Every single day you step into training, you’re making choices — whether you realize it or not. You get to choose how you show up. You can stay in old habits: • Same warm-up • Same dominant hand • Same dodge you’re comfortable with • Same effort level when no one’s watching Or you can try new skills: • Weak-hand reps even when it feels awkward • Slowing drills down to clean things up • Missing shots while learning something new • Asking questions instead of pretending you know it You can stay comfortable: • Avoid film because it’s uncomfortable to watch • Skip wall ball when it’s cold or boring • Coast through reps and “get through” practice Or you can get uncomfortable: • Watch film and own your mistakes • Add reps after practice • Push pace when you’re tired • Accept coaching and apply it Here’s the reality: Same choices = same results.Same habits produce the same player. New choices = growth. New habits create new confidence, new skills, and new opportunities. Progress isn’t about being perfect. It’s about choosing growth more often than comfort. Today, ask yourself:👉 Did my choices move me forward… or keep me safe? That answer tells you everything.

This morning I drove to the gym at 4:30am. Ice on the roads. Snow everywhere. When I walked in, the gym was empty. And it hit me—this is how it’s always been when the goal actually matters. Growing up, a lot of my development happened alone. Shooting by myself. Running by myself. Lifting weights. Watching film. No crowd. No hype. No one pushing me except me. When you commit to big goals, you don’t get the same luxuries everyone else gets. You don’t always get convenience. You don’t always get company. And you definitely don’t get constant motivation. The bigger the goal, the more competitive the space becomes. And the more competitive it gets, the more extra you have to do—extra reps, extra hours, extra focus, extra discipline. One of the biggest things I see with young athletes is the need for company to get started. They want friends to train with. They want a group before they go to work. That’s fine early on. But at some point, growth requires solitude. You have to be willing to push yourself when no one is watching. To show up when no one is clapping. To keep going when you’re tired, unmotivated, or uncomfortable. That’s not just athletics—that’s life. Craft is built alone. Discipline is built alone. Confidence is built alone. Learn to love that time. Learn to trust it. That’s where real progress lives. Go get after it.

If you’re not getting the playing time you want, be honest with yourself. It’s not politics. It’s trust. Coaches trust players who: - Take the right shots - Win 50–50 ground balls - Make smart decisions under pressure They don’t guess.They trust what they’ve seen every single day. I’ll give you my own example. I grew up in California — a non-traditional lacrosse area at the time. There weren’t elite programs everywhere. There wasn’t a system feeding me opportunities. I wasn’t surrounded by a machine that churned out high-level players. Everything I’ve built in lacrosse was self-taught. I trained relentlessly. I studied film obsessively. I learned by watching, asking questions, and taking advantage of every chance I got to be around great coaches — because there was no roadmap for me. My playing and coaching career was filled with adversity. And I didn’t survive it by hoping things changed. I outworked it. I put in an unrelenting amount of volume — reps, film, learning, failure, adjustment — until trust followed. That same principle applies to you. Playing time is earned through habits. Trust is earned through consistency. And both are built when no one is watching. If you want more minutes…If you want the last shift…If you want the ball late… Stop asking. Start stacking volume. That’s how trust is built.

I talk a lot about development — not just skill, but mindset. And for me, that DAWG mentality didn’t show up early. It had to be built. I was always the little guy. Younger than everyone. Graduated high school at 17. Went away to college at 17. And honestly… a lot of my development didn’t come until much later. I didn’t grow up playing a ton of sports. I wasn’t this freak athlete. I wasn’t the toughest kid. In fact — I was soft. Especially around 6th grade. Not because I was weak… but because I just hadn’t been in the fire yet. I didn’t understand contact. Competition. Grit. I was happy-go-lucky, smiling, floating through games. And I’ll never forget this one weekend. Doubleheader. Home games. We went back to the house between games and I crawled into the back of the Suburban — not even bothered that we lost. Meanwhile my dad was watching all of this… and he was disappointed. Not in me as a person — but in my effort. And my dad wasn’t just some guy yelling from the stands. He was a professional drummer. A black belt in Taekwondo. A guy who KNEW what discipline, effort, and mastery looked like. And that day he told me straight: “If I ever see effort like that again, I won’t come to another game.” Not because he didn’t love me.But because he refused to support half-speed effort. So I made it my mission the next game to play as hard as I possibly could. To be aggressive. To compete. And right off the faceoff… I got crushed.Laid out. Flattened. Because I was still little. But this time…I popped right back up. Didn’t whine. Didn’t stay down. Didn’t feel sorry for myself. And when I looked up I saw my dad with this look like: “Yes. That. That’s it.” It wasn’t about winning. It wasn’t about scoring. It was about refusing to stay down. That’s DAWG Mentality. Disciplined. Aggressive. Winners

Hey everyone! 👋 Thanks for signing up for my Skool community — I’m fired up to have you here. I created a Box Finishing Fundamentals course that breaks down everything you need to know about scoring inside the box. Inside, you’ll get: - 24 total workouts - Nearly 2 hours of on-film instruction with me walking you through finishing techniques, wall ball reps, and game-scenario drills - The same progressions I use with my athletes to build elite touch and confidence around the net This is normally a $97 course, but I’m giving it to you for free as a thank-you for joining. Think of it as 24 private lessons at your fingertips — anytime, anywhere. If you’d like access, please fill out the short form below, and I’ll send you the link directly. Let’s get to work — time to start finishing like a box player. 🥍🔥 — Coach Elliott https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdhbphYta6Th8Zmb2K4CFJ1ffA2772sCrPDhP8CVxSGz5ZLng/viewform?usp=publish-editor