Library: MEN — Mental Performance (Part 1)

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MEN — MENTAL PERFORMANCE LIBRARY

LAX Goalie Hub • Reference Library v2

HOW TO USE THIS LIBRARY

Goalie is the only position on the field where the scoreboard changes because of you, in front of everyone, several times a game. That is not a flaw in the position. It is the position. The mental side of goaltending is a skill, and skills are trained the same way a save is trained: with a routine, done on purpose, over and over, until it happens without thinking.

Everything in this library is an action, not advice. Every entry has steps you can do today. If an entry ever reads like a motivational poster, we wrote it wrong.

How to use it:

  1. Start at MEN-01, The Reset. It is the single most important entry in the entire program. Ten seconds long, learned in third grade, used through senior year and beyond. Nothing else here matters as much.
  2. One routine at a time. Do not try to install six mental routines in a week. Pick one, run it for three weeks until it is automatic, then add the next. Your daily emails will pace this for you.
  3. Routines beat willpower. On a bad night, you will not "decide" to be calm. You will run the routine you have practiced, and the routine will do the work. That is why we drill them.
  4. Practice these when it is easy. Run The Reset in the backyard after a shot you would have saved. Run the Pre-Shot Routine in a drill with no goalie pressure at all. A routine you only use in a crisis is not a routine.
  5. Age scales the depth, not the concept. A third grader does The Reset. So does a senior. The senior just understands more about why it works.

Parents: you do not need a sports psychology background to help. The most useful things you can do are named directly in these entries — mostly it is asking a better question after a game and saying less on the drive home. MEN-07 and MEN-11 are the two to read first.

A word about load. This library treats training stress as something you manage on purpose, not something you tough out silently. Fuel enough, sleep enough, and take the rest days. Nothing in this program ever asks you to eat less, skip meals, or train through exhaustion. If pressure from school, sport, or anything else starts to feel like more than you can carry, that is not weakness and it is not something to solve alone — talk to a parent, a coach, a school counselor, or another trusted adult. Asking for help is a skill too, and it is one every great competitor eventually learns.

Reading an entry. Every entry has the same nine sections: purpose, equipment, space, grade range, numbered steps, coaching cues, common mistakes, progressions and regressions, and how to measure it.

QUICK-REFERENCE INDEX

Code Name Category Grades When to use it
MEN-01 The Reset Signature routine 3–12 After every goal against
MEN-02 Box Breathing Arousal control 4–12 Nerves, before games, before sleep
MEN-03 The Pre-Shot Routine Focus routine 3–12 Before every shot, in every drill
MEN-04 Self-Talk Scripts Inner voice 5–12 Daily; especially under pressure
MEN-05 Visualization Session Mental rehearsal 5–12 Night before games, off-days
MEN-06 The Save Journal Reflection tool 4–12 After training and games
MEN-07 The Game Review 5 Structured review 4–12 Within 24 hours of every game
MEN-08 The Confidence Bank Evidence building 4–12 Weekly; before big games
MEN-09 The Clutch Routine Late-game focus 7–12 Last two minutes of a close game
MEN-10 Building Your Pre-Game Routine Preparation 5–12 Every game day
MEN-11 The 24-Hour Rule Recovery from a bad game 5–12 After a rough performance
MEN-12 Nerves to Excitement Reframing 4–12 Pre-game nerves
MEN-13 Focus Resets During Play In-game attention 5–12 Whenever your mind drifts
MEN-14 Brave Hands Courage under fire 3–12 Any time fear shows up
MEN-15 Leadership Communication Talking to your defense 5–12 Every practice and game
MEN-16 The Leadership Ledger Leadership tracking 8–12 Weekly
MEN-17 The Brain Dump Stress toolkit 5–12 Racing mind, busy weeks, before sleep
MEN-18 The 10-Minute Walk Stress toolkit 3–12 Overloaded days
MEN-19 The Load Check Wellbeing self-audit 6–12 Weekly, and any time it feels heavy
MEN-20 The Compass Identity and purpose 7–12 Seasonally, and at crossroads

MEN-01 — THE RESET

Category
Signature routine — the foundation of this program's mental training
Purpose
To close the book on the last shot in under ten seconds so you are fully available for the next one. This is the most important skill a goalie owns. Not the biggest save — the ability to be completely ready two seconds after the worst one. Every goalie gets scored on. The great ones are the ones who are already gone from it before the ball is back at midfield.
Equipment
None
Space needed
None. You do it in the crease, in the backyard, anywhere.
Grade range
3–12. Identical at every grade for ten straight years. A third grader learns exactly the same four steps a senior uses.

How to do it

The ball is in the net. Here is what happens next.

  1. One breath in through your nose. Slow. Count two seconds. Do it while you turn to get the ball or while you walk back to your pipe. This is not a pause in the game; it happens inside the normal flow of play.
  2. One breath out through your mouth. Slower than the breath in. Count three or four seconds. Let your shoulders drop. This is the part that physically turns the alarm down in your body.
  3. Two taps on your chest. Tap yourself twice on the chest plate with your top hand — firm enough to feel it. This is a physical marker. Your body learns to associate that feeling with letting go, and after a few hundred repetitions the tap starts doing the work on its own.
  4. Say "Next ball." Out loud if you can, under your breath if you cannot. Two words. Not "come on," not "you idiot," not a full sentence. "Next ball."
  5. Then get your feet set and your eyes up. The Reset is over. It took about eight seconds. You are back.

That is it. Four steps. Breathe in, breathe out, two taps, "Next ball."

When you use it - After every goal against, in every game, forever. - After a bad rebound, a missed clear, or a save you should have made in practice. - In practice, on purpose. This is the part athletes skip. Run The Reset after ordinary missed shots in a backyard drill. That is where it gets built. A routine you only pull out in a game is not yet a routine.

Coaching cues - "In through the nose, out through the mouth, two taps, next ball." - "The Reset is not about pretending it did not happen. It is about deciding when you deal with it — and that is after the game, not now." - "The scoreboard is not your job. The next ball is your job." - For grades 3–5: "Tap tap, next ball." That is the whole thing.

Common mistakes - Adding words. The moment "Next ball" becomes a paragraph, the routine is broken. Two words. - Turning it into self-criticism. "Next ball" is neutral and forward-facing. If you are saying anything about yourself, you are not doing The Reset. - Only using it after bad goals. Use it after every goal, including the unstoppable ones, so the routine never becomes a signal that something went wrong. - Skipping it in practice, then expecting it to work in a game. - Doing it fast. The out-breath is the whole mechanism. Do not rush it. - Doing it silently forever. Saying the words out loud, even quietly, makes it dramatically more effective.

