(Coach Starsia is a contributor writer for BTB LAX)

As Starsia says, “I am blessed to have had moments during a long career that kept me sane and grounded, able to get through another day. Let me share a couple…”

* Immediately upon graduation from Brown in 1974, I became the first assistant on the varsity for both soccer and lacrosse. You might think that a little surprising when you consider I had never played nor seen lacrosse until arriving in Providence four years...

I started to pay close attention to time about 10 years ago...

(The older you get, the quicker time passes by…)

Gonzaga has already been back to school for a month.

I went to a team lift earlier this week to see the guys...  Work with our new strength coach... Lift with Casey (the head coach)...

The 2018 season is long over…

And the work for the 2019 season is in full swing.

It got me thinking about my high school days...

...then on...

Five years ago I started playin’ LOTS of tennis.

In fact, I had a doubles match this morning...

I played with Matt Breslin (former Duke All American goalie).  We’re preppin’ for our club doubles tournament on Oct 5th.

Matt’s a better tennis player than me... I’m improving tho.

But, we both LOVE the sport and work hard at it.

And if you’ve been reading my content, then you know I like to have a plan.

...I also have ...

By 4 PM today, every NFL team needs to make cuts.

So every roster will be trimmed from 90 to 53 players.

Multiple that out across the 32 teams and that’s 1,184 cuts…

I LOVE the HBO show Hard Knocks…

...been watching it for 13 years now (every season it’s been on).

The final episode of this season (with the Cleveland Browns) will be Tuesday.  

... so we’ll see all the cuts take place (for only that team...

Simona Halep was the #1 seed for the women’s tennis U.S. Open.

She played her first round match yesterday against Kaia Kanepi (the 44th ranked player in the world).

Halep lost… becoming the first No. 1 women’s seed to lose in first round.

She slammed her racket a couple times...

But Halep didn’t blame fatigue or crowd noise for the defeat…

... instead she mentioned it was more the voices in her head.

And those “negative...

I watched the championship game earlier this week on my faithful Watch ESPN account.  (I love that service!)...

Team USA and Team Canada were matched up in the title game.  Pretty much a forgone conclusion. The US team was tryin’ to avenge their loss to Canada back in 2014.

I didn’t watch any games leading up to title game - all games were televised ridiculously early due to the Israel time change (the games were played over there).  

Lots of drama at the end of...

(Coach Starsia is a contributor writer for BTB LAX)

It is about to be that time of the year in our sport when a little mental toughness is required of all participants. As the start of the lacrosse season has slowly migrated into January, players, coaches, managers, trainers and fans find themselves in a survival mode as they force themselves through practice and games. What are the characteristics of those who will endure the early season, thrive in the daily battles and flourish in...

Early last week the Red Sox visited D.C. to play the Nats.

The Nats got swept putting them below .500 for the first time all year.

A “Players Only” meeting ensued...

Trea Turner, the Nat’s gritty shortstop, was very vocal.

...Yelling “It’s Do or Die!!!”

And it really was… no exaggeration.

The next night the Nats hosted the Marlins.

Couldn’t have started worse...

Nats go down 9-0 midway through the 4th.

Dire straits.

The season was in peril......

Safe assumption that lots of calories will be consumed today.

And that’s totally fine…

For tomorrow.

But it got me thinking about diet from that 30,000 ft view…

And over the last 7 years I fundamentally changed the way I eat.

And I can confidently say that my fitness level is better now then when I played lacrosse at Tufts.

My body fat percentage is definitely lower… and my strength is close to what it was.  I can’t bench 225 lb as many times,...

It is hard not to consider the intensity of Dave Pietramala or Bill Tierney, the scholarly, “iPad-using” temperament of John Tillman, or the studied, calming visage of John Danowski, John Desko or Charlie Toomey as a required approach to championship success at the Division I level.  The truth is, however, that things are hardly ever quite as well organized as they might appear or as the coaches might like.  More often than not, circumstances and luck play as big a role...