Happy Friday everyone,

Before we get into our regularly scheduled programming below, we have a few quick hitter clips from our FCL Athletes in last week’s college lacrosse action.

#1 - Luke Miller scores off-ball for Notre Dame last Saturday vs the Terps in a win, 11-8.

#2 - Natalie Shurtleff hits a backdoor feed to Marleigh O’Day in a tough loss to Boston College, 11-9.

Enjoy today’s thought on a growth mindset as well as our latest content. Believing in growth is a core pillar at FCL.

In fact, it’s the reason we exist and have chosen this path as careers. We believe in growth.

Happy Friday ☕️,
Matt & Deemer

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One of the core values that defines FCL is having a growth mindset.

This is something that most players understand in theory, but far fewer truly believe it.

The reason we are writing this today is not to explain to you what it is… Google or ChatGPT can show you that.

We chose this topic because it’s so important: you must believe in growth. Not just understand it.

A growth mindset is the belief that your current ability is not your final ability. Ever.

You must accept that growth is a process that requires patience coupled with action.

To put this into perspective, let’s look at the tallest tree — the Coastal Redwood.

The seed of this tree is tiny, about the size of your fingernail.

You would never guess it could grow taller than a 30-floor skyscraper, with a trunk more than 27 feet wide.

Yet, with the right conditions, these trees can grow more than a foot in a single year.

Day by day, you can’t see the growth. Even year by year, it’s hard to grasp their full potential.

It is only over long periods of time that the growth becomes undeniable.

In sports, like life, you want to balance short-term needs with the long game.

Not enough athletes play the long game, and those that have success do.

Everything isn’t about being your best every single day (from a performance standpoint). That should really only be the case when you are in season.

Lifting might not make you a better player in two weeks, but it will in two years. It could even make you worse in two weeks from being sore and tired. And that’s ok.

Throwing on the wall daily will not make you a better player tomorrow, but it will in a few months.

When you decide you’re “just bad” at something, you close the door on improvement. Growth starts the moment you leave that door open.

Be willing to step out of your comfort zone

Growth requires discomfort.

Developing your weak hand is uncomfortable. Missing passes is uncomfortable. Struggling to complete 50 reps in a row is uncomfortable.

But discomfort is not a sign to stop. It’s the signal you’re stretching your limits. Good.

At Maryland, Coach Tillman would preach getting “comfortable being uncomfortable”.

I like the phrase “flirting with failure”. You've got to be willing to miss a few passes or stumble here and there because you’re pushing your limits.

What matters is your level of perseverance through it. How long do you keep trying? How consistent are your efforts?

Be willing to buy in and be coachable

A growth mindset also means being coachable.

Believe in yourself. But also believe in the people guiding you.

Coaches aren’t trying to point out weaknesses to tear you down. They’re identifying gaps so you can make progress.

Seek feedback. Listen. Apply the feedback. Repeat.

The best players commit to growth, always improving over time.

At the end of last spring, we had Pat Kavanagh on our podcast as a guest. Here’s a quick excerpt from our Weekly Thought on him last year:

He came into high school undersized, so he committed to developing his stick skills and lacrosse IQ. He didn’t let his circumstances hold him back.

He used each challenge he faced as motivation in order to become the player he is today.

You are never a finished product.

So the question becomes: What are you doing today, that your future self will thank you for?

Coach Class and Coach Dunn

Lacrosse is complicated. But when you break it down to the true goal of the game, generating quality shots or taking them away, how you teach and learn individual skills makes much more sense.

Excited to drop our newest YouTube video that has been in the works for a while!

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

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