Progressions and regressions - Grades 3–4: just the two taps and "Next ball." Add the breathing once the taps are automatic. - Grades 5–6: full four-step version. Practice it after missed shots in every backyard session. - Grades 7–8: add a one-sentence mental note after the Reset is complete and play has restarted — for example, "high to my stick side" — logged later in the Save Journal, MEN-06. The Reset first, the note second, never the other way around. - Grades 9–12: the Reset becomes nearly invisible to observers, compressed into the natural motion of retrieving the ball. Add the ability to run it during a stoppage, on the bench, or between quarters. - Regression at any grade: if you are spiraling and the short version is not landing, step to the pipe and do three full rounds of Box Breathing, MEN-02, then run the Reset.

How to measure it - The 10-second test: film a practice or a game. From the moment the ball crosses the line, how long until you are set, eyes up, feet ready? Ten seconds or fewer is the standard. Count it. - The next-shot record: track saves on the very next shot faced after a goal against. Over a season, this number tells you whether your Reset is working better than any feeling does. - The practice-count: how many Resets did you run in training this week? Grades 7–12 target ten or more per week, most of them in practice. - Retest the 10-second test at each of the four testing weeks in the grade year.

MEN-02 — BOX BREATHING

Category
Arousal control — turning the dial down
Purpose
To give you a reliable, physical way to calm your body down when it is too revved up. Nerves are not in your head; they are in your heart rate, your breathing, and your muscles. Box breathing works on the body directly, which is why it works when talking yourself down does not.
Equipment
None
Space needed
None
Grade range
4–12

How to do it

The pattern is four counts in, four counts hold, four counts out, four counts hold. Draw a square in the air with your finger the first few times you learn it — one side per count of four.

  1. Sit or stand tall. Shoulders relaxed and down. Hands on your knees, at your sides, or on your stick.
  2. Breathe in through your nose for four counts. Count them slowly in your head: one, two, three, four. Feel your belly expand, not just your chest.
  3. Hold for four counts. Do not clench. Just pause. One, two, three, four.
  4. Breathe out through your mouth for four counts. Slowly, as if you were fogging a window. One, two, three, four.
  5. Hold empty for four counts. One, two, three, four.
  6. That is one round. Do four rounds. The whole thing takes about one minute.

When to use it - The night before a big game, lying in bed. - In the car on the way to the field, or in the locker room before warm-ups. - During a timeout, a quarter break, or any stoppage where you feel your heart racing. - Any time your mind will not slow down at bedtime. - Before a test at school. This is not only a lacrosse tool.

Coaching cues - "In for four, hold for four, out for four, hold for four." - "Draw the square with your finger while you learn it." - "Belly first, then chest." - "If four counts feels too long, use three. The pattern matters more than the number."

Common mistakes - Counting fast to get through it. Slow counts are the entire mechanism. - Breathing only into the chest with the shoulders rising up toward the ears. - Clenching or straining during the holds. If the holds feel stressful, shorten them. - Doing one round and deciding it did not work. Four rounds is the minimum dose. - Only using it when panicking. Practice it on calm days so it works on hard ones.

Progressions and regressions - Regression, grades 4–6: drop the holds entirely. Just breathe in for four and out for six, six times. This is easier and nearly as effective for young athletes. - Regression: count to three instead of four on every side of the box. - Progression: extend to five or six counts per side once four is comfortable. - Progression (grades 9–12): extend only the exhale — in for four, hold four, out for six, hold four. A longer exhale calms the body faster than a longer inhale. - Progression: practice it standing in full gear in the crease, since that is where you will actually need it.

How to measure it - The bedtime check: on nights you run four rounds before sleep, do you fall asleep faster? Track it for two weeks in the Save Journal, MEN-06, with a simple yes or no. - Heart-rate check (grades 9–12): if you have a watch or a phone that reads heart rate, take it before and after four rounds. Most athletes see a measurable drop. Seeing your own number move is what makes you believe in it. - Compliance count: how many days this week did you use it? Ten seconds to log, and it is the number that matters most.

MEN-03 — THE PRE-SHOT ROUTINE

Category
Focus routine — the ten seconds before every shot
Purpose
To arrive at every shot in exactly the same physical and mental state. Consistency of preparation produces consistency of performance. The pre-shot routine is what makes a goalie look calm — not because they feel calm, but because they do the same three things every single time regardless of how they feel.
Equipment
Stick and gear, or nothing at all when practicing the pattern
Space needed
None
Grade range
3–12

How to do it

Three steps. Feet, breath, eyes. In that order, every time.

  1. Feet set. As the ball moves toward a shooting position, get your feet to where they need to be and plant them. Weight on the balls of your feet, knees soft, stance width consistent. Do the footwork first, always. A routine done with your feet in the wrong place is decoration.
  2. One breath. One quick breath in through the nose and out through the mouth as your feet arrive. Not a big dramatic breath — a single, sharp, ordinary breath. Its job is to release the shoulders and stop you from holding your breath, which is what most goalies do without noticing.
  3. Eyes lock. Fix your eyes on the ball. Not the shooter's face, not their stick head in general, not the middle of their body — the ball. Lock on and stay locked until it is in your stick or past you.
  4. Optional fourth step, grades 7+: one word. Add a single-word trigger as your eyes lock. "Ball." "Set." "Mine." One word, the same word every time. Pick yours and never change it.

That is the whole routine. Feet, breath, eyes. It takes about two seconds and it happens before every shot in every drill for the rest of your career.

How to practice it - Run it on every single rep in every drill, including easy warm-up shots. Especially easy warm-up shots. - Practice it with no ball at all: get set, breathe, lock your eyes on a spot on the wall. Ten reps, thirty seconds. - Have a partner call "Feet — breath — eyes" out loud for your first fifty reps.

Coaching cues - "Feet, breath, eyes. Same order, every time." - "Find the ball, not the body." - "If you are still moving your feet when the shot comes, your routine started too late." - "Boring on the outside. That is the goal."

Common mistakes - Watching the shooter's face or body instead of the ball. This is the single biggest visual error young goalies make. - Holding your breath as the shot comes, which tightens everything and slows your hands. - Starting the routine too late so the feet are still moving at release. - Changing the routine when the game gets tight. The whole value is that it does not change. - Only running it on "important" shots. Then it is not a routine, it is a reaction. - Making it long. Two seconds. Three steps.

Progressions and regressions - Grades 3–4: two steps only — feet set, eyes on the ball. Add the breath in fifth grade. - Grades 5–6: full three-step version on every rep, with a partner calling the steps aloud for the first few weeks. - Grades 7–8: add the one-word trigger. Begin running the routine under fatigue at the end of sessions, which is when it usually falls apart. - Grades 9–10: run it while also reading the shooter's approach angle. The routine must survive added information. - Grades 11–12: the routine becomes invisible and automatic. Test it under maximum chaos — multiple shooters, screens, deflections. - Regression: strip back to feet and eyes only whenever the routine starts feeling cluttered.

How to measure it - The film count: film ten shots. On how many did you complete all three steps? Score it out of ten. Grades 7–12 target nine or better. - The breath check: have a partner watch for whether you are breathing at all in the two seconds before a shot. Most goalies are shocked by the answer the first time. - Eye-tracking check: a partner stands behind the shooter and holds up fingers at the moment of release. If you can report the number, your eyes were on the ball area. If you cannot, they were not. - Retest at each of the four testing weeks.

