Lacrosse Coach Pathway

The diagram to the above provides a visual representation of the coaching structures within lacrosse. Two coaching categories, “Participation & Community Coaching” and “Development & Performance Coaching”, encompasses the different coaching levels, positions, and the four relevant coach education courses available.

For many, coach development begins at the club level through coaching modified lacrosse, junior, or social senior teams or programs. This is where individuals are first exposed to coaching and the different types & practises of coaching (which goes a long way shaping themselves as coaches). To better enable clubs to develop and grow coaches, LA provides formal coach education offerings and also toolkits for clubs to establish their own Coach Developers who can provide peer to peer learning or mentorship. A Coach Developer’s role is to develop, support and challenge the coach to continue honing and improving their knowledge and skills to provide positive and effective experiences for the players. This is achieved through facilitation, mentorship, goal setting and constructive feedback for coaches. A key element of this process is the LA Coach Development Plan template. (see Appendix 8)

The next step in a coach’s journey will involve working, either as a head or assistant coach, with talented players, who have been selected into a regional or state team. Coaches at this level will deliver an 8-12 week program leading up to a National Event. At these events LA will conduct formal and informal coach identification. Coaches who demonstrate potential at these events will be provided further encouragement, tools and development opportunities to help prepare them for the next level.

Diverse, experienced and/or identified coaches will be encouraged to apply for State Team or National Coaching positions. This may initially start as a state base national squad coach. These coaches work with national squad based, state based athletes through their preparation leading up to training camps and final selection for national teams. Following the selection of final national squads and teams, Assistant Coaches are be selected, quite often from the panel of state based coaches.

Coaches seeking a Head Coach position for a National team are required to apply for the role and undertake an application and interview process, sharing & presenting their views of the current status and plans for the program with details including philosophy, culture, game style/plans, preparation calendar and training plans.

We acknowledge that some coaches may take different paths on their coaching journey and not all coaches may coach at all levels described on this page. Some coaches may: have transitioned from other sports, be from or based in other countries, or, been introduced to coaching or our sport at a later stage. These types of scenarios provide more diversity and experience in our coaching pool. However, we do encourage all coaches to obtain, maintain and hold the required competencies, skills & knowledge outlined for each coaching level.