March 8, 2023 • 29 mins
In this inaugural episode of the Get The Lax Scoop podcast our co-hosts, Jay McMahon & Ron Dalgliesh, inquire about how these two lacrosse coaching legends, special guests Dom Starsia & Lars Tiffany, got their start in the fastest game on two feet. Our host’s questions reveal some intriguing and unexpected truths about how each of the coaches interest in lacrosse was strongly influenced by Native Americans. Further into the interview Starsia and Tiffany describe what they consider the best practices for young players who are looking to improve their game as well as advance to the college ranks. Get The Lax Scoop’s creative director, Steve Gresalfi, poses our first ever listener question to Coach Tiffany. His answer describes the bizarre yet exhilarating pregame “relaxation” technique he utilized before winning the 2019 Men’s Division 1 NCAA Championship. This episode is a must for anyone who loves the sport of lacrosse.
NEW BOOK!
Inside the Recruiting Game: Insights From College Lacrosse Coaches
-Available on Amazon.com as an Ebook and paperback
Links to training videos:
Master The 5 Best Dodges From the Wing!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_7LDOcQQ6Q&t=88s
Blazing Shots... on the Run!
https://youtu.be/XiptPlM63oQ
Check us out...
On YouTube @jaymcmahonlax23
On Instagram @jaymcmahonlax23
On Facebook @: facebook.com/jmcmahonlax23. Page name: Jay McMahon Lacrosse
Jules Heningburg: https://thelaxlab.com/
Check out!... Coach Tintle's Lacrosse Barn:
https://g.co/kgs/eXedCXf
SuccessHotline with Dr. Rob Gilbert on Ironclad & Apple Podcasts
Brian Cain Daily Dominator on Apple Podcasts
Lacrosse Charities Mentioned in S2 E36:
https://www.4thefuturefoundation.org/
https://www.harlemlacrosse.org/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jay (00:00):
It's time for get the La Scoop, a podcast bringing you
all the people and stuff youshould know.
In the game of lacrosse, we takeLAX seriously, but ourselves,
not so much.
Join hosts, big Dog and Jaybird,and the biggest names in the
game.
Brought to you by Jay McMahonlacrosse.
That's J M L Skills, mindset,and LAX IQ training.
(00:23):
Ron Doish, the big dog, was acollegiate football and lacrosse
player at Brown.
He was also an assistantlacrosse coach and the executive
director of the sports found.
and Jay McMahon, the Jaybird, athree time All-American
Midfielder Brown.
He was a captain of the USJunior National team and is the
founder of J M L.
And joining us in the studio,Steve gfi, who's collegiate
(00:46):
lacrosse career statisticsequals one goal against
Dartmouth.
So friends, we are so excited tointroduce you to our two guests
today.
Jay, you want to get us startedwith the intros?
Absolutely.
Our first guest is the winner offour national championships at
the University of Virginia, twoIvy League Championships at
(01:08):
Brown University and three Coachof the Year Awards and men's
division one lacrosse.
He's a member of the Board ofHarlem Lacrosse and the Premier
Lacrosse League as well as theauthor of the book.
I hope you'll be very happy.
Leadership Lessons from aLifetime in lacrosse available
on Amazon.
Please welcome U US LacrosseHall of Famer and current head
coach of the Blue Ridge Schoolsboys lacrosse team, Dom Staria.
(01:32):
Hey fellow Dom.
Happy to be.
Great.
And Ron, you ready to introduceour next guest?
I am also join us today, thecurrent head men's lacrosse
coach at the University ofVirginia, Lars.
Tiffany.
Lars is in his seventh season atUVA A where he is won two
national championships For therecord, Dom, that's two behind
(01:53):
you.
He's won two.
Never forget dog.
Yeah, no, I'm sure you don't.
Don two ACC CACC Cchampionships twice Honored it
as a ACC C Coach of the year Aswe all know, he spent 10 years
at his alma Mater BrownUniversity as the head coach,
where he led the bears to fourIvy titles and three N C A
tournament appearances,including the incredible run of
(02:13):
the 2016 Final four.
Lars is also the head coach forthe HO Dho nationals team,
formerly known as the IroquoisNationals who'll be competing in
the upcoming world games in Junein San Diego, California.
Lars, we really appreciate youjoining us today as well.
It is wonderful to see you, bigdog, c u j and this is exciting
(02:37):
also to be, anytime I can bewith Dom and talk lacrosse.
It's fun and it's a, a growthexperience.
Jay, I think we're alreadylearning that.
We're gonna have to tell Larsthis isn't one of his 10 minute
halftime interviews that he'sgonna have to shorten it up a
little.
Dom, I thought your opening veryappropriate in terms of this
way.
Thanks for the guidance there,Ron.
(02:57):
Nice.
Now Lar, so just heard a fivelittle color here.
Just try to add some color.
You know, actually I thinkSteven Alfi, who, who might be
listening right now and chimingin he's the one, there's never
been, there hasn't been anoriginal sports quote in 30 or
50 years.
He loves to say that to me.
I'm always trying to come upwith that.
It's a challenge though.
You've, you've had someoriginals, no doubt about it.
All right, now I'm gonna have tocontrol this crowd.
(03:18):
Now look, in all seriousness itis pretty special Dom and lar,
the relationships you two haveformed.
And that's a big part of whatwe're exploring in our podcast.
And, and Jay, I know we're luckyto that many of our most
meaningful and memorablelacrosse experiences have come
with and around Lars and Dom aswell.
And let's be clear for ourlisteners, I mean, these two are
(03:40):
lacrosse, Royal.
There's simply two of thebiggest names in the game.
I mean, Dom, it seems likeyou're basically the Pope of
lacrosse today.
Everybody comes to you for thePapa Dom blessing and seeking
your wisdom.
And treat me respectfully, dog.
All right.
Dom.
We'll, see how that goes.
No promises.
Okay, so Jay, you wanna kick usoff here?
Sure.
(04:00):
Now, Dom, you famously didn'tpick up a lacrosse stick or even
witness a game until you steppedon campus at Brown.
And tell us about how thathappened and who introduced you
to the sport.
And I heard you had a good time,amount of time with the person
who introduced you to the sporton his reservation.
So go ahead and tell us allabout that.
(04:20):
Yeah, actually, I'm from LongIsland which is a big lacrosse
hotbed, obviously.
But my school just, we didn'thave it.
We didn't have it in my town.
And and so I'd heard of it, butI had never seen it.
I got recruited to Brown to playfootball and at the age when you
had to play on freshman teams inyour first year, and I happened
to be the captain of thatfreshman football team back in
1970.
And but I was also firstgeneration going off to college.
(04:41):
My father was a New York Citycop, and no one in my family had
ever gone off to college.
And so, to be frank, I was alittle lost both socially and
academically that firstsemester, most comfortable over
on the athletic side of things.
And a buddy on the footballteam, actually a fellow by the
name of Brian Ball, who wasrecruited to play lacrosse at
Brown, but went out forfootball.
And so we were freshman footballteammates said to me, why don't
(05:04):
you come out for lacrosse?
And and I did.
That's why I figured I wascurious having heard of it, the
game.
And so I went out and, and triedit my freshman and the truth is
I'm not even exaggerating thismuch.
I fell in love with the gamealmost immediately.
I feel like the first time Ipicked up a wood stick, I just
felt like this is what I'msupposed to be doing.
And I played two more years ofvarsity football, but lacrosse
was immediately a distraction,and the person you're referring
(05:26):
to, Jay I happened to on thatfreshman team in, my freshman in
my class was a Native American,a Mohawk by the name of David
White.
Lived on a Reserv St.
Regis Indian Reservation inupstate New York.