MEN-04 — SELF-TALK SCRIPTS

Category
Inner voice — building what you say to yourself
Purpose
To replace the unplanned, usually harsh voice in your head with three lines you chose on purpose, in advance, when you were calm. You are going to talk to yourself during a game whether you plan to or not. This entry is about writing the script instead of improvising it at the worst possible moment.
Equipment
Paper and a pen, or a notes app. Something to carry the lines with you — a card in your bag or a note taped inside your locker.
Space needed
A table
Grade range
5–12

How to do it

Part 1 — Write your three lines (do this once, then revisit each season)

  1. Sit down somewhere quiet with paper. This takes fifteen minutes.
  2. Write your Ready line. This is what you say to yourself before a game or before a shot. It should be short, present-tense, and about what you are going to do — not about what you hope happens. Examples: "My feet are quick and my hands are brave." "I see it, I get to it." "Set. Ready. Mine."
  3. Write your Recovery line. This is what you say after a mistake, once you have finished The Reset, MEN-01. It should be forward-facing and kind. Examples: "That one is gone. This one is mine." "I have made that save a hundred times." "Still my net."
  4. Write your Grind line. This is for when you are tired, losing badly, or the shots keep coming. Examples: "One more. Always one more." "Tired hands, brave hands." "They have to beat me again."
  5. Test each line out loud. If it feels fake or embarrassing when you say it, it is the wrong line. Rewrite it in words you would actually use. Your lines should sound like you, not like a poster.
  6. Write all three on a card. Put the card in your gear bag.

Part 2 — The three rules for a good line

  1. Short. Under seven words. If you cannot say it in one breath during play, it is too long.
  2. What you will do, not what you will avoid. "Get to it" beats "do not let it in." Your brain does not process the "not" well under stress; it just hears the rest of the sentence.
  3. Yours. Copied lines do not survive real pressure. Write your own, even if they seem simple.

Part 3 — Practice them

  1. Say your Ready line before every training session, out loud, once. It takes three seconds.
  2. Say your Recovery line after every missed shot in practice, right after The Reset.
  3. Say your Grind line at the last hard rep of every conditioning finisher.
  4. Nine words, three times a day. That is the whole practice.

Coaching cues - "Write it when you are calm so you have it when you are not." - "Short, forward, and yours." - "You cannot delete the voice in your head. You can hand it a script." - "Say it out loud in practice so it is there in your mouth when you need it."

Common mistakes - Writing lines that are really instructions with five parts. Under seven words. - Writing what you think a coach wants to hear instead of what actually helps you. - Negative framing: "do not drop it," "do not be slow." Rewrite every one of these as a positive action. - Changing the lines constantly. Keep them for a full season, then review. - Writing them and never saying them. The card in the bag does nothing by itself. - Using self-talk as a substitute for The Reset. The Reset comes first; the Recovery line comes after.

Progressions and regressions - Grades 5–6: one line only — the Ready line. That is plenty. - Grades 7–8: all three lines, written with a parent or coach helping with the wording. - Grades 9–10: add a fourth situational line for the specific thing that gets to you — a screen, a fast break, a particular opponent. - Grades 11–12: review the lines each season and add a leadership line — what you say to your defense in the same moment. See MEN-15. - Regression: if three lines feel like too much to manage in-game, use only the Recovery line. It is the highest-value one.

How to measure it - The recall test: can you say all three lines from memory, right now, without the card? Test at each testing week. - The usage count: tally how many times you used each line this week. A simple mark on the card is enough. - The honesty check: re-read your lines each season. Do they still sound like you? If they have started to feel like someone else's words, rewrite them.

MEN-05 — VISUALIZATION SESSION

Category
Mental rehearsal
Purpose
To practice saves without a ball, a field, or a shooter. Rehearsing a movement in vivid detail activates many of the same pathways as physically doing it, which means visualization is genuine practice — free, unlimited, and available in bed, on a bus, or in a hotel room the night before a tournament.
Equipment
None. A quiet place and a timer.
Space needed
Anywhere you can sit or lie down undisturbed
Grade range
5–12

How to do it

The five-minute session

  1. Sit or lie down somewhere quiet. Close your eyes. Run four rounds of Box Breathing, MEN-02, to settle in. About one minute.
  2. Build the scene first, before any action. Put yourself in your own crease. What do you see — the color of the turf, the shape of the goal line, the far sideline? What do you hear — a whistle, cleats, a coach's voice, your own breathing? What do you feel — the weight of the helmet, the grip tape in your top hand, the air temperature? Spend a full minute on the scene. Detail is what makes this work. A vague daydream does nothing.
  3. Rehearse in first person, not as a movie. You are looking out through your own eyes, not watching yourself from the stands. This matters a great deal.
  4. Rehearse ten saves. Take them one at a time, slowly. See the shooter's approach, see the ball leave the stick, see it come, feel your feet drive, feel the ball hit your stick, hear it. Every rep you rehearse is a save. You are building a template of success, so do not rehearse failure.
  5. Rehearse one difficult moment. Now picture something going wrong — a bad goal, a bounce shot that beats you, a whistle that goes against you. Then rehearse yourself running The Reset, MEN-01, exactly as you would in a game, and being ready for the next ball. This is the most valuable 45 seconds of the whole session. Rehearsing the recovery is what makes the recovery automatic.
  6. Finish with one clear image of yourself set, calm, feet ready, eyes up. Hold it for ten seconds. Open your eyes.

When to do it - The night before a game, in bed, five minutes. - On a rest day or a Sunday, as a way to keep the skill sharp without physical load. - On the bus or in the car on the way to a tournament. - During an injury, when it is the only practice available. This is when visualization is worth the most.

Coaching cues - "Build the scene before you build the save." - "Through your own eyes, not from the stands." - "Slow it down. Ten good reps beat fifty blurry ones." - "Always rehearse the recovery, not just the highlight."

Common mistakes - Skipping the scene-building and going straight to saves. The detail is what makes it work. - Watching yourself from the outside like game film. First person, always. - Rehearsing failure — picturing the ball going in over and over. If that starts happening, stop, breathe, and restart with an easy save. - Rushing through fifty reps in two minutes. Ten slow reps is the dose. - Doing it once before a big game and expecting it to work. It is a trained skill; it gets better over weeks. - Falling asleep every time. That is fine occasionally, but do at least some sessions sitting up.

Progressions and regressions - Grades 5–6: two minutes. Build the scene, rehearse five saves, done. Skip the difficult-moment section entirely at this age. - Grades 7–8: full five-minute session including the difficult moment. - Grades 9–10: add opponent-specific rehearsal before a known matchup — a particular shooter's tendency, a set play your scouting says is coming. - Grades 11–12: extend to eight or ten minutes, and add rehearsal of leadership moments — calling a slide, organizing a ride, talking to a defense that is fraying. - Regression: if you cannot picture anything clearly, start by picturing one single object — your own stick head — for thirty seconds. The ability builds.

