%. Of those 19 teams, 10 are ranked in the Top 20.

Now look at the numbers:

Disciplined players can create more goals with fewer opportunities.

That’s the difference between playing fast… and playing smart.

When a goalie can make a clean save, they are able to get the ball out quickly.

This opens the door for bad shots to lead to transition for your opponent. Not to mention an easy clear and limited ability to ride.

Again, numbers come into play here. It is easier to generate high quality shots in transition than it is in settled offense.

Bad shots are not just turnovers, they lead to favorable opportunities for your opponent.

Coaches don’t often bench players only for missing shots, they bench players for making poor decisions.

One of the quickest ways to lose your coaches trust is to take low quality shots.

There is also an element of trust that you lose with your teammates when you consistently take poor shots.

All of us have played a competitive game, whether it’s lacrosse or just pick up basketball, where one of your teammates keeps taking low quality shots.

The natural inclination is then to not pass the ball to that player, or to instead try to do too much by yourself (and this is not a winning formula). At some point, all of us have experienced this.

Bad shots erode trust, good shots build trust.

You can be the best shooter in the world on an empty field with no goalie and no defense. But, it doesn’t matter if you aren’t taking high-quality shots in practice and games.

Shot quality is about more than just mechanics.

It’s about decision-making.

It’s about discipline.

It’s about trust.

Coaches trust good decision-makers.

And in lacrosse, good decision-makers take great shots.

Coach Class and Coach Dunn

Matt Dunn talks with FCL Athlete Will Schaller about his approaching to defending at GLE!

This is a must watch for defenders and any offensive players that want a glimpse into the mind of a shutdown cover man!

✅ Want to see more workouts from our FCL Athletes? Check out our YouTube page for offensive and defensive workouts!

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