And so I didn't know him beforeI went out for lacrosse, but
once I went out for lacrosseover the next year or so, David
and I, we became close friends.
We wound up as roommates atBrown.
(05:46):
And you know, from him I learnedrespect for the game, the roots
of the game the spirituality ofthe game, which I believe
actually, has a very real placeand all.
And and then it'll just all.
Took off from there, you know,the rest of the story of,
graduating and, being a coachingit and coaching stalker.
You know, I tell young peopleall the time if there's any
lesson here, the lesson isanything is possible.
(06:08):
You just never know, you know,and so whatever your dreams are,
if you work hard at'em it maymove in a little bit of an
unexpected direction, but if youget after it, you got a chance
to you got a chance to make ithappen.
That's great.
And then just that follow upquestion, had you spent time
with Dave on his reservation?
The first time I went to thereservation was the summer after
my sophomore year at Brown.
(06:29):
And we spent a couple of weeksup there actually.
I spent a couple weeks with onthe reservation and we went to
the stick factory.
In those days we were stillusing wood sticks, and so we
went to the Stick factory andagain, learned about the roots
of the game.
I saw my first box across onthat trip.
Actually played played in a wellwhile I was up there.
There was a, I don't even knowwhat level it was, junior.
It feels like I was junior cmaybe.
(06:50):
But there was a team from St.
Regis that was playing and oneof the guys on the team wasn't
showing up for their gamesfellow by the name of Ralph
Cree.
And so Dave said, do you wannaplay?
And I said, sure.
And so I, I played a couple ofgames, a box that summer under
the alias of Ralph Cree.
And the standing gag on thereservation was that people were
calling me Ralph when I waswalking around, you know, cause
that's how they saw me.
(07:11):
And that's great.
And so I, you know, I kind offell in love with the box game
too, and introduced to it earlyin my career and fell in love
with it and saw the value of itfrankly, and, and you know, I've
been a big fan ever since.
That's neat.
Yeah.
Hey, y you know, it, it'sfascinating to me thinking about
the success you've both had inthe game that Dom, as you
mentioned, you have thatconnection to Dave White and
(07:32):
Lars, I know you grew up on abuffalo farm adjacent to the
Onaga reservation.
And, and so how has that.
Connection to Native Americansshaped your view of the game
over time?
Well, first, so I'm jealous Dongot a much better Native
American name.
My name's Luke Warmwater.
(07:53):
I was named Luke Warmwater for acouple tournaments.
I played with him.
I'd much rather be Ralph Cree OrHow about running Buffalo?
I mean, we had bison.
Couldn't he gimme a buffalothere?
So you know, the story is youknow, runo was five years old,
1973.
We'd had Buffalo for about fiveyears and people would drive up
along route 20, pull over onSunday afternoons and just watch
(08:14):
the 50 to 60 head of bisongrazing out in our fields.
And, that was just common for meto look out there and see 10, 15
cars and then one day.
Or Lyons, Irving Palace and acouple other chiefs of the
Underdog Nation drove up thedriveway.
And as they pulled in, my fathersaid, I, I've been waiting for
you guys.
And he was looking forward tobuilding a relationship with
(08:35):
them.
And, with only a matter ofweeks, they had made an
agreement that my dad wouldprovide 10 buffalo to the the
Onaga people.
The, but first they had to builda fence, and he showed'em our
fences, and I'm, so, I grew upwith the Onaga people.
So I had this experience as withNative Americans and, it's all
be.
Because it starts my dad, andbecause of this, I'm allowed to
(08:56):
now go to longhouse ceremonieswhile they're confirming the
treaty, the agreement that wasmade between the Ondo people and
my father.
So the terms of the agreement,six years, we, they get our 10
buffalo and they'll give us 10buffalo back, which by the way,
we've never gotten those buffalobags.
Not that we've not asked forthem, you know?
Excuse me.
No, we haven't.
So if I ever wanna get back intothe bison ranching industry,
(09:19):
there's some buffalo up therein, in the Auto Ag Nation.
And by the way, it became 11because, if when you're rounding
up buffalo and you get 11 on thetrailer, you don't try to back
one out cuz they're all comingout.
So they got it like the in asense, almost like the Baker's
dozen, they got the extra one.
And nice.
And what was really cool aboutit was when that trailer was
going down the driveway and myfather still a little bit was
(09:40):
like, man, I really wanted acontract.
He was still kind of held tothat.
What we all, that white man'scontractual agreement, where's
the signatures?
And the most beautiful treatycame up the drive about a month
later that or Lyons himself hadmade, he's an artist.
And I still have it in mypossession today.
I remember you showing me threefeet.
Was that the one you have inyour house now, Lars, you showed
(10:01):
me like, is Oh yeah.
Yeah.
That was cool.
Dear Skin with the, all thepictorial symbols of the terms
of the agreement, the buffalo,the our family, the chiefs going
the, the buffalo hoof printsgoing around.
The chiefs six winters, meaningsix years.
And so from there, I'm just,just the fortunate because my
(10:22):
father and where I grew up rightnow, Lafayette is adjacent to
the AAG Nation.
The AAG Nation has their own Kthrough eight.
They don't have high school.
So some Native American buddiescame over in middle school.
If not, then we certainly wereplaying together in high school.
So that was just a gift oflocation, of geography.
That's great.
Awesome.
And Dom, I remember, you know,back to Dave White, you
(10:44):
introducing us to him.
He came to a practice at thecarrier dome where we're gonna
be playing Syracuse.
Yep.
And I remember him shooting onour goalies, Steve Ays.
And it was just amazing.
And everything's going in, ofcourse.
And I talked to Steve about it,being a shooter and wanting to
know how he was doing that.
And he said, he's making me leanone way.
And then he's shooting the otherand he does it every time.
(11:07):
So, well, that the box players,the indoor guys, and I have,
I've talked to Paul Gate aboutthis That the, when we talk
about velocity and location andshooting, which is generally
what people in the field gametalk about with young people,
but if you talk to Canadians orindoor players, players who grew
up in the indoor game, they all,they talk about deception as a
key element as the third keyelement in shooting.
(11:28):
And so that whole thing thatkind of overhand shooting where
that lead shoulder drops down alittle bit and freezes that
goalie, you can come right backup on top of that shot.
And so there's deception builtinto what they think about in
every shot.
And I think that certainlycontributes to why there's such
effective finishers in the fieldgame, when they come and
introduce it.
(11:48):
And you're not even sure whatyou're looking at, but it's just
that subtle influence that makemakes them so effective.
And that is the perfect segueinto our tip of the week.
So, what we will do is link ourvideo on the three elements of a
great shot, and that would bespeed accuracy.
(12:09):
And as coach star.
You mentioned deception.
So we will put that below.
And then, we'll also link our,we have an app at J McMahon
lacrosse.
And with that.
There is a free slash minicourse.
That you can check that out foryour child.
And it does talk about elementsof shooting as well as crease
(12:32):
play and a few other elements.
And then we'll also link thatdescription on our YouTube
channel and each and every weekwe'll provide a free video and
tip of the week.
There are also short video clipsavailable for training.
On our Facebook page called JMcMahon lacrosse.
That's J a Y.
(12:53):
M C M a H O N.
Lacrosse on Facebook as well ason Instagram and the handle
there is at the letter J thenMcMahon, M C M a H O N L a X.
Two three, the number two,three.
So J McMahon lacks two, three onInstagram.
And on social media.
Feel free to like comment,subscribe and share.
(13:17):
And again, Thank you.
Coach stores you for thatprompt.
Hey absolutely.
Lars did, who introduced you tothe game?
Like, when did you first getintroduced?
Was it through your connectionto Native Americans, or how'd
you get started?