How to measure it - Vividness score: after each session, rate 1 to 5 how clear the images were. Log it in the Save Journal, MEN-06. This number climbs over weeks, which is the proof that it is a trainable skill. - Sessions per week. Grades 9–12 target three or more. - The pre-game check: in the weeks you visualized the night before a game, did you feel more prepared in the first quarter? Track a yes or no. It is subjective, but the pattern over a season is real information.

MEN-06 — THE SAVE JOURNAL

Category
Reflection tool — the written record of your goaltending
Purpose
To turn what happened into what you learned. Memory is a terrible coach: it keeps the three goals and throws away the eleven saves. A journal fixes that by writing down what actually occurred, in your own words, within a day of it happening. It is also the raw material for the Confidence Bank, MEN-08, and the Game Review 5, MEN-07 — those two entries do not work without this one feeding them.
Equipment
A cheap notebook and a pen, or a notes app on a phone. A physical notebook is better for grades 4–8 because it lives in the gear bag and does not have games on it.
Space needed
A table, a car seat, a bed. Anywhere you can write for four minutes.
Grade range
4–12

How to do it

The four-line entry (this is the whole habit)

  1. Date and what it was. One line. "Tue — backyard session, 40 min" or "Sat — game vs. Ridgefield."
  2. One thing that worked. Be specific about the mechanics, not the outcome. Not "I played well." Instead: "My feet were quick on low shots to my stick side" or "I stepped to the ball on every high shot in the first half." Specific is the entire point. A vague good note is worth nothing next month.
  3. One thing to fix. Same rule — one thing, mechanical, fixable. "I dropped my hands on bounce shots." "I stopped talking to my defense after the second goal." Never a character judgment. "I was bad" is not a fix; "my top hand drifted low" is.
  4. One number. Anything countable from that day: shots faced, saves, clears completed, Resets run, minutes of wall ball, vividness score from a visualization session. One number, every time. Numbers are what let you see six months later that you actually improved.

That is four lines and about three minutes. Do it the same day, or the next morning at the latest.

When to write - After every training session, even short ones. - After every game, but not immediately after a rough one — see The 24-Hour Rule, MEN-11. Write the game entry the next morning instead. - On Sundays, add a fifth line: one sentence about the week as a whole.

What NOT to put in it - Anything about your weight, your food, or your body size. This journal tracks skills and habits only. If you want to log fuel, log it as an action you did for yourself — "ate a real breakfast before the 8am game, felt better in the fourth quarter" — never as a restriction or a rule. - Long paragraphs about how you felt. One line of feeling is fine. Ten is a spiral. - Other people's mistakes. This is your journal about your game.

Coaching cues - "Four lines. Three minutes. Same day." - "Specific beats honest-sounding. 'Hands were low' is useful; 'I was terrible' is not." - "One worked, one to fix, one number." - "The notebook lives in the gear bag, not on a shelf at home."

Common mistakes - Writing only after bad days. Then the journal becomes a record of failure and you will stop opening it. Write after good days first — that is what builds the habit. - Writing too much. A page-long entry once a month loses to four lines a day, every time. - Skipping the number because nothing seemed countable. Something is always countable. - Using it as a place to be hard on yourself. Reread your last ten entries: if a stranger read them, would they think this athlete has a coach who likes them? If not, rewrite the tone. - Letting it lapse for two weeks and then quitting because you are "behind." You are never behind. Write today's entry and move on.

Progressions and regressions - Grades 4–5: two lines only — one thing that worked, one number. A parent can write it down while the athlete says it out loud in the car. - Grades 6–8: the full four-line entry, written by the athlete alone. - Grades 9–10: add a weekly pattern review — every Sunday, read the last seven entries and find the fix that shows up most often. That one becomes next week's technical focus. - Grades 11–12: add a monthly review and pull the strongest entries into the Confidence Bank, MEN-08. Add opponent notes and film timestamps. - Regression: if writing is genuinely a barrier, record a 45-second voice memo saying the same four lines. It counts.

How to measure it - Entry rate: entries divided by training days this month. Grades 7–12 target 80 percent or better. - The pattern test: read back one month. Can you name the single fix that appeared most often? If yes, the journal is working. If every entry says something different and vague, tighten the specificity. - The six-month reread: twice a grade year, read an entry from six months ago. The gap between what was hard then and what is routine now is the most motivating thing in this program, and you cannot get it any other way.

MEN-07 — THE GAME REVIEW 5

Category
Structured review — the five questions after every game
Purpose
To get real information out of a game without replaying it a hundred times in your head. Unstructured review is just rumination with a lacrosse theme. Five fixed questions, asked in the same order every time, turn a game into two or three useful facts and then close it. This entry is also the one to hand a parent — it replaces "so what happened out there?" with something that actually helps.
Equipment
The Save Journal, MEN-06, and a pen. Film if you have it, but film is optional.
Space needed
A table, or a car ride home if you are past the 24-hour window
Grade range
4–12

How to do it

Timing first: do this the morning after the game, not in the parking lot. If the game was rough, The 24-Hour Rule, MEN-11, governs — you wait. If it went fine, the next morning is still better than right after, because your body has stopped being at 180 beats per minute.

The five questions, in this order, every time:

  1. What did I do well? Answer first and answer with at least two things. Not "we won" — things you did. "I stepped to the ball on high shots." "I called every slide in the third quarter." This question comes first on purpose. Ask it last and you will never get an honest answer to it.
  2. What was one save I made that I would not have made last year? This is the growth question. There is almost always an answer, and finding it is the whole reason this question exists.
  3. What is one thing I would do differently? One. Not a list. If four things come out, pick the one that showed up most or mattered most, and write only that one down.
  4. What did I control and what did I not? Split the game into two columns out loud. Your feet, your voice, your Reset, your preparation — yours. The referee, the wind, a defenseman's slide, a shooter's ability to hit a corner — not yours. Every minute you spend on column two is wasted. Naming it is how you stop spending it.
  5. What is my one focus for the next practice? One sentence, written in the Save Journal. This is the output of the whole review. A review that does not produce a next action was just a conversation.

Then close it. Say out loud: "Reviewed. Done." Then go do something that is not lacrosse. The review is finished; you do not get to reopen it tonight.

For parents Ask question 1 and only question 1 on the ride home. "What did you do well today?" Then wait, and let the silence sit. Do not answer for them, do not add "but," and do not offer coaching. Questions 2 through 5 belong to the athlete and their coach the next morning. This single change — one question instead of a review — is the highest-leverage thing a parent of a goalie can do.

Coaching cues - "Good first. Always good first." - "One fix, not a list." - "Two columns: mine and not mine." - "The review ends with a sentence about the next practice, or it did not happen." - "Reviewed. Done."

