Going Beyond the X's & O's

During the twelve years that I have duked it out on the lacrosse field, I had the pleasure of learning from a variety of coaches, some were utterly amazing and others were well...let's just say that there was room for improvement. Some of my most memorable coaches epitomize the image of "the blind leading the blind", such that our final record was well under .500, but the overall season was a positive experience and the vast majority of the team grew tremendously. These two traits are hallmarks of successful coaching, because in the end it doesn't matter what the scoreboard reads, but rather how each player compares to where they were at the start of the game, season, or even their entire career.

Penn State's head coach, Coach Jeff Tambroni, reiterates this concept when he explains the philosophy at Penn State. One of the major goals is to ensure that the group of individuals at the start of the season come together as a family by the time the final horn sounds. Further more, the essence of Tambroni's chat peaks when he highlights that it's more than just "X's and O's coaching" since the experience on the field is only temporary, yet the impact and effect of the lessons learned while on the field will last a lifetime.