Yeah, it was you know, again,cause the possibilities opened
up, but my father's agreementwith the Ondo in Chiefs, I was
(13:38):
allowed to go down and seeNative American longhouse
ceremonies and festivitiessurrounding that.
I vividly can remember, it waslike three shots for a dollar
try to score in a box acrossgoalie.
Like we would have it a normalfair, trying to score in an
impossibly small basketball rim.
Right.
This was looked impossible tome.
(13:58):
You pick up a stick there, youget three shots, try to score,
you win a prize, you that'swhere I was first introduced to
the lacrosse and then seeing theold box on the Onaga Reserve.
Not that they have two beautifulones now, but it was just an
outdoor one back then.
So that's where I first sawlacrosse and then started
participating really in sixthgrade.
It wasn't really organized asmost of us wasn't organized at a
youth level like it is now.
(14:18):
But yeah, it was through somefriends from the Onaga Nation
who've first got me into thegame.
So, Lars, it's funny, inpreparing for this, you hear
stories you haven't heardbefore.
There aren't many of'em, butflash forward and you say you
started in sixth grade, you'rein middle school.
I hear this is the first timeyou came in contact with my
co-host, Jay McMahon.
(14:39):
And that, I'm sure it was asnotty little team from Garden
City that came up there to thatSyracuse lacrosse camp.
And was Cornell run against you?
Cornell lacrosse camp.
Let's get a corner here.
Corn Richie Morans.
Yeah, it's all, it's all upstateNew York.
It's all the, it's all the sameto Maryland guy.
I'm from Maryland, But I heardthere were some memories, Lars,
(14:59):
of you playing against Jay inthat Cornell lacrosse camp back
in middle school.
Yeah, well, it was the GardenCity lacrosse team certainly
broke down.
Some misconceptions I had.
You know, first of all, Ithought they'd all be wearing
like izods underneath theirlacrosse pads, these Garden City
dudes And and two, I thoughtthey'd be like, mean and like,
but they were actually niceguys.
(15:21):
They weren't that snotty.
So well, and Lars probably willwon't say it.
Cornell Lacrosse camp.
Let me jump in Lars, cuz you'reprobably not gonna say it.
The reason we weren't mean toLars was that we were doing a
drill and Lars reminded me hemight have actually been on our
team.
We were doing one-on-ones,excuse me.
And we have this guy on ourteam, Mickey Kuti, who was a
great player in high school andcollege, played at Harvard,
(15:42):
played with me on the juniorusa.
And he, we used to just love towatch him beat every defenseman
he would go against, and it wasjust silly.
He would run, from X to theright, to the left, to the
right, to the left, andeventually the guy would just
fall over the cage and we wouldjust watch an amazement as Lars
was staying with Mickey, andMickey would just run.
He was really fast, reallyquick, change of direction.
(16:02):
But no matter what he did,Lorice just stayed with him and
we were just like, we'veremembered.
We'd see Lars, when I was incollege I had friends being
like, is that the Lars fromCornell lacrosse camp?
Who?
Mickey couldn't beat So Larsbecame famous in Garden City.
Wait, LA Lars could cover MickeyKubota, is that right?
Yeah.
Well this was in middle school.
(16:23):
He couldn't do it in collegeprobably.
Oh God.
a good point.
I think I remember that wasDom's reaction when Mickey
Kavuri won, was on his officialvisit to Brown.
I can remember, bumping intoMickey and Dom in the ratty and
we're just getting going, right?
It's the fall Dom's still tryingto figure out who this freshman
defenseman from Lafayette, NewYork he recruited, cuz no other
defenseman come to him.
(16:44):
And he's like, Mickey CAI's eyeswidened when he met me.
And, Dom's like, huh, maybethere is something here.
Right.
You probably remembered we alltalked about it.
It's so funny.
But yeah, bring it back thememories.
But I Hey, so I still rememberthat day in the ratty dom.
Oh, that's great.
So Dom, how did Lars get to theratty?
(17:05):
Do you remember, when you firstabsolutely met Lars and how you
recruited him?
I mean, yep.
Was he a five star, was he ablue chipper dom?
No, no, no, no.
He was a turn over the lastrock.
And there, there he was, youknow I actually was recruiting a
buddy of Lars's from LafayetteHigh School on the Onondaga
reservation.
Joe Solomon, a goalie whoeventually went to Cornell
actually.
(17:25):
And I was doing a home visit onthe reservation.
And just toward the end of itMr.
Solomon said to me, do aboutthis defenseman at the high
school?
You know, he's a good player anda, and a good student.
And I said, no, I don't, youknow, and so he gave me lars's
name, probably gave me hisnumber.
And I'm gonna guess that thenext day I probably called Lar
and it was, this was probably,I'm gonna guess Lar this was
(17:46):
your senior year, maybe in highschool and probably called, oh
yeah, it was his senior year.
Yeah.
And that's Lars, what you doing?
It was February senior year.
What are you thinking about forcollege?
And and I think at that pointHobart was his choice and, and
may have been his only choice.
And I said, would you like toconsider Brown?
And, and that's how it started.
And you know he came and Larswas probably one of the few guys
(18:06):
on the list who didn't need anyhelp getting in.
He had like a 1550 s a t and itwas like, wow.
So I was bio majors.
I was, I was impressed withthat.
In, it's hard to imagine how he,how he slipped slipped under
that way, you know?
I mean slid by with, withoutsome other people, especially
the other IVs not beinginvolved.
(18:30):
Nice.
Well, fir first of all, you're,way exaggerating.
You're way exaggerating.
My, my SATs.
I think you have my brotherHudson's SATs, freeze there.
But but I do have to step back.
I think I spent four yearstrying to convince Dom I could
guard Mickey Kati and Jimmy Mcy,and I'm, I'm not sure you,
you've done that yet.
You know know, so there's stilltime.
(18:51):
You're in good shape.
He kept, he kept giving methese, these slow guys and the
crease or slow power dodgers.
I like just run through me.
I'm like, Don, gimme the quicklittle water bugs Right?
But no, I was, yeah, I waslooking at Clarkson.
Clarkson was my top choice and.
When I got the call from Dom, Imust have gone alphabetical, got
all the way down to the Ts and Iwas still looking for another
(19:13):
defenseman.
And luckily I was ecstatic.
And, as soon as he offered aspot, I jumped on it.
And the official visit Dom wasthe February 20, 21st, 22nd
weekend, 1986, which is not abig deal except in brown
basketball lore.
It was brown basketball playinga Marvel gym.
I show up.
(19:33):
They have Penn, Princeton.
They need to win both to win theIvy League title.
Both games are sold out packedhouses.
Brown basketball wins bothgames.
I'm feeling like I'm at this,you know, powerhouse Sports
School is such schoolcamaraderie and they went off to
win Make, it's the ENS Playtournament.
And what an impression, what agreat, great weekend.
(19:55):
That was nice.
And relative to all this, iteven in those days, which the
recruiting was much later inthose days, I mean, I'm gonna
guess that we might have had onespot, essentially a bit, you
know, left when first contactedwith Lars and you know, and so
he visits in February of hissenior year and, you know, back
to your, the beginning, I thinkJay, when we started this you
(20:15):
know, here we are sitting heretoday and Right.
You know, it just incredible perchance to a certain extent, you
know.
Well, it's amazing.
Right now, It's a good time fora mindset minute.
Speaking of playing.
One of the questions we oftenget.
And from our players is how canwe help ourselves feel more
confident?
(20:35):
How can we change the way we'refeeling particularly right
before a game.
And this information comes fromDr.
Rob Gilbert from his successoutline.
And he tells us that the fastestand most effective way to change
the way we're feeling is tochange our actions.
And you might ask why.
Well, studies have shown thatactions change attitudes,
(20:57):
emotions, change, emotions, andmovements, change moods.