Common mistakes - Doing it in the car five minutes after the final whistle. Too soon. Nobody is honest at that heart rate. - Turning question 3 into a list of nine things. That is not review, that is punishment. - Skipping question 1 because it feels like bragging. It is not bragging; it is data, and skipping it is how athletes end up believing they only ever make mistakes. - Parents asking all five questions. Ask one. - Reviewing the same game more than once. One review per game, then it is closed. - Reviewing with the scoreboard as the frame. Goals against are a team number, not a goalie number.

Progressions and regressions - Grades 4–5: two questions only — "What did you do well?" and "What do you want to work on?" A parent writes down the answers. - Grades 6–8: all five questions, athlete-led, written into the Save Journal. - Grades 9–10: add film. Watch every shot faced — every one, not just the goals — and tag two clips: one to keep, one to fix. Film review happens after the five questions, never before. - Grades 11–12: add a sixth question — "What did I do for my defense today?" — feeding the Leadership Ledger, MEN-16. Bring the answers to a coach or a goalie coach monthly. - Regression: if reviews are consistently ending in a bad mood, cut back to questions 1 and 5 only for a month, and do them with an adult present.

How to measure it - Review rate: reviews completed divided by games played. Target 100 percent — this one is cheap. - The next-practice test: did the focus sentence from question 5 actually show up in the next practice? Mark yes or no in the journal. That yes-rate is the real measure of whether the review does anything. - Time to close: how long from starting the review to saying "Reviewed. Done."? Fifteen minutes or fewer, including film for older athletes. If it takes an hour, it has turned into rumination. - The trend check (grades 9–12): every month, count how many times the same answer appeared on question 3. Repeats are your true technical priority, and they are almost never what you would have guessed.

MEN-08 — THE CONFIDENCE BANK

Category
Evidence building — proof you can read when you do not feel it
Purpose
To build a written record of your best moments so that confidence stops depending on how you feel today. Confidence is not a mood you summon; it is a conclusion you draw from evidence. The problem is that under pressure your brain hides the evidence. So we write it down in advance, while it is easy, and read it when it is hard.
Equipment
A dedicated page at the back of the Save Journal, MEN-06, or a separate note on a phone. Some athletes use a physical jar with slips of paper — that works too and is better for grades 4–6.
Space needed
None
Grade range
4–12

How to do it

Part 1 — Build the bank (five minutes a week)

  1. Open a dedicated page and title it: THE BANK. Nothing else goes on this page. Ever. It does not become a to-do list or a place for fixes.
  2. Every Sunday, add three deposits. A deposit is one specific thing you did well this week. From the Save Journal, from practice, from a game, from a workout you did not feel like doing.
  3. Write each deposit as a fact with a detail. Not "good practice." Instead: "Saved 8 of 10 in the low-corner drill on Wednesday." "Ran the Reset after every goal on Saturday, all four of them." "Finished the last shuttle when I wanted to stop." The detail is the currency. A deposit without a detail is not spendable.
  4. Deposits never get removed. A bad game does not delete last month's saves. The bank only grows. This is not optimism; it is bookkeeping — those things genuinely happened.
  5. Include non-save deposits. Showing up on a cold Tuesday. Talking to your defense when you did not feel like it. Sleeping eight hours before a game. Eating a real meal before a tournament instead of skipping it. Those are all evidence of the athlete you are building.

Part 2 — Make a withdrawal (two minutes, before a big game or on a bad day)

  1. Sit somewhere quiet. Four rounds of Box Breathing, MEN-02, first.
  2. Read the last twenty deposits, slowly, out loud if you can. Not skimming. Actually read them.
  3. Pick three and picture each one for ten seconds — the actual moment, through your own eyes, the way you would in a Visualization Session, MEN-05.
  4. Close the notebook. Say your Ready line from MEN-04.
  5. Go play.

When to withdraw - Morning of a big game or a tryout. - After a bad game, but only after the 24-hour window has passed (MEN-11). - When you are in a slump and cannot remember the last time you played well. This is exactly the situation the bank was built for — your memory is lying to you and the page is not. - Before a college visit, a showcase, or a conversation with a coach.

Coaching cues - "Three deposits every Sunday. Five minutes." - "A deposit needs a detail or it does not count." - "You are not talking yourself into anything. You are reading a list of things that actually happened." - "The bank only grows. Nothing gets removed."

Common mistakes - Only depositing saves. Habits, effort, and courage are deposits too, and in a slump they are the ones that hold. - Writing vague deposits. "Played well Saturday" is worthless in March. - Letting fixes leak onto the page. The bank is one-directional. Fixes live in the Save Journal. - Never withdrawing. A bank you never read is just a notebook. - Starting it during a slump. Start it in a good week, when deposits come easily, so the balance is already there when you need it. - Comparing your bank to a teammate's. It is your account.

Progressions and regressions - Grades 4–6: a physical jar. Write one thing on a slip of paper after each session and drop it in. Pull out five slips whenever you need them. Younger athletes engage with the physical version far more. - Grades 7–8: the written page, three deposits every Sunday, and one withdrawal before each game week. - Grades 9–10: add a film folder — three to five clips of your best saves, kept on your phone, watched before games. Video deposits are powerful. - Grades 11–12: keep a separate recruiting-facing version — verified stats, film links, and coach feedback — that doubles as college outreach material. Withdraw before every showcase. - Regression: if three deposits a week feels like too much, do one. One a week for a season is fifty deposits.

How to measure it - Balance: total deposits this grade year. Just count the lines. Watching the number pass 100 does something that no pep talk does. - Deposit rate: weeks with at least one deposit, divided by weeks in the season. Target 90 percent. - The slump test: the next time you feel like you have never made a save, open the bank and read. Then note in the journal whether the feeling changed. Over a season this becomes proof that the tool works on you specifically. - Detail audit: each testing week, reread ten random deposits. Are they still specific enough to picture? If not, tighten how you write them.

MEN-09 — THE CLUTCH ROUTINE

Category
Late-game focus — the last two minutes
Purpose
To have a specific, rehearsed sequence for the end of a close game, so the most important two minutes of your season are run by a routine instead of by adrenaline. Late-game collapse is almost never a skill problem. It is an attention problem: the mind jumps to the scoreboard, the consequences, and the crowd, and the body speeds up past its own timing. The Clutch Routine puts attention back on the only thing that matters, which is the next possession.
Equipment
None
Space needed
None — done in the crease
Grade range
7–12

How to do it

Trigger: the moment the game clock hits two minutes in a one- or two-goal game, or any time a whistle stops play late. You will feel the change in the building. That feeling is your cue to start.

