This Sunday marked the first-ever Blue Star Youth Spring Mini-Camp, hosted at the Hun School of Princeton. Mini-Camp assembled all of our Youth All-Stars for an instruction packed day of lacrosse. The focus of the first Mini-Camp was to set a foundation of skills for our players. The skillsets taught are what we want our players to learn and continue to develop over the course of the spring seasons. Mastering this foundation of skills will set-up our players for an outstanding summer and beyond!

As a development based program, teaching the game is at our core and we want to make sure that all of our players leave more skilled and knowledgeable each time we see them.

The day kicked-off with skill-oriented, position-specific work. The focus of this session was to teach our players the intricate skills needed at each position at the highest levels. As the day progressed, we built off of these skills in a progressive fashion to allow players to learn how to apply each concept. Each session thereafter brought together different positions to work on their new skills against one another. 

The final segment of the day brought it all together. Each age group played small-sided games so that players could now incorporate their new knowledge into gameplay. Keeping the numbers on the field small allowed everyone to have a lot of touches and ample opportunity to work to improve in a free play setting. 

Additionally, coaches from both Princeton and Rutgers University stopped by to speak to our players delivering important messages. Coaches Madalon, Padilla, and Ryan all touched on the importance of hard work, desire, and attitude, along with being coachable athletes and great teammates.  They cited that these are the true keys to success and what they see that separate the good from the great players!

Coming together for the day allowed our players to thoroughly reinforce concepts and bond as teammates before everyone heads back to their programs for the spring. We are very excited for Mini-Camp #2 coming up in a couple weeks where the focus shifts to more team-oriented play. 

We believe in teaching our players skills and techniques that they can bring back to their hometowns and use successfully. We also hope that as leaders, they can teach their teammates making everyone better.