Ask yourself.
How would you feel?
If the game was over and you hadwon the game.
And not only that you wouldplay, do your very best.
And I propelled your team tovictory.
How would you stand?
How would you walk?
How would you breathe?
(21:17):
Start acting as if.
Acting as if it were all true.
Then ask yourself, how would youact if you could not fail?
If absolutely positivelyguaranteed you and your team
could get the victory.
And you could play your verybest game.
You'll start acting differently,feeling differently.
(21:38):
And thinking differently.
Act as if you could not fail asan extremely powerful pre-game
technique.
Try it out as you're warming up.
And preparing for your nextgame.
now, Lauras, what are the thingsyou remember about Dom as your
coach?
And then have some of thosethings influenced how you are
leading as a coach today?
(21:59):
Yeah, Dom always incrediblysupportive and positive.
I can remember only one time himyelling at me.
I and I deserved it.
We were playing a UMass in 1989and we're getting our doors
blown in and nothing's goingright for Brown and I.
Threw a p I threw a ball.
(22:19):
It probably landed out ofbounds.
It may have landed outside ofstate lines.
It was so, such a bad pass, AndI was in trouble in the clear
and I was just, I just chuckedit towards Jamie cuz Jamie could
do some funky things as we know.
Act like the ball's not comingand pick it up, but right.
You know, Don just was like,wars, what?
And that, about the worst I everheard from him in four years.
And so I try to take thatforward.
(22:42):
I'm not as generous or as kindas Don, when it comes to an
intense moment at practice or agame.
I'm a bit more animated with mymen, certainly more in practice.
And so that's what I've tried totake for, is treating everybody
with respect.
You know, they're given theirbest.
And just to be a coach that'sapproachable.
And it's about the men, it isnot too much about the Xs and
O's and take care of your peopleand they'll take care of you.
(23:03):
That's great.
And I remember Dom actuallyseeing you interviewed one time
and this positive approach, thatwas something I really noticed.
I mean, I was being recruited ata handful of schools and it was
very stern and authoritarian,kind of approach that these
other coaches had.
And Dom, you really had adifferent way about you and do
you remember that?
I think you were telling me howBrown sponsored some type of a
(23:25):
coach's seminar or somethingalong those lines.
about being positive and thatkind of approach to coaching.
First, I would say that if Iyelled at Lars once dog would
have an assortment of stories tobe able to choose from in terms
of getting yelled at Dom, I'mglad you say that.
I'm like, he yelled at you once.
I'm like, good lord.
Did he save it all up for me?
I only got yelled at once too.
(23:45):
Stop dog, please.
Favorites.
I remember it was and whatyou're referring to, Jay, there
was a kind of a coaches meetingat Brown at the H and Referer
State, and we used to have thesethings periodically and, I
didn't even really want to goand, but I went to it and I
don't even remember who thespeaker was, but he talked about
the effect of positivereinforcement, of positive
(24:06):
language and all.
And I was a young head coach atthe time.
And it just resonated with me,you know, and then when I'm
talking to young coaches nowabout this very topic I talk
about it in terms of you'll be abetter coach, you're gonna win
more games, if you can changeyour language a little bit, cuz
that's what guys wanna hearabout.
I mean, guys, you know, it's allnice to, I I'm a nice guy.
I want to talk positively.
(24:27):
Great.
No, no, you're gonna win moregames, I, I'm telling you right
now.
And so I just you know, mostcoaches are the smarter guys.
You know, one of them wassmartest guys on a practice
field and one of the most cleverguys on a practice field.
And you guys, I'll talk to youguys as players.
You guys give us so muchammunition for sarcasm, you know
(24:48):
out there and stuff.
I learned to bite my tongue.
I was a, yeah, I was sarcasticbecause it was so easy earlier
in my career, but I learned tobite my tongue and couch things
in a positive way and it made mea better coach, frankly.
And that was early in my headcoaching career.
And you know, it's made all thedifferent cause.
You say something cutting tosomebody that's easy to say at
(25:09):
the moment.
And the truth of the matter isyou can never take it back.
And these young guys, they neverforget.
And you know, 25 years laterI'll run into somebody and say,
Hey coach, do you remember theday you called me a so-and-so?
Well Lar you know, thinkingabout that story, about yelling
at him at UMass at all?
Right.
And so I'm very, I became verymindful of my language.
(25:29):
I try to emphasize that when I'mtalking to young coaches.
And I think it makes a world ofdifference in terms of relating
to people, and, just the factthat we are here talking to each
other in this way it speaks tothe relationship that we had 25
years ago, and the fact that wewere supportive of each other as
much as we could.
It doesn't mean you're not gonnacoach hard and get after guys
because guys want that.
They truly do, but I tell youngcoaches again, don't make it
(25:52):
personal, don't make itsarcastic, tell'em what you need
to tell'em and then let's moveon.
You know?
So, right.
That's great.
I've coached just youth lacrossetravel across for almost 20
years, probably 18 years.
And when I first started,you're, as you said, to roll
positive and.
You're trying to, you thinkyou're gonna guide the team,
sometimes with criticism, and Iquickly saw that that just, the
(26:14):
kids just shut down, as yousaid, it goes nowhere.
And if you want your team to getbetter, you gotta just be
generous with praise andencourage'em, just like you
said.
We've got our man behind thecurtain.
Steve Gfi coming in withFantastic some listener
questions.
Hey guys, Tom and Lars.
All right.
Steve, you wanna let that onefly?
Yeah.
This one came in from Dave m inBayside, New York.
(26:34):
He said, Lars, do you get paidby the word for ESPN postgame
and halftime interviews?
Just curious, because yourinterviews seem to go on a bit.
So again, I'm trying to breakthe protocol of when you see the
halftime coach be very short andcur with the sideline reporter,
and just run in there and givenothing.
I'm trying to give a littlesomething there.
(26:54):
I'm trying to spread the game.
Right.
I see a couple nuggets there,Dave, them.
Don't worry about those trolls.
I'm watching some of thesegames, Dom and I mean, it's a
tight game at halftime.
Big a ACC game and I mean, Larsis just going on.
I'm like, his team's alreadytaking a halftime shower in
there.
They're waiting for him.
I mean, does he have anyhalftime adjustments for him or
is he just gonna stand out hereand talk to us?
(27:15):
Dom you gotta think about whatyou're gonna say before you get
to the mic and then whatever thequestion they ask you, you just
say what you had in mind.
You know, we gotta play better,whatever it's gonna be.
And there you go.
Tom.
We got Tom.
Good advice.
Tom, perhaps a little slap inthe back of the hand.
We got, look, we just gotta getthe next ground ball.
I mean, that's what we gotta dohere.
Right?
Exactly.
And then, and then you're in thelocker room, Dom, both life,
(27:36):
life can be simple dog.
Yeah, why complicate it, TomLove it.
Love it.
Well guys, hey, well thanks somuch.
Yeah, Dom and Lars, this hasbeen a ton of fun and we really
appreciate both of you joiningus and kicking off this podcast.
We, I know everything you saidtoday is gonna be a huge
benefit.
First of all, it's just gonna befun for people.
(27:56):
Absolutely.
A treasure trove of informationfor our listeners.
Appreciate it.
So guys, we really appreciateit.
And Lars, good luck.
The rest of the, the way we willobviously be following the who's
closely and Bull Ridge, Tom.
Yeah, I was gonna say, whatabout, what about Ridge?
Come on, come on.
Exactly.
It's great seeing you guys andspending this time great seeing
(28:16):
Steve you know, catching up andall.
This is a real joy.
Awesome.
Thanks so much guys.
Thank you, Jay.
Thank you, big dog.
Thanks, Steve.
So much fun.
We'll delete that.
Lar we'll delete that.
