Today’s thought topic comes from a book I’ve been reading recently, The Captain Class by Sam Walker.
We explore a concept coined “Social Loafing” — a natural phenomenon where humans tend to slack off in groups.
The counter to the phenomenon? A leader who sets the standard of acceptable effort.
Read on below for a deeper dive into this concept as well as our latest content and offerings.
Matt
✏ Recruiting Tip of the Week - Email Strategy
2028s are on deck for their recruiting summer. deep breath 🧘
We get many questions around email strategy. Here’s what we recommend:
Pull a highlight tape together from your spring season
College coaches are in season, no need to spam them with emails now
Prior to summer, email your target schools with your summer schedule, recent highlights, GPA and a personal note to that school (2-3 sentences)
Follow up with direct emails prior to events where those coaches will be
🧠 The Invisible Opponent
Have you ever seen a group of indvidually talented players regularly underperform as a group?
It probably has to do with this phenomenon termed Social Loafing.
In 1913, a French agricultural engineer named Max Ringelmann was conducting an experiment.
He simply asked people to pull on a rope as hard as they could.
He found that when people pulled in a group, they didn’t pull as hard as when they were alone.
As more people were added, each individual contributed less.
Psychologists coined this concept Social Loafing.
When individual contribution is harder to see, effort tends to drop.
II/ How does it show up in sports?
In a swimming relay, studies show that athletes often swim faster when they are the anchor of the team.
It highlights an important detail.
Athletes work harder when their contributions are more identifiable.
This shows up in two common ways:
Players match the effort they see around them to avoid doing extra work for no reason.
Or they feel their effort won’t change the outcome, especially on teams with strong top-end talent.
In both cases, ownership is diluted.
A Defensive Example in Lacrosse:
Man to man is simple in the sense that your responsibility is defined. You are covering #12.
In zone (or man down) defense, you have an area you are guarding.
We’ve all seen a goal where two defenders look at each other, each thinking the other was responsible.
Responsibility is diffused.
Players assume their teammate will do the job. When responsibility is unclear, players hesitate.
III/ How to Combat the Invisible Opponent
If effort drops when responsibility is unclear, the goal is to make responsibility visible.
If social loafing is the natural tendency, then elite performance is an intentional choice. To kill loafing, you have to eliminate the ability to hide.
1. Hustle is Contagious
The antidote is the knowledge that someone else in the group is leaving nothing in reserve.
As Sam Walker explores in The Captain Class, the most successful teams in history had leaders who performed "non-verbal acts of intensity."
When Michael Jordan dove for a loose ball in a preseason game, he was setting a standard.
2. Increase Identifiability
Ringelmann’s rope-pullers loafed because no one could see how hard they specifically were pulling. To fix this in sports: use film and data.
When a player knows the coaching staff is tracking 50-50 ground balls won or any important stat, they can no longer hide in the crowd.
The Bottom Line
Social loafing is a race to the bottom. Great leadership is a race to the top.
By making effort visible, leading by example, and making contributions measurable, you can naturally motivate your teammates.
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Coach Class and Coach Dunn
📧 Coaches Corner: Man Down Defense: The 5 Man
🎥 Webinar Recording: Women’s Defense - College Film
🎥 Webinar Recording: Zone Offense with CNU’s Mikey Thompson
🎧 The 99% Journey & Building Real Confidence As A Player
📺 The Backyard Drills That Build Elite Defenders
We brought in some top defenders in the country to show you how they train and get reps on their own time.
AJ Larkin (Maryland)
Hunter Smith (Richmond)
Billy Dwan (Syracuse)
This is the work that will help you improve outside of practice!
✅ Want to see drills from our FCL Athletes? Check out our YouTube page for full workouts!
🚨 Fall Showcase 2026: Registration Update
Women’s Showcase spots are waitlist only. Men’s Showcase has limited spots remaining.
Groups: Men’s/Women’s 2029 & 2030
Location: Wilmington, DE
Date: Sunday, October 25, 2026
📲 Media Internships Summer 2026
First Class Lacrosse is looking for proactive, high-character people who care about lacrosse and want experience inside a fast-growing media operation.
This is a paid, in-person role based in Wilmington, DE, with remote content work between events.
Dates: June 1 – July 17, 2026
Application deadline: April 8th
If you want to grow in sports media, content creation, and operations, apply below.
