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...

(Coach Starsia is a contributor writer for BTB LAX.)

Between thinking about the agony that accompanied the ending of coach Tony Bennett’s UVA basketball season and spending a day with Mikey Thompson and the Christopher Newport team recently, it brought to mind a theme I have addressed in multiple settings.

If I had to boil down to a sentence what it has been that I have been doing these past 42 years, it would be trying every method to convince young men that “it is worth it...

(Coach Starsia is a contributor writer for BTB LAX.)

One of the coaching questions I am asked most frequently is establishing the ability to achieve and maintain a consistent level of performance.  We would all like our teams to play their best every game and are desperate to avoid those sub-par performances. 

One of the great joys of our sport at the college level is that most of the best teams play each other during the regular season.  It is a feast for fans but is a...

(This article was first posted in US Lacrosse Magazine on 8/8/17.  Coach Starsia's articles will regularly appear on the BTB Lax site going foward...)

After 10 years coaching college lacrosse and with two kids (Lil’ Dom and Luigi) in tow, my 34-year-old son is about to start law school at the University of Texas in September. His bold career choice reminds me that it seems like just yesterday when he began his undergraduate career at Lynchburg College. I would like to share...

The Duke/Denver game was last Friday...  

I checked the score during the game and saw Denver was ahead 12-8 early in the 4th Qtr.

I checked again later that same night and saw Duke won 15-12.

7 goal run to end the game.

Did Duke start winning every