Okay, good.
We, we stopped recording right,Ron?
Oh, well, yeah.
Yeah.
We're gonna cut that We willkeep the cameras and the audio
(28:37):
rolling ed.
No, we did not cut that.
And that concludes our episodewith coach RJ and coach Tiffany.
This is episode one.
Season one of the, get the laxscoop podcast.
Please join us next week aswe'll be going into episode two
and session two with coach andcoach Tiffany.
(28:57):
We'll be diving deep into therecruiting process.
As well as talking a little bitmore about their relationship
and how it's matured over theyears.
And we'll also be going overmore tips to help your son or
daughter improve in the game oflacrosse.
And we are looking forward tothat next session.
So we hope to see you there nextweek.
And don't forget to like, andsubscribe here.
(29:20):
And, we'll have this on ourYouTube channel.
We're signing off here at the Get the LAX coop.
Thanks again so much And untilwe meet again, here to, hoping
you find the twine.
It's time for get the La Scoop, a podcast bringing you
all the people and stuff youshould know.
In the game of lacrosse, we takeLAX seriously, but ourselves,
not so much.
Join hosts, big Dog and Jaybird,and the biggest names in the
game.
Brought to you by Jay McMahonlacrosse.
That's J M L Skills, mindset,and LAX IQ training.
(00:23):
Ron Doish, the big dog, was acollegiate football and lacrosse
player at Brown.
He was also an assistantlacrosse coach and the executive
director of the sports found.
and Jay McMahon, the Jaybird, athree time All-American
Midfielder Brown.
He was a captain of the USJunior National team and is the
founder of J M L.
And joining us in the studio,Steve gfi, who's collegiate
(00:46):
lacrosse career statisticsequals one goal against
Dartmouth.
So friends, we are so excited tointroduce you to our two guests
today.
Jay, you want to get us startedwith the intros?
Absolutely.
Our first guest is the winner offour national championships at
the University of Virginia, twoIvy League Championships at
(01:08):
Brown University and three Coachof the Year Awards and men's
division one lacrosse.
He's a member of the Board ofHarlem Lacrosse and the Premier
Lacrosse League as well as theauthor of the book.
I hope you'll be very happy.
Leadership Lessons from aLifetime in lacrosse available
on Amazon.
Please welcome U US LacrosseHall of Famer and current head
coach of the Blue Ridge Schoolsboys lacrosse team, Dom Staria.
(01:32):
Hey fellow Dom.
Happy to be.
Great.
And Ron, you ready to introduceour next guest?
I am also join us today, thecurrent head men's lacrosse
coach at the University ofVirginia, Lars.
Tiffany.
Lars is in his seventh season atUVA A where he is won two
national championships For therecord, Dom, that's two behind
(01:53):
you.
He's won two.
Never forget dog.
Yeah, no, I'm sure you don't.
Don two ACC CACC Cchampionships twice Honored it
as a ACC C Coach of the year Aswe all know, he spent 10 years
at his alma Mater BrownUniversity as the head coach,
where he led the bears to fourIvy titles and three N C A
tournament appearances,including the incredible run of
(02:13):
the 2016 Final four.
Lars is also the head coach forthe HO Dho nationals team,
formerly known as the IroquoisNationals who'll be competing in
the upcoming world games in Junein San Diego, California.
Lars, we really appreciate youjoining us today as well.
It is wonderful to see you, bigdog, c u j and this is exciting
(02:37):
also to be, anytime I can bewith Dom and talk lacrosse.
It's fun and it's a, a growthexperience.
Jay, I think we're alreadylearning that.
We're gonna have to tell Larsthis isn't one of his 10 minute
halftime interviews that he'sgonna have to shorten it up a
little.
Dom, I thought your opening veryappropriate in terms of this
way.
Thanks for the guidance there,Ron.
(02:57):
Nice.
Now Lar, so just heard a fivelittle color here.
Just try to add some color.
You know, actually I thinkSteven Alfi, who, who might be
listening right now and chimingin he's the one, there's never
been, there hasn't been anoriginal sports quote in 30 or
50 years.
He loves to say that to me.
I'm always trying to come upwith that.
It's a challenge though.
You've, you've had someoriginals, no doubt about it.
All right, now I'm gonna have tocontrol this crowd.
(03:18):
Now look, in all seriousness itis pretty special Dom and lar,
the relationships you two haveformed.
And that's a big part of whatwe're exploring in our podcast.
And, and Jay, I know we're luckyto that many of our most
meaningful and memorablelacrosse experiences have come
with and around Lars and Dom aswell.
And let's be clear for ourlisteners, I mean, these two are
(03:40):
lacrosse, Royal.
There's simply two of thebiggest names in the game.
I mean, Dom, it seems likeyou're basically the Pope of
lacrosse today.
Everybody comes to you for thePapa Dom blessing and seeking
your wisdom.
And treat me respectfully, dog.
All right.
Dom.
We'll, see how that goes.
No promises.
Okay, so Jay, you wanna kick usoff here?
Sure.
(04:00):
Now, Dom, you famously didn'tpick up a lacrosse stick or even
witness a game until you steppedon campus at Brown.
And tell us about how thathappened and who introduced you
to the sport.
And I heard you had a good time,amount of time with the person
who introduced you to the sporton his reservation.
So go ahead and tell us allabout that.
(04:20):
Yeah, actually, I'm from LongIsland which is a big lacrosse
hotbed, obviously.
But my school just, we didn'thave it.
We didn't have it in my town.
And and so I'd heard of it, butI had never seen it.
I got recruited to Brown to playfootball and at the age when you
had to play on freshman teams inyour first year, and I happened
to be the captain of thatfreshman football team back in
1970.
And but I was also firstgeneration going off to college.
(04:41):
My father was a New York Citycop, and no one in my family had
ever gone off to college.
And so, to be frank, I was alittle lost both socially and
academically that firstsemester, most comfortable over
on the athletic side of things.
And a buddy on the footballteam, actually a fellow by the
name of Brian Ball, who wasrecruited to play lacrosse at
Brown, but went out forfootball.
And so we were freshman footballteammates said to me, why don't
(05:04):
you come out for lacrosse?
And and I did.
That's why I figured I wascurious having heard of it, the
game.
And so I went out and, and triedit my freshman and the truth is
I'm not even exaggerating thismuch.
I fell in love with the gamealmost immediately.
I feel like the first time Ipicked up a wood stick, I just
felt like this is what I'msupposed to be doing.
And I played two more years ofvarsity football, but lacrosse
was immediately a distraction,and the person you're referring
(05:26):
to, Jay I happened to on thatfreshman team in, my freshman in
my class was a Native American,a Mohawk by the name of David
White.
Lived on a Reserv St.
Regis Indian Reservation inupstate New York.
And so I didn't know him beforeI went out for lacrosse, but
once I went out for lacrosseover the next year or so, David
and I, we became close friends.
We wound up as roommates atBrown.
(05:46):
And you know, from him I learnedrespect for the game, the roots
of the game the spirituality ofthe game, which I believe
actually, has a very real placeand all.
And and then it'll just all.
Took off from there, you know,the rest of the story of,
graduating and, being a coachingit and coaching stalker.
You know, I tell young peopleall the time if there's any
lesson here, the lesson isanything is possible.
(06:08):
You just never know, you know,and so whatever your dreams are,
if you work hard at'em it maymove in a little bit of an
unexpected direction, but if youget after it, you got a chance
to you got a chance to make ithappen.
That's great.
And then just that follow upquestion, had you spent time
with Dave on his reservation?
The first time I went to thereservation was the summer after
my sophomore year at Brown.
(06:29):
And we spent a couple of weeksup there actually.
I spent a couple weeks with onthe reservation and we went to
the stick factory.
