Walk past an FLG practice and you’ll notice two things. The players are almost always in a game — small, lopsided, oddly shaped, but a game. And the coach is asking questions more than she’s giving answers. Both are on purpose.
Two ways to run a practiceWhy practice looks like this
The usual way
Lines. A coach demonstrates the “right” technique, players repeat it in a queue, then at the end there’s a scrimmage where none of it shows up because the game never asked for it that way.
The FLG way
Every part of practice starts with a problem the game actually poses — I can’t get past my defender, we lose the ball on the clear, the draw goes nowhere. The coach shapes a small game so that solving that problem is the only way to win it. Players find the solution themselves, and because they found it, it holds up on Saturday.
This is a coaching approach called the constraints-led approach. The short version: change the conditions of the game, and players adapt. Our coaches are trained to change the conditions deliberately.
Turn a dial, change the game
Every FLG coach learns to make a game harder or easier using six dials. Turn one at a time.
Space
Make the field bigger or smaller, wider or narrower.
A tight box forces quick hands; a long field forces decisions on the move.
Time
Add a clock or take one away.
Three seconds to shoot changes what a player looks for before she catches.
Numbers
3v2, 4v4, 5v4.
Give the offense an extra player and they learn to find her. Take one away and they learn to keep the ball.
Rules
Change what scores.
A goal only counts off a feed. The defense wins the rep if they force a turnover in ten seconds.
Tools
Change the equipment or the target.
A smaller goal, a bigger ball, two goals instead of one.
Info
Change what players can see or hear.
No talking. Cutters wear pinnies. The coach calls the direction late.
Parents sometimes ask why a practice looked “weird.” Usually a dial was turned.
Why the coach is asking questions
The coach says
“Get your hands up.”
The player fixes it for that rep and forgets it by the next one.
The FLG coach asks
“Where did the pass come from?”
The player looks, connects it to what she felt, and owns it.
Our coaches use a questioning ladder — a set of prompts from open to specific — and they’re trained to ask one question and then be quiet. We coach with external cues — where the ball should go, what the defender should feel — rather than instructions about elbows and feet.
What changes as she grows
The approach is the same at every age. What changes is how far we turn the dials and how much a player specializes.
Love Lax K–2
Everything is a game. No positions, no position sessions, no lines. Success is a kid who wants to come back next week.
Positions
- None
- Everywhere
- Rotating
- Specialized
3 teams this season
Youth 3rd–6th grade
Small-sided games with one dial turned. Every player plays everywhere. We’re building the whole athlete, not a position.
Positions
- None
- Everywhere
- Rotating
- Specialized
5 teams this season
Middle school 7th–8th grade
Position sessions appear, but they rotate — an attacker spends time on defense on purpose. Two dials at a time. Players start designing their own solutions out loud.
Select / High School 9th–12th grade
True specialization. Position tracks, a season program built around game problems, and practices players can read themselves. This is where commits get made, and it’s built on everything below it.
The same practice, on a Saturday
Coaching this way is harder than shouting
It takes a coach who knows which dial to turn and when, who can watch a rep and see the problem underneath it, and who can resist the urge to fix it with an instruction. That is why every coach on our staff — head coach or first-season junior coach — completes the Level 1 FLG Coaches Certification before her first session, and why our head coaches carry Levels 2 and 3.
If a session ends without a live game in it, it wasn’t an FLG session.
Every FLG team practices this way
Slide to her grade to see the team, the season and the tournaments.
Kindergarten: Love Lax 39/40
Love Lax 39/40
Kindergarten and pre-K, learning sticks, teammates and the shape of the game.
Fall tournaments
No fall tournaments are on this team’s schedule.
1st grade: FLG 2038 Platinum
FLG 2038 Platinum
First graders starting out, on the youth season built around learning to play.
Fall tournaments
No fall tournaments are on this team’s schedule.
2nd grade: FLG 2037 Sapphire
FLG 2037 Sapphire
Second graders learning the game, on the youth season of team training and tournaments.
Fall tournaments
No fall tournaments are on this team’s schedule.
2 FLG teams for the class of 2036
FLG 2036 Blue Diamonds
The second 2036 side, on the same youth season, with its own coaching staff.