  1. Find the nearest stoppage and use it. A whistle, a timeout, a substitution, the ball going out of bounds. You do not need much — six seconds is enough.
  2. Two breaths, long exhale. In through the nose for three, out through the mouth for six. Twice. The long exhale is the part that slows your body down. Do not skip to step 3 because it feels urgent — urgency is the problem you are solving.
  3. Touch both pipes. Walk your net, tap the near pipe, tap the far pipe, come back to your spot. This does two things: it re-anchors your positioning physically, and it gives your attention a concrete task at the exact moment it wants to wander to the scoreboard.
  4. Say the situation out loud, in facts only. "Two minutes. One goal. They have possession. Watch the crease." Facts, not stakes. Never say what it means — no "if they score we lose." Your brain does not need that sentence and it does not help you make a save.
  5. Give your defense one instruction. One. Loud, short, specific. "Nobody behind us." "Push them out." "Sticks up." See Leadership Communication, MEN-15. Speaking out loud also breaks the internal loop in your own head, which is half the reason this step exists.
  6. Set your feet and run your normal Pre-Shot Routine, MEN-03, on every shot from here. Nothing changes. This is the entire point of the routine: the last two minutes look exactly like the first two.
  7. After every whistle inside two minutes, repeat from step 2. Two breaths, pipes if there is time, one instruction. It is a loop, not a one-time event.

And if they score: run The Reset, MEN-01, exactly as always. It does not get shorter or more dramatic because the clock is low. Same four steps.

Coaching cues - "Two breaths, two pipes, one call." - "Facts, not stakes." - "The last two minutes should look like the first two." - "If your voice disappears late, so does your defense." - "Slow your body down on purpose. Everyone else is speeding up."

Common mistakes - Changing your technique late — cheating early, guessing, coming out further than usual because you feel you need to do something extra. You do not need to do more. You need to do the same. - Going silent. Late-game silence from the goalie tells five defenders they are on their own. - Watching the clock instead of the ball. Know the situation at each whistle; then forget the clock until the next one. - Saying what is at stake, out loud or internally. That sentence never once helped anyone make a save. - Skipping the breaths because there is no time. There is time. Six seconds. - Only practicing this in games. Rehearse it in scrimmages with a fake clock.

Progressions and regressions - Grades 7–8: the short version only — two breaths and one instruction to the defense. That is plenty at this age. - Grades 9–10: the full seven-step routine. Rehearse it in every scrimmage: have a coach call "two minutes, one goal" at a random stoppage and run the full sequence. - Grades 11–12: add situational pre-planning — know before the whistle what you will call for a man-down, a timeout out of a dead ball, a face-off you must have, and an empty-net situation. Add a version for the final thirty seconds when the opponent has possession and you are protecting a lead. - Regression: if the full routine feels like too much in the moment, run steps 2 and 5 only — two breaths and one call. Those two carry most of the effect.

How to measure it - Save percentage inside two minutes versus your overall save percentage, tracked across a season. This is the number. It takes a season of games to mean anything, so start logging early. - The voice check: have a parent or coach note whether they heard you talk in the final two minutes. A simple yes or no per game. Most goalies overestimate this badly. - Rehearsal count: how many times did you run the routine in practice or a scrimmage this month? Grades 9–12 target four or more. - Film review: watch the last two minutes of three close games. Did your positioning and depth stay the same as the first quarter, or did you drift? Film does not care what it felt like.

MEN-10 — BUILDING YOUR PRE-GAME ROUTINE

Category
Preparation — the same day, every game day
Purpose
To build a fixed, personal, written sequence for game day so that everything before the opening whistle is decided in advance. A good pre-game routine removes decisions. It also gives you something to do with the nervous hours, which is the real problem game day presents — not the game, the waiting.
Equipment
Paper and pen to build it. Your normal gear to run it.
Space needed
Wherever you get ready, plus a warm-up space at the field
Grade range
5–12

How to do it

Part 1 — Build it once (thirty minutes, off-season or pre-season)

  1. Write down the timeline backwards from the opening whistle. Start at 0:00 (whistle) and work backwards: warm-up, arrival, travel, meal, wake-up. Use real clock times for your actual typical game.
  2. Fill in the four fixed anchors. Every routine has these four, in this order:
  3. Fuel anchor — a real meal two to three hours before, and a small carbohydrate snack about an hour before. Write down exactly what it is so you never decide while nervous. Eat it even if you do not feel hungry — nerves suppress appetite, and playing a game underfueled is how the fourth quarter falls apart. Water steadily from wake-up, not all at once in the parking lot.
  4. Body anchor — your dynamic warm-up (MOB-01) and your hands warm-up, same sequence, same order, every game.
  5. Mind anchor — four rounds of Box Breathing, MEN-02, plus your Ready line from MEN-04. Ninety seconds total. Do it after you are dressed, before you walk out.
  6. Ball anchor — your first shots. Start easy, at the stick, close range. Never take your first shots of the day at full speed into corners. Build up.
  7. Decide your music, or no music. Both are legitimate. Decide once, in advance, rather than every week.
  8. Decide your social rule. Some goalies want teammates around; some want twenty quiet minutes. Write yours down and tell your coach and your parents what it is, so nobody has to guess.
  9. Write the whole thing on a card. Times on the left, actions on the right. Put it in your bag.

Part 2 — Run it and refine it (a season)

  1. Run it exactly as written for four games. Change nothing, even if a piece feels awkward.
  2. After each game, note in the Save Journal, MEN-06, one line: what part of the routine helped, what part did not.
  3. After four games, adjust one thing. One. Then run four more.
  4. By the end of a season you own a routine that is genuinely yours and that will survive travel, weather, and a delayed start.

Part 3 — The travel version

Write a stripped 10-minute version for when the bus is late, the field is a mess, or you get twelve minutes instead of forty-five: fuel snack, dynamic warm-up short version, four breaths, Ready line, ten easy shots. Having this written down in advance is what keeps a chaotic morning from becoming a bad first quarter.

Coaching cues - "Decide it once, so you never decide it on game day." - "Eat the meal even when you are not hungry. Nerves lie about appetite." - "First shots are easy and at the stick. Always." - "Same order, every game. The order is the routine." - "Tell your parents your social rule so they are not guessing."

Common mistakes - Skipping the pre-game meal or the snack because of nerves. This is the single most common and most costly game-day mistake. Something small and familiar beats nothing, every time. - Taking first shots at full speed. Cold hands, cold hips, and a confidence dent before the whistle. - Building a routine that needs 45 quiet minutes and perfect conditions. It will fail the first time a bus is late. Build the 10-minute version too. - Changing the routine every week, chasing a feeling. - Copying a college goalie's routine off the internet. Theirs fits their day, not yours. - Loading the routine with so much content that you arrive at the whistle already tired.

Progressions and regressions - Grades 5–6: three anchors only — eat, warm up your body, take easy shots. A parent helps with the timeline and the meal. - Grades 7–8: all four anchors, written on a card by the athlete. Add the mind anchor formally. - Grades 9–10: add the travel version, a tournament version for multiple games in a day (with a refuel and re-warm plan between games), and a weather version. - Grades 11–12: the athlete owns the whole thing independently, including a showcase version for playing in front of college coaches and a back-to-back-games recovery plan. Add opponent-specific visualization (MEN-05) to the mind anchor. - Regression: if game days feel overwhelming, cut to two anchors — eat and breathe — and rebuild from there over a few weeks.