In those days we were stillusing wood sticks, and so we
went to the Stick factory andagain, learned about the roots
of the game.
I saw my first box across onthat trip.
Actually played played in a wellwhile I was up there.
There was a, I don't even knowwhat level it was, junior.
It feels like I was junior cmaybe.
(06:50):
But there was a team from St.
Regis that was playing and oneof the guys on the team wasn't
showing up for their gamesfellow by the name of Ralph
Cree.
And so Dave said, do you wannaplay?
And I said, sure.
And so I, I played a couple ofgames, a box that summer under
the alias of Ralph Cree.
And the standing gag on thereservation was that people were
calling me Ralph when I waswalking around, you know, cause
that's how they saw me.
(07:11):
And that's great.
And so I, you know, I kind offell in love with the box game
too, and introduced to it earlyin my career and fell in love
with it and saw the value of itfrankly, and, and you know, I've
been a big fan ever since.
That's neat.
Yeah.
Hey, y you know, it, it'sfascinating to me thinking about
the success you've both had inthe game that Dom, as you
mentioned, you have thatconnection to Dave White and
(07:32):
Lars, I know you grew up on abuffalo farm adjacent to the
Onaga reservation.
And, and so how has that.
Connection to Native Americansshaped your view of the game
over time?
Well, first, so I'm jealous Dongot a much better Native
American name.
My name's Luke Warmwater.
(07:53):
I was named Luke Warmwater for acouple tournaments.
I played with him.
I'd much rather be Ralph Cree OrHow about running Buffalo?
I mean, we had bison.
Couldn't he gimme a buffalothere?
So you know, the story is youknow, runo was five years old,
1973.
We'd had Buffalo for about fiveyears and people would drive up
along route 20, pull over onSunday afternoons and just watch
(08:14):
the 50 to 60 head of bisongrazing out in our fields.
And, that was just common for meto look out there and see 10, 15
cars and then one day.
Or Lyons, Irving Palace and acouple other chiefs of the
Underdog Nation drove up thedriveway.
And as they pulled in, my fathersaid, I, I've been waiting for
you guys.
And he was looking forward tobuilding a relationship with
(08:35):
them.
And, with only a matter ofweeks, they had made an
agreement that my dad wouldprovide 10 buffalo to the the
Onaga people.
The, but first they had to builda fence, and he showed'em our
fences, and I'm, so, I grew upwith the Onaga people.
So I had this experience as withNative Americans and, it's all
be.
Because it starts my dad, andbecause of this, I'm allowed to
(08:56):
now go to longhouse ceremonieswhile they're confirming the
treaty, the agreement that wasmade between the Ondo people and
my father.
So the terms of the agreement,six years, we, they get our 10
buffalo and they'll give us 10buffalo back, which by the way,
we've never gotten those buffalobags.
Not that we've not asked forthem, you know?
Excuse me.
No, we haven't.
So if I ever wanna get back intothe bison ranching industry,
(09:19):
there's some buffalo up therein, in the Auto Ag Nation.
And by the way, it became 11because, if when you're rounding
up buffalo and you get 11 on thetrailer, you don't try to back
one out cuz they're all comingout.
So they got it like the in asense, almost like the Baker's
dozen, they got the extra one.
And nice.
And what was really cool aboutit was when that trailer was
going down the driveway and myfather still a little bit was
(09:40):
like, man, I really wanted acontract.
He was still kind of held tothat.
What we all, that white man'scontractual agreement, where's
the signatures?
And the most beautiful treatycame up the drive about a month
later that or Lyons himself hadmade, he's an artist.
And I still have it in mypossession today.
I remember you showing me threefeet.
Was that the one you have inyour house now, Lars, you showed
(10:01):
me like, is Oh yeah.
Yeah.
That was cool.
Dear Skin with the, all thepictorial symbols of the terms
of the agreement, the buffalo,the our family, the chiefs going
the, the buffalo hoof printsgoing around.
The chiefs six winters, meaningsix years.
And so from there, I'm just,just the fortunate because my
(10:22):
father and where I grew up rightnow, Lafayette is adjacent to
the AAG Nation.
The AAG Nation has their own Kthrough eight.
They don't have high school.
So some Native American buddiescame over in middle school.
If not, then we certainly wereplaying together in high school.
So that was just a gift oflocation, of geography.
That's great.
Awesome.
And Dom, I remember, you know,back to Dave White, you
(10:44):
introducing us to him.
He came to a practice at thecarrier dome where we're gonna
be playing Syracuse.
Yep.
And I remember him shooting onour goalies, Steve Ays.
And it was just amazing.
And everything's going in, ofcourse.
And I talked to Steve about it,being a shooter and wanting to
know how he was doing that.
And he said, he's making me leanone way.
And then he's shooting the otherand he does it every time.
(11:07):
So, well, that the box players,the indoor guys, and I have,
I've talked to Paul Gate aboutthis That the, when we talk
about velocity and location andshooting, which is generally
what people in the field gametalk about with young people,
but if you talk to Canadians orindoor players, players who grew
up in the indoor game, they all,they talk about deception as a
key element as the third keyelement in shooting.
(11:28):
And so that whole thing thatkind of overhand shooting where
that lead shoulder drops down alittle bit and freezes that
goalie, you can come right backup on top of that shot.
And so there's deception builtinto what they think about in
every shot.
And I think that certainlycontributes to why there's such
effective finishers in the fieldgame, when they come and
introduce it.
(11:48):
And you're not even sure whatyou're looking at, but it's just
that subtle influence that makemakes them so effective.
And that is the perfect segueinto our tip of the week.
So, what we will do is link ourvideo on the three elements of a
great shot, and that would bespeed accuracy.
(12:09):
And as coach star.
You mentioned deception.
So we will put that below.
And then, we'll also link our,we have an app at J McMahon
lacrosse.
And with that.
There is a free slash minicourse.
That you can check that out foryour child.
And it does talk about elementsof shooting as well as crease
(12:32):
play and a few other elements.
And then we'll also link thatdescription on our YouTube
channel and each and every weekwe'll provide a free video and
tip of the week.
There are also short video clipsavailable for training.
On our Facebook page called JMcMahon lacrosse.
That's J a Y.
(12:53):
M C M a H O N.
Lacrosse on Facebook as well ason Instagram and the handle
there is at the letter J thenMcMahon, M C M a H O N L a X.
Two three, the number two,three.
So J McMahon lacks two, three onInstagram.
And on social media.
Feel free to like comment,subscribe and share.
(13:17):
And again, Thank you.
Coach stores you for thatprompt.
Hey absolutely.
Lars did, who introduced you tothe game?
Like, when did you first getintroduced?
Was it through your connectionto Native Americans, or how'd
you get started?
Yeah, it was you know, again,cause the possibilities opened
up, but my father's agreementwith the Ondo in Chiefs, I was
(13:38):
allowed to go down and seeNative American longhouse
ceremonies and festivitiessurrounding that.
I vividly can remember, it waslike three shots for a dollar
try to score in a box acrossgoalie.
Like we would have it a normalfair, trying to score in an
impossibly small basketball rim.
Right.
This was looked impossible tome.
(13:58):
You pick up a stick there, youget three shots, try to score,
you win a prize, you that'swhere I was first introduced to
the lacrosse and then seeing theold box on the Onaga Reserve.
Not that they have two beautifulones now, but it was just an
outdoor one back then.
So that's where I first sawlacrosse and then started
participating really in sixthgrade.
It wasn't really organized asmost of us wasn't organized at a
youth level like it is now.
(14:18):
But yeah, it was through somefriends from the Onaga Nation
who've first got me into thegame.
So, Lars, it's funny, inpreparing for this, you hear
stories you haven't heardbefore.