FLG 2036 Pink Diamonds
Third graders on the youth season — team training, a fall tournament and summer camp.
Fall tournaments — both sides
- Queen of the Island FallSat 24 Oct
- Play for the FutureSat 14 Nov
No class of 2035 team this season
These are the nearest FLG classes. Ask about placement at tryouts.
FLG 2034 Stars
Fifth graders on the full select season of fall league, winter training and spring play.
FLG 2034 Stripes
The second 2034 side, playing the same full select season as Stars.
FLG 2036 Blue Diamonds
The second 2036 side, on the same youth season, with its own coaching staff.
FLG 2036 Pink Diamonds
Third graders on the youth season — team training, a fall tournament and summer camp.
2 FLG teams for the class of 2034
FLG 2034 Stars
Fifth graders on the full select season of fall league, winter training and spring play.
FLG 2034 Stripes
The second 2034 side, playing the same full select season as Stars.
Fall tournaments — both sides
- Queen of the Island FallSat 24 Oct
- The CrownSat 14 – Sun 15 Nov
6th grade: FLG 2033 Eclipse
FLG 2033 Eclipse
Sixth graders stepping into the full select season of fall, winter and spring lacrosse.
Fall tournaments
- Queen of the Island FallSun 25 Oct
- The CrownSat 14 – Sun 15 Nov
No class of 2032 team this season
These are the nearest FLG classes. Ask about placement at tryouts.
FLG 2031 Navy
Eighth graders on the full select season: fall tournaments, indoor and positional work through the winter, then spring and summer play.
FLG 2033 Eclipse
Sixth graders stepping into the full select season of fall, winter and spring lacrosse.
8th grade: FLG 2031 Navy
FLG 2031 Navy
Eighth graders on the full select season: fall tournaments, indoor and positional work through the winter, then spring and summer play.
Fall tournaments
- Queen of the Island FallSun 25 Oct
- The CrownSat 14 – Sun 15 Nov
No class of 2030 team this season
These are the nearest FLG classes. Ask about placement at tryouts.
FLG 2029 Platinum
Sophomores a year out from recruiting, coached by FLG's goalie director.
FLG 2031 Navy
Eighth graders on the full select season: fall tournaments, indoor and positional work through the winter, then spring and summer play.
10th grade: FLG 2029 Platinum
FLG 2029 Platinum
Sophomores a year out from recruiting, coached by FLG's goalie director.
Fall tournaments
- PrimeTimeSat 7 Nov
- Continental CupSun 8 Nov
- Presidents CupThu 19 – Sat 21 Nov
11th grade: FLG 2028 Navy
FLG 2028 Navy
Juniors in their recruiting year, with a recruiting coordinator on the sideline.
Fall tournaments
- PrimeTimeSat 7 Nov
- Continental CupSun 8 Nov
- Presidents CupThu 19 – Sat 21 Nov
Class of 2027: senior year
FLG no longer fields a 2027 team. That class made 38 commits to 24 colleges.
- Albright
- American
- Barry ×2
- Bloomsburg
- Brown
- Delaware
- Dominican ×3
- Fairleigh Dickinson ×2
- Georgian Court ×2
- Gettysburg
- Holy Family
- Lock Haven ×2
- Manhattan ×3
- Mercy ×2
- Molloy ×2
- Mount Union
- New Paltz ×2
- Nova Southeastern ×3
- Scranton
- Syracuse
- Thomas Jefferson
- Towson
- U of Chicago ×2
- Western Connecticut State
What a Youth season includes
Fall
- 8 Team Training Sessions
- 1 Fall Tournament
- 10+ Practice/Training Sessions
Winter
- 8 Indoor Training Sessions
Spring & summer
- 2 Spring/Summer Tournaments
- Summer Lacrosse Camp (3-days)
What a Select season includes
Fall
- 20 Team Practice/Training sessions
- 2 Fall Tournaments
- 30+ Practice/Training Sessions
Winter
- 14 Indoor Team Sessions
- 14 Indoor Positional Training Sessions
- LILJ Winter League
Spring & summer
- 5 Spring/Summer Tournaments
- Summer Lacrosse Camp (3-day)