How to measure it - Adherence: how many of your written steps did you actually complete? Score it out of the number of steps, every game, in the journal. Target 90 percent or better. - First-quarter save percentage across a season. A working pre-game routine shows up here before it shows up anywhere else. - The fuel check: did you eat both the meal and the snack? Yes or no, every game. If the no's cluster around big games, that is exactly the pattern to fix — and worth mentioning to a parent or coach. - The chaos test: the next time conditions fall apart, did you run the 10-minute version? If you did not have one written, write it that night.

MEN-11 — THE 24-HOUR RULE

Category
Recovery from a bad game
Purpose
To put a hard boundary around a rough performance so it lasts one day instead of one week. Bad games are not optional in this position; every goalie who ever played had them. What is optional is how long you carry it. The 24-Hour Rule is the specific procedure for setting it down.
Equipment
The Save Journal, MEN-06. A clock.
Space needed
None
Grade range
5–12

How to do it

The rule: you get 24 hours. Then it is closed and you go to work.

Hours 0 to 2 — Feel it, do not analyze it

  1. You are allowed to be upset. Do not skip this or pretend to be fine. Pretending does not shorten the process; it lengthens it.
  2. No analysis in this window. No film, no review, no "what if." Your body is still flooded and nothing you conclude right now will be accurate.
  3. Do three things for your body: eat a real meal, drink water, and get out of your gear. Eat even if you do not feel like it. Skipping food after a hard game makes the next 24 hours measurably worse, and it is never the answer to feeling bad about a performance.
  4. If a parent asks how it went: "I need a bit before I talk about it." That sentence is completely acceptable, and it is worth agreeing on it with your family in advance so it is not taken as rudeness.

Hours 2 to 12 — Do something that is not lacrosse

  1. Be with friends or family. Watch something. Read something. Play something else.
  2. Do not watch film. Do not scroll for the highlight. Do not reread the game thread.
  3. Sleep normally. Box Breathing, MEN-02, four rounds in bed if your mind is racing.

Hours 12 to 24 — Review once, properly

  1. The next morning, run The Game Review 5, MEN-07. All five questions, in order, starting with what you did well. Yes, even after this game — especially after this game.
  2. Watch film if you have it, but watch every shot faced, not just the goals. Watching only the goals is not review, it is self-harm with a remote control.
  3. Write the one fix and the one focus for the next practice in the Save Journal.
  4. Add one deposit to the Confidence Bank, MEN-08, from this game. There is one. There is always at least one, and finding it after a bad game is the most valuable deposit you will ever make.

Hour 24 — Close it

  1. Say out loud: "That game is closed. Here is what I am working on." Then say your one focus.
  2. Go to the next practice and work on that one thing.
  3. The game does not get reopened. If it comes back into your head next week, you say "closed" and run The Reset, MEN-01. That is what the Reset is for outside of games.

If the load is bigger than one game Some rough stretches are not really about lacrosse — school pressure, a hard season, sleep debt, or something else entirely stacking up. If sadness or dread hangs around past the 24 hours, or if it is showing up in school, sleep, or appetite, that is your signal to talk to a parent, a coach, or a school counselor. That is not weakness and it is not a failure of the routine. Some loads are meant to be shared, and asking is a skill this program expects you to build.

Coaching cues - "Two hours to feel it. Ten hours away from it. Then one review. Then closed." - "Eat the meal. Always." - "Watch every shot, not just the goals." - "'I need a bit before I talk about it' is a complete sentence." - "Twenty-four hours, not twenty-four days."

Common mistakes - Reviewing in the parking lot. Zero useful information exists at that heart rate. - Watching only the goals on film, over and over. This is the most damaging habit in the position. - Skipping food. Never the answer, and it makes everything else harder. - Announcing you are "over it" two minutes after the whistle. That is not closing it, that is burying it, and it comes back. - Reopening the game a week later. Say "closed," run the Reset, move on. - Using the 24-hour rule to skip the review entirely. The review is a required part of the rule, not the optional part.

Progressions and regressions - Grades 5–6: simplified to three steps — eat something, do something fun, talk about one good thing you did. Parent-led. No film. - Grades 7–8: the full timeline with a parent helping to hold the boundary on the 2-hour and 12-hour marks. - Grades 9–10: the athlete runs it independently, including film. Add a same-day text to a goalie coach or teammate goalie — one line, not a paragraph. - Grades 11–12: compress to a 12-hour version for tournament weekends where the next game is tomorrow, and build a between-games version for the same day: full Reset, two-minute review, one fix, then close it before the next warm-up. - Regression: if 24 hours is not enough and the game is still following you at 48, that is the moment to talk to a trusted adult rather than pushing through alone.

How to measure it - Closure time: how long from the final whistle until you genuinely stopped thinking about it? Log a number in the journal after every rough game. Watching that number shrink across a season is the whole point of this entry. - The next-game number: save percentage in the game immediately following a bad one, tracked across a season. This is the honest measure of whether your recovery process works. - Rule adherence: did you follow all four windows? Yes or no. The most commonly skipped one is the 2-to-12 hour window, and skipping it is usually why the rest fails. - The deposit check: did you find one Confidence Bank deposit from the bad game? If you cannot find one after three bad games in a row, review with a coach — you are almost certainly missing them, not lacking them.

MEN-12 — NERVES TO EXCITEMENT

Category
Reframing — fear is excitement in a costume
Purpose
To convert pre-game nerves into usable energy instead of trying to make them disappear. Nerves and excitement are the same physical event — fast heart, tight stomach, quick breathing, buzzing hands. The body cannot tell them apart; only the label is different. Changing the label is a trainable skill, and it works far better than trying to calm down, because calming all the way down is neither realistic nor useful before a game.
Equipment
None
Space needed
None
Grade range
4–12

How to do it

The sequence: name it, rename it, use it. Ninety seconds.

  1. Name the physical facts. Out loud or in your head, describe only what your body is doing, with no story attached. "My heart is fast. My hands are buzzing. My stomach is tight." Facts only — do not say what it means. Naming the sensation reduces its grip, and this step alone does real work.
  2. Say the reframe. Out loud if you can, quietly if you cannot: "I am excited." Say it three times. It will feel silly the first ten times you do it and it works anyway. You are not lying to yourself — every one of those sensations genuinely is what excitement feels like.
  3. Give the energy a job. Nerves without a task turn into fidgeting and doubt. Assign the energy to something concrete right now: quick feet, five sets of fast hands, a hard dynamic warm-up. Move. Ten seconds of fast feet does more than ten minutes of trying to relax.
  4. Point it at the first play. Say what you are looking forward to, specifically: "I want the first shot." "I want a clear in the first minute." "I want to be loud on the first ride." Excitement needs a target.
  5. Then run your Pre-Shot Routine, MEN-03, on the first shot of warm-ups. Normal routine, normal order. The nerves come with you and that is fine.

When nerves are genuinely too high If you are shaking, cannot catch your breath, or feel sick, you are past useful arousal. Do not reframe — turn the dial down first with four rounds of Box Breathing, MEN-02, and a slow walk. Then come back and run the reframe. And if that level of pre-game distress is happening at most games, tell a parent or coach. That is a load worth sharing, not a toughness test.