There aren't many of'em, butflash forward and you say you
started in sixth grade, you'rein middle school.
I hear this is the first timeyou came in contact with my
co-host, Jay McMahon.
(14:39):
And that, I'm sure it was asnotty little team from Garden
City that came up there to thatSyracuse lacrosse camp.
And was Cornell run against you?
Cornell lacrosse camp.
Let's get a corner here.
Corn Richie Morans.
Yeah, it's all, it's all upstateNew York.
It's all the, it's all the sameto Maryland guy.
I'm from Maryland, But I heardthere were some memories, Lars,
(14:59):
of you playing against Jay inthat Cornell lacrosse camp back
in middle school.
Yeah, well, it was the GardenCity lacrosse team certainly
broke down.
Some misconceptions I had.
You know, first of all, Ithought they'd all be wearing
like izods underneath theirlacrosse pads, these Garden City
dudes And and two, I thoughtthey'd be like, mean and like,
but they were actually niceguys.
(15:21):
They weren't that snotty.
So well, and Lars probably willwon't say it.
Cornell Lacrosse camp.
Let me jump in Lars, cuz you'reprobably not gonna say it.
The reason we weren't mean toLars was that we were doing a
drill and Lars reminded me hemight have actually been on our
team.
We were doing one-on-ones,excuse me.
And we have this guy on ourteam, Mickey Kuti, who was a
great player in high school andcollege, played at Harvard,
(15:42):
played with me on the juniorusa.
And he, we used to just love towatch him beat every defenseman
he would go against, and it wasjust silly.
He would run, from X to theright, to the left, to the
right, to the left, andeventually the guy would just
fall over the cage and we wouldjust watch an amazement as Lars
was staying with Mickey, andMickey would just run.
He was really fast, reallyquick, change of direction.
(16:02):
But no matter what he did,Lorice just stayed with him and
we were just like, we'veremembered.
We'd see Lars, when I was incollege I had friends being
like, is that the Lars fromCornell lacrosse camp?
Who?
Mickey couldn't beat So Larsbecame famous in Garden City.
Wait, LA Lars could cover MickeyKubota, is that right?
Yeah.
Well this was in middle school.
(16:23):
He couldn't do it in collegeprobably.
Oh God.
a good point.
I think I remember that wasDom's reaction when Mickey
Kavuri won, was on his officialvisit to Brown.
I can remember, bumping intoMickey and Dom in the ratty and
we're just getting going, right?
It's the fall Dom's still tryingto figure out who this freshman
defenseman from Lafayette, NewYork he recruited, cuz no other
defenseman come to him.
(16:44):
And he's like, Mickey CAI's eyeswidened when he met me.
And, Dom's like, huh, maybethere is something here.
Right.
You probably remembered we alltalked about it.
It's so funny.
But yeah, bring it back thememories.
But I Hey, so I still rememberthat day in the ratty dom.
Oh, that's great.
So Dom, how did Lars get to theratty?
(17:05):
Do you remember, when you firstabsolutely met Lars and how you
recruited him?
I mean, yep.
Was he a five star, was he ablue chipper dom?
No, no, no, no.
He was a turn over the lastrock.
And there, there he was, youknow I actually was recruiting a
buddy of Lars's from LafayetteHigh School on the Onondaga
reservation.
Joe Solomon, a goalie whoeventually went to Cornell
actually.
(17:25):
And I was doing a home visit onthe reservation.
And just toward the end of itMr.
Solomon said to me, do aboutthis defenseman at the high
school?
You know, he's a good player anda, and a good student.
And I said, no, I don't, youknow, and so he gave me lars's
name, probably gave me hisnumber.
And I'm gonna guess that thenext day I probably called Lar
and it was, this was probably,I'm gonna guess Lar this was
(17:46):
your senior year, maybe in highschool and probably called, oh
yeah, it was his senior year.
Yeah.
And that's Lars, what you doing?
It was February senior year.
What are you thinking about forcollege?
And and I think at that pointHobart was his choice and, and
may have been his only choice.
And I said, would you like toconsider Brown?
And, and that's how it started.
And you know he came and Larswas probably one of the few guys
(18:06):
on the list who didn't need anyhelp getting in.
He had like a 1550 s a t and itwas like, wow.
So I was bio majors.
I was, I was impressed withthat.
In, it's hard to imagine how he,how he slipped slipped under
that way, you know?
I mean slid by with, withoutsome other people, especially
the other IVs not beinginvolved.
(18:30):
Nice.
Well, fir first of all, you're,way exaggerating.
You're way exaggerating.
My, my SATs.
I think you have my brotherHudson's SATs, freeze there.
But but I do have to step back.
I think I spent four yearstrying to convince Dom I could
guard Mickey Kati and Jimmy Mcy,and I'm, I'm not sure you,
you've done that yet.
You know know, so there's stilltime.
(18:51):
You're in good shape.
He kept, he kept giving methese, these slow guys and the
crease or slow power dodgers.
I like just run through me.
I'm like, Don, gimme the quicklittle water bugs Right?
But no, I was, yeah, I waslooking at Clarkson.
Clarkson was my top choice and.
When I got the call from Dom, Imust have gone alphabetical, got
all the way down to the Ts and Iwas still looking for another
(19:13):
defenseman.
And luckily I was ecstatic.
And, as soon as he offered aspot, I jumped on it.
And the official visit Dom wasthe February 20, 21st, 22nd
weekend, 1986, which is not abig deal except in brown
basketball lore.
It was brown basketball playinga Marvel gym.
I show up.
(19:33):
They have Penn, Princeton.
They need to win both to win theIvy League title.
Both games are sold out packedhouses.
Brown basketball wins bothgames.
I'm feeling like I'm at this,you know, powerhouse Sports
School is such schoolcamaraderie and they went off to
win Make, it's the ENS Playtournament.
And what an impression, what agreat, great weekend.
(19:55):
That was nice.
And relative to all this, iteven in those days, which the
recruiting was much later inthose days, I mean, I'm gonna
guess that we might have had onespot, essentially a bit, you
know, left when first contactedwith Lars and you know, and so
he visits in February of hissenior year and, you know, back
to your, the beginning, I thinkJay, when we started this you
(20:15):
know, here we are sitting heretoday and Right.
You know, it just incredible perchance to a certain extent, you
know.
Well, it's amazing.
Right now, It's a good time fora mindset minute.
Speaking of playing.
One of the questions we oftenget.
And from our players is how canwe help ourselves feel more
confident?
(20:35):
How can we change the way we'refeeling particularly right
before a game.
And this information comes fromDr.
Rob Gilbert from his successoutline.
And he tells us that the fastestand most effective way to change
the way we're feeling is tochange our actions.
And you might ask why.
Well, studies have shown thatactions change attitudes,
(20:57):
emotions, change, emotions, andmovements, change moods.
Ask yourself.
How would you feel?
If the game was over and you hadwon the game.
And not only that you wouldplay, do your very best.
And I propelled your team tovictory.
How would you stand?
How would you walk?
How would you breathe?
(21:17):
Start acting as if.
Acting as if it were all true.
Then ask yourself, how would youact if you could not fail?
If absolutely positivelyguaranteed you and your team
could get the victory.
And you could play your verybest game.
You'll start acting differently,feeling differently.
(21:38):
And thinking differently.
Act as if you could not fail asan extremely powerful pre-game
technique.
Try it out as you're warming up.
And preparing for your nextgame.
now, Lauras, what are the thingsyou remember about Dom as your
coach?
And then have some of thosethings influenced how you are
leading as a coach today?
(21:59):
Yeah, Dom always incrediblysupportive and positive.
I can remember only one time himyelling at me.
I and I deserved it.
We were playing a UMass in 1989and we're getting our doors
blown in and nothing's goingright for Brown and I.
