Even the below-freezing temperatures and nasty wind weren’t enough to dampen the spirits of the 20 girls who came out to be a part of Chestnut Hill College’s first-ever Lacrosse Clinic.
“They were definitely troupers,” says Chelsea Rosiek, head coach of the women’s lacrosse team. “We were all really impressed by their level of effort.”
The March clinic was designed to instruct the girls in the game’s fundamentals, including what Rosiek considers the two most important elements: proper stick work and proper footwork.
“Lacrosse is a running sport so you need proper footwork offensively and defensively as well as proper stick work in terms of how to grip, how to release from the pocket, how to effectively catch and everything that goes into doing both of those things well,” she says.
For Rosiek, who is the director and lead clinician for Ultimate Goal Lacrosse in the Pennsylvania area, it was important that the clinic was designed to help the girls improve their basic skills while also learning to understand how all of those skills relate to the larger game.
“We really broke everything down in a very detailed way so that the girls understood why the fundamentals are important,” she says. “We did one-versus-one, we did shooting and we did relay work, just so they could understand how the basics can affect you on a larger scale once you get into game-situational play.”
Rosiek was assisted by her three assistant coaches, Mary Dean, Roxanne Monte and Brianne Timony ’13, who was a member of the first team Rosiek coached at the College.
Ultimately, Rosiek considered the clinic to be a success and there is already talk about planning another one, perhaps as early as this summer.
For Rosiek, it is just important that girls are learning how to play the game the right way. As a clinician and coach, she feels holding clinics with her staff at the College is a great way to help make this happen.
“When these girls go to their club teams or youth teams or school teams, it’s really about winning,” Rosiek says. “But at the end of the day, it’s about being the best skills player you can be and hopefully, that’s what we are providing — a way to understand the skills in a more specific and concentrated way, so that you become a better overall and well-rounded player in general.”
— Marilee Gallagher ’14