A couple of Rainbow Rex attackmen, Rob Ingham-Clark (Wales U20 Coach, Head of Lacrosse, Stowe) and Harry Dobson (Wales Women's Lax Manager) attended a masterclass by Michelle Tumolo (2012 IWLCA Attacker of the Year; first-team All-America honors;2012 NCAA Championship All-Tournament Team) and give us their insights from the day.
Harry
We traveled to St Swithun’s for the STX coaching clinic in association with Triple Arrow Camps led by Michelle Tumolo on a sunny Thursday evening.
As a new player to the lacrosse with a lot of my play being self-taught, attending the clinic with Michelle Tumolo gave me further insight into how to work on my skills and to see great coaching technique up close. It’s great to be able to speak to someone who has performed at the highest level to make how I need to improve completely black and white.
Michelle gave me a great tip if the attack is rushing and trying to force a goal: get possession in your stick and command how many times to spin it round and who is going to be involved in the play. Leadership really is the key to great lacrosse.
Rob
Unsurprisingly, this session was very popular and the ability of participants was high, with the players eager to glean how they could to improve their game from the Team USA player. Tumolo deftly navigated the line between accessible and advanced material so that all took away something of value away, leading energetic line drills focusing on advanced individual stick skills, through to a range of extra player advantage practices and some transition work.
One particularly advanced move that Tumolo broke down was a overhand between the leg fake shot into a BTB finish. When perfectly executed, this nifty finish is near unstoppable for the goalie - one to try for sure!
The evening was enjoyable from start to finish, with a challenge at the end to try to score a jumping BTB finish.
Michelle was a very personable coach, and happily spoke to the guys after the session about the foundation and journey that the Rainbow Rexes has taken so far, and even asked about when the next stash drop was. So, if you see some Rainbow shorts at the next Syracuse alumni game, you’ll know it all started on a Thursday evening in Hampshire...