In honor of the holiday this weekend, we wanted to take a quick second to share our gratitude for all the moms in our community.

Behind every player often is a mother who makes the schedules work, handles the logistics, and provides the unwavering support that keeps this sport moving forward.

We know how much effort goes into balancing the "hustle" of the season, and we truly appreciate the role you play in the FCL family.

Let’s get into it. Happy Friday!

The FCL Team

This was one of our favorite pieces of content in a while… possibly ever.

Deemer had the chance to sit down with his mentor and shooting coach, Torre Kasemeyer. Torre has trained countless great shooters. He is a master at his craft.

Torre’s not the type of guy to post on social media or write a book on his methods, he just loves to get out on the field and coach. We were lucky he chose to sit down with Deemer and relive some old memories on the field with him. The conversation was authentic, nostalgic and packed with valuable nuggets.

Today, we’re going to share our biggest takeaways from the conversation. We highly recommend you watch the entire sit down video (above) as well as Deemer’s on-field session with Torre (here) if you have not yet.

1/ Where you start, isn’t where you finish.

Coach Kasemeyer says “a lot of kids don't even realize they could be great.”

He mentions two players who made fresh-soph as freshmen at Calvert Hall: Jeff Reynolds and Kevin Buchanan.

As freshmen, this must have come as a shock and been disappointing. It would be for any competitor.

At the time, they did not know how good they could be. How could they?

The key character trait they both had: resilience.

In order to get to the top, you are going to fail a lot. It is how you respond that is most important.

As a coach, our job is to help you along the way, to show you the path, but it takes internal drive and willpower from the player to make it happen.

Both Jeff Reynolds and Kevin Buchanan went on to play in the PLL, NLL, and for Team USA.

2/ Passion and willpower are critical components to greatness.

Coach Kasemeyer believes that a player’s willpower is directly tied to passion, “The parents can't want it more than the kids.”

Not everyone loves the sport to the same degree, and that is ok.

But if you really love the sport, you really love the process of getting better, then your potential instantly increases.

He describes these players as “the ones that get better when you don't see them.”

Coaches know you have been working hard when your skills improve after a week, even if it is just marginal.

When you really have a passion for something, you naturally give it your all.

3/ Deemer was paranoid?

Coach Kasemeyer used to describe Deemer as paranoid. It’s the "someone in another state is doing more wall-ball than me" kind of paranoid.

Deemer worked harder than anyone Coach Kasemeyer ever trained because he was haunted by the idea of wasted potential.

He was obsessed with closing the gap between how good he was, and how good he could be.

You can’t control if the guy across from you was born with 4.4 40-yard dash time, or a 6’4” frame.

But you can control the fact that they will never outwork you. Deemer refused to be beaten by someone else’s effort.

This kind of drive requires a certain level of sacrifice. It means being the guy who skips hanging out with your buddies on Friday because Saturday morning’s shooting session is a non-negotiable.

If you want to be the best, you might need to get a little "paranoid" about your own progress too.

4/ Open-mindedness is non-negotiable

Your path is unique. What works for someone else, might not work for you. An open mind empowers you to figure out your own formula.

Coaching is a two-way street. A coach can tell a player exactly what they need to adjust, but the player has to be willing to do it.

Players need to trust the intention (to help them get better), and find out if what a coach is saying makes a difference.

And when it clicks? Man, that’s an awesome feeling.

To get there, you usually have to check your ego at the door. This is where most development stalls. As you get older and more successful, it’s natural to start thinking you have it all figured out.

The trick is staying conscious of that ego. The best players in the world are the ones who never stop being "coachable."

5/ Saban’s framework for grading players

To wrap things up today, let’s talk about a simple way to look at Potential vs. Performance. Coach Kasemeyer shared a grading scale he adapted from one of his favorite coaches, Nick Saban.

Coaches aren't just looking for the most "gifted" kid on the field. Nick Saban has a well-known mindset: he would rather have a guy with less talent who does everything right.

It’s about squeezing every ounce of production out of your current skill level.

This was an awesome sit down. Today we shared five of our biggest takeaways, but there is so much gold to be found in this conversation.

Whether you are a player, parent, or coach, we hope you enjoyed today’s thought, and we encourage you to watch or listen to the entire conversation!

Coach Class and Coach Dunn

Forwarded this email? You can subscribe here to stay in the loop 👍.

I was on a call with one of my 2028 athletes the other day. His season just ended and our focus was to get prepared for summer. I suggested he should start building the list of schools he was interested in. His reply: “how should I even do that?”

Fair question from a 16 year-old. How should you know what you want from college as a sophomore in high school? I sure didn’t. Like most kids, I just wanted to go to the best school that would offer me. I’ve learned through the years that recruiting is a two-way street. It helps if the player does their job in the process.

Back to the list.

My suggestion was to think about it like an english paper you have due in a few months. You start brainstorming, you write a first draft, you edit it A LOT, and then a few months later you have a product you feel pretty good about.

This might not be the perfect metaphor, but my point is that the list will and should change over time. We are not carving this into stone on day 1.

What we want now is for you start being thoughtful and intentional about what you do and don’t want from a college experience. Things to consider:

The list is a living document and a process. You just want to be intentional and thoughtful about where you would like to be.

Matt

Year 7 of our Fall Training kicks off in September!

Locations include:

All registrations posted on the link below.

Catching and throwing is one of the most basic skills as a defender, yet many don't fully know the proper way to do it. In fact, every single freshman defender at Maryland has to relearn how to catch and throw with the proper mechanics when they step onto campus.

In this video, Matt Dunn and Maryland All-American defenders AJ Larkin and Will Schaller walk through how they are taught to handle a longpole, including how to catch and throw and switch hands efficiently as high-level college players.

✅ Want to see more lacrosse drills, tips and breakdowns? Check out our YouTube page!

For coaches who want to level up, the FCL Coach Community is the best resource on the market for men’s and women’s coaching staffs looking to continue developing.

It includes over 40 college coach webinars, 150+ drills for offense, defense, and full-team compete, as well as sessions focused on schemes and strategies.

Every two weeks, we release a newsletter specifically tailored to coaches.

To check out previous newsletters or to subscribe, you can visit the Full Coaches Corner Archive Here.