Threw a p I threw a ball.
(22:19):
It probably landed out ofbounds.
It may have landed outside ofstate lines.
It was so, such a bad pass, AndI was in trouble in the clear
and I was just, I just chuckedit towards Jamie cuz Jamie could
do some funky things as we know.
Act like the ball's not comingand pick it up, but right.
You know, Don just was like,wars, what?
And that, about the worst I everheard from him in four years.
And so I try to take thatforward.
(22:42):
I'm not as generous or as kindas Don, when it comes to an
intense moment at practice or agame.
I'm a bit more animated with mymen, certainly more in practice.
And so that's what I've tried totake for, is treating everybody
with respect.
You know, they're given theirbest.
And just to be a coach that'sapproachable.
And it's about the men, it isnot too much about the Xs and
O's and take care of your peopleand they'll take care of you.
(23:03):
That's great.
And I remember Dom actuallyseeing you interviewed one time
and this positive approach, thatwas something I really noticed.
I mean, I was being recruited ata handful of schools and it was
very stern and authoritarian,kind of approach that these
other coaches had.
And Dom, you really had adifferent way about you and do
you remember that?
I think you were telling me howBrown sponsored some type of a
(23:25):
coach's seminar or somethingalong those lines.
about being positive and thatkind of approach to coaching.
First, I would say that if Iyelled at Lars once dog would
have an assortment of stories tobe able to choose from in terms
of getting yelled at Dom, I'mglad you say that.
I'm like, he yelled at you once.
I'm like, good lord.
Did he save it all up for me?
I only got yelled at once too.
(23:45):
Stop dog, please.
Favorites.
I remember it was and whatyou're referring to, Jay, there
was a kind of a coaches meetingat Brown at the H and Referer
State, and we used to have thesethings periodically and, I
didn't even really want to goand, but I went to it and I
don't even remember who thespeaker was, but he talked about
the effect of positivereinforcement, of positive
(24:06):
language and all.
And I was a young head coach atthe time.
And it just resonated with me,you know, and then when I'm
talking to young coaches nowabout this very topic I talk
about it in terms of you'll be abetter coach, you're gonna win
more games, if you can changeyour language a little bit, cuz
that's what guys wanna hearabout.
I mean, guys, you know, it's allnice to, I I'm a nice guy.
I want to talk positively.
(24:27):
Great.
No, no, you're gonna win moregames, I, I'm telling you right
now.
And so I just you know, mostcoaches are the smarter guys.
You know, one of them wassmartest guys on a practice
field and one of the most cleverguys on a practice field.
And you guys, I'll talk to youguys as players.
You guys give us so muchammunition for sarcasm, you know
(24:48):
out there and stuff.
I learned to bite my tongue.
I was a, yeah, I was sarcasticbecause it was so easy earlier
in my career, but I learned tobite my tongue and couch things
in a positive way and it made mea better coach, frankly.
And that was early in my headcoaching career.
And you know, it's made all thedifferent cause.
You say something cutting tosomebody that's easy to say at
(25:09):
the moment.
And the truth of the matter isyou can never take it back.
And these young guys, they neverforget.
And you know, 25 years laterI'll run into somebody and say,
Hey coach, do you remember theday you called me a so-and-so?
Well Lar you know, thinkingabout that story, about yelling
at him at UMass at all?
Right.
And so I'm very, I became verymindful of my language.
(25:29):
I try to emphasize that when I'mtalking to young coaches.
And I think it makes a world ofdifference in terms of relating
to people, and, just the factthat we are here talking to each
other in this way it speaks tothe relationship that we had 25
years ago, and the fact that wewere supportive of each other as
much as we could.
It doesn't mean you're not gonnacoach hard and get after guys
because guys want that.
They truly do, but I tell youngcoaches again, don't make it
(25:52):
personal, don't make itsarcastic, tell'em what you need
to tell'em and then let's moveon.
You know?
So, right.
That's great.
I've coached just youth lacrossetravel across for almost 20
years, probably 18 years.
And when I first started,you're, as you said, to roll
positive and.
You're trying to, you thinkyou're gonna guide the team,
sometimes with criticism, and Iquickly saw that that just, the
(26:14):
kids just shut down, as yousaid, it goes nowhere.
And if you want your team to getbetter, you gotta just be
generous with praise andencourage'em, just like you
said.
We've got our man behind thecurtain.
Steve Gfi coming in withFantastic some listener
questions.
Hey guys, Tom and Lars.
All right.
Steve, you wanna let that onefly?
Yeah.
This one came in from Dave m inBayside, New York.
(26:34):
He said, Lars, do you get paidby the word for ESPN postgame
and halftime interviews?
Just curious, because yourinterviews seem to go on a bit.
So again, I'm trying to breakthe protocol of when you see the
halftime coach be very short andcur with the sideline reporter,
and just run in there and givenothing.
I'm trying to give a littlesomething there.
(26:54):
I'm trying to spread the game.
Right.
I see a couple nuggets there,Dave, them.
Don't worry about those trolls.
I'm watching some of thesegames, Dom and I mean, it's a
tight game at halftime.
Big a ACC game and I mean, Larsis just going on.
I'm like, his team's alreadytaking a halftime shower in
there.
They're waiting for him.
I mean, does he have anyhalftime adjustments for him or
is he just gonna stand out hereand talk to us?
(27:15):
Dom you gotta think about whatyou're gonna say before you get
to the mic and then whatever thequestion they ask you, you just
say what you had in mind.
You know, we gotta play better,whatever it's gonna be.
And there you go.
Tom.
We got Tom.
Good advice.
Tom, perhaps a little slap inthe back of the hand.
We got, look, we just gotta getthe next ground ball.
I mean, that's what we gotta dohere.
Right?
Exactly.
And then, and then you're in thelocker room, Dom, both life,
(27:36):
life can be simple dog.
Yeah, why complicate it, TomLove it.
Love it.
Well guys, hey, well thanks somuch.
Yeah, Dom and Lars, this hasbeen a ton of fun and we really
appreciate both of you joiningus and kicking off this podcast.
We, I know everything you saidtoday is gonna be a huge
benefit.
First of all, it's just gonna befun for people.
(27:56):
Absolutely.
A treasure trove of informationfor our listeners.
Appreciate it.
So guys, we really appreciateit.
And Lars, good luck.
The rest of the, the way we willobviously be following the who's
closely and Bull Ridge, Tom.
Yeah, I was gonna say, whatabout, what about Ridge?
Come on, come on.
Exactly.
It's great seeing you guys andspending this time great seeing
(28:16):
Steve you know, catching up andall.
This is a real joy.
Awesome.
Thanks so much guys.
Thank you, Jay.
Thank you, big dog.
Thanks, Steve.
So much fun.
We'll delete that.
Lar we'll delete that.
Okay, good.
We, we stopped recording right,Ron?
Oh, well, yeah.
Yeah.
We're gonna cut that We willkeep the cameras and the audio
(28:37):
rolling ed.
No, we did not cut that.
And that concludes our episodewith coach RJ and coach Tiffany.
This is episode one.
Season one of the, get the laxscoop podcast.
Please join us next week aswe'll be going into episode two
and session two with coach andcoach Tiffany.
(28:57):
We'll be diving deep into therecruiting process.
As well as talking a little bitmore about their relationship
and how it's matured over theyears.
And we'll also be going overmore tips to help your son or
daughter improve in the game oflacrosse.
And we are looking forward tothat next session.
So we hope to see you there nextweek.
And don't forget to like, andsubscribe here.
(29:20):
And, we'll have this on ourYouTube channel.
We're signing off here at the Get the LAX coop.
Thanks again so much And untilwe meet again, here to, hoping
you find the twine.
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