The thing to stop saying Stop saying "calm down." To yourself or to a teammate. It has never once worked. "I am excited" is the replacement, and it is what you say to a nervous teammate too.

Coaching cues - "Name it, rename it, use it." - "Fear is excitement in a costume — same body, different label." - "Nerves mean you care. Flat means you do not." - "Give the energy a job in the next ten seconds." - "Never 'calm down.' Always 'I am excited.'"

Common mistakes - Trying to make nerves go away entirely. A goalie with no arousal is slow. Some nerves are equipment, not a problem. - Saying the reframe once, half-heartedly, then declaring it useless. Three times, out loud, and use it for a season. - Skipping step 1. Naming the physical facts is what makes the rename credible. - Reframing when arousal is genuinely too high. Down-regulate first, then reframe. - Hiding nerves from teammates and coaches. Naming them out loud to another person costs nothing and helps immediately. - Believing veteran players do not get nervous. They do. They just have a plan for it.

Progressions and regressions - Grades 4–6: two steps only — "my body is getting ready to play" and then move around fast for ten seconds. Keep it simple and physical. - Grades 7–8: full sequence, practiced before scrimmages so it is not new on game day. - Grades 9–10: add pre-planning — write down in advance the three sensations you reliably get and the exact job you will assign each one. - Grades 11–12: extend to non-lacrosse pressure — tests, college conversations, showcases. Add the teammate version: reframing out loud for a nervous younger player, which is a leadership skill (MEN-15). - Regression: if the reframe is not landing, do the physical part only — hard dynamic warm-up, fast feet, loud voice. Behavior first, feeling follows.

How to measure it - Pre-game rating: rate your nerves 1 to 10 twenty minutes before the whistle, and rate again after running the sequence. Log both in the journal. You are not looking for the number to hit 1 — you are looking for it to land in the 4 to 7 range, which is where goalies play best. - The label test: after each game, write down whether you called it nerves or excitement in the moment. The ratio shifts over a season, and that shift is the skill. - First-quarter performance on days you ran the sequence versus days you did not. - The pattern check: if your pre-game number is 9 or 10 at most games across a month, that is not a reframing problem — bring it to a coach or a parent.

MEN-13 — FOCUS RESETS DURING PLAY

Category
In-game attention — catching the drift
Purpose
To notice when your attention has left the ball and to bring it back inside two seconds. Focus is not a tank that runs out; it is a beam that wanders. Every goalie's mind drifts during a game — to the scoreboard, to a parent on the sideline, to the last goal, to a hamstring that feels tight. The skill is not preventing drift. The skill is catching it fast. This entry trains the catch.
Equipment
None
Space needed
None
Grade range
5–12

How to do it

Part 1 — Know your three triggers

Most drift is predictable. Write down your three most common drift moments in the Save Journal, MEN-06. Typical ones: after a whistle, after a goal, when the ball is at the far end, when a specific person is watching, when you are tired in the fourth quarter. Named triggers get caught earlier.

Part 2 — The two-second catch

The instant you notice your mind is not on the game:

  1. Say "back." One word, in your head or under your breath. No self-criticism, no "focus up, idiot." Just "back." Drifting is not a failure; it is normal. The word is a steering input, not a punishment.
  2. Find the ball with your eyes. Physically locate it, wherever it is on the field. Eyes do the work, not willpower.
  3. Move your feet once. A shuffle, a step to your arc, a small adjustment. Movement re-engages the body with the play.
  4. Say one fact out loud to your defense. "Ball's up top." "Twenty seconds." "Two on the crease." Speaking forces you back into the game and helps four other people at the same time.

That is it. Back — ball — feet — voice. About two seconds.

Part 3 — Rebuild focus at dead balls

Whistles are where attention leaks the most. At every stoppage:

  1. One breath, long exhale.
  2. Check the situation in facts: score, time, possession, personnel.
  3. Give your defense one instruction.
  4. Reset your depth on the arc, then re-find the ball as play restarts.

Part 4 — Train the beam (off the field, three minutes)

Focus is trainable away from the game, and this is the drill:

  1. Sit down. Set a timer for two minutes.
  2. Pick one object — a ball, your stick head, a spot on the wall. Look at it.
  3. Every time your mind wanders, notice it and say "back," then return your eyes to the object. That noticing-and-returning IS the repetition. You are not trying to have zero wandering; you are trying to catch it many times.
  4. Count how many times you had to say "back." A high count is a good session, not a bad one — it means you caught it a lot.
  5. Do this three times a week. Add thirty seconds a week up to five minutes.

Coaching cues - "Back — ball — feet — voice." - "Everyone drifts. Great goalies come back faster." - "You cannot think your way back. Look at the ball and move your feet." - "Talking is the fastest way back into the game." - "In the two-minute drill, catching it ten times beats sitting there blank."

Common mistakes - Getting angry at yourself for drifting. That is a second drift stacked on the first. - Trying to "concentrate harder" as an internal effort. Focus comes back through the eyes and the feet, not through strain. - Only trying to focus when the ball is near. The far-end possessions are where the drift starts; by the time the ball arrives, you are already late. - Going quiet. Silence and drift travel together. - Treating the off-field drill as meditation and judging yourself for a busy mind. The busy mind is the equipment; the catch is the rep. - Doing the drill once and expecting a game-day difference. It is a strength adaptation — weeks, not days.

Progressions and regressions - Grades 5–6: two steps only — "back" and find the ball. One minute for the off-field drill. - Grades 7–8: full four-step catch. Write down your three triggers. Two-minute off-field drill, three times a week. - Grades 9–10: add a fatigue version — run the catch at the end of a conditioning finisher when you are genuinely tired, since that is when real drift happens. Extend the off-field drill to four minutes. - Grades 11–12: add distraction training — have a partner talk, heckle lightly, or make noise during a drill while you run your normal routine. Add a between-quarters version and a version for long stoppages such as an injury delay. - Regression: if the four steps feel like too much mid-play, use "back" plus finding the ball. Those two carry most of the value.

How to measure it - Catch count in the off-field drill. Log it every session. The number usually rises for two weeks (you are noticing more) and then falls (you are drifting less). Both directions are progress; know which phase you are in. - The film check: watch a full quarter of game film and count how many possessions you were visibly disengaged — flat feet, head turned, no voice. Compare month to month. - Voice count: have a coach or parent tally your calls in one quarter. Voice and focus track together almost perfectly, and voice is far easier to count. - Far-end test: on possessions at the other end of the field, were your feet still moving and your eyes on the ball? Film it. Most goalies discover a real gap here and it is very fixable.

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You will see it working

The same benchmark tests come back through the year, so progress is a number you can compare, not a feeling.

A Sunday overview for parents

Every Sunday you get a recap of the week your goalie trained and a look at the one ahead.

Built to the USA Lacrosse ADM

The volume and the difficulty follow the Athlete Development Model, not an adult program scaled down.