The US Lacrosse National Convention was held this last weekend (January 13th-January 15th, 2012) in Philadelphia. Subscribers to the BOTC Newsletter received a special edition this last Saturday night with conference details from the 2012 Women's Rule Updates, 2013 Women's Uniform Guidelines, updates on the "Crooked Arrows" press conference, and details on the new helmet-wrap product available for Lacrosse Teams. Our reporting covered the following three lead stories which you might find interesting reading.

If any of our readers attended the event, please feel free to share your views and observations from this year's conference.

Herman Edwards Delivers Keynote
Former Philadelphia Eagle and current ESPN NFL analyst Herm Edwards delivered a passionate keynote address Friday night, January 13th, 2012 opening the proceedings at the US Lacrosse National Convention in Philadelphia. Edwards stressed the need for ambassadors of the game to countinue to carry the message forward. In regards to Youth Lacrosse, Edwards pointed out that "little ones learn the game from officials and coaches" and challenged the audience to consider this question : "What will you do as a coach or official to make the game better?"

Youth Coaching
Dr. Richard Ginsburg from the Harvard Medical School presented his "Top Ten Tips for Coaching Youth". None of these ten items are specific to lacrosse, but rather youth sports training. How many of these are you observing in your practices?
1.Make sure that "fun" is an essential element of all sessions
2.Sportsmanship is taught early and often
3.Kids need more careful instructions than adults
4.Practices have to be age and skill appropriate
5.Define success and help achieve it
6.Provide positive feedback often
7.Save specialization for later teen years
8.Avoid over-training, let the body heal
9.Have the right and functioning equipment
10.Avoid "playing up" when other options exist

Conference Speaker Summary
Colleges were well represented at this year's conference with speakers representing some top institutions on both the girls and boys sides. Among the coaches to speak at the convention: Richie Meade (U.S. men’s senior team), John Walker (Virginia), John Danowski (Duke), Chris Collins (Drexel), Tim Flynn (U.S. U19 men), Kelly Hiller (Northwestern), Ricky Fried (U.S. women’s senior team, Georgetown), Kelly Berger (UMBC), Karin Brower Corbett (Penn women), Janine Tucker (Johns Hopkins), Lindsey Munday (USC), Amber Falcone (Vanderbilt), Katrina Dowd (Syracuse) and Krystin Porcella (U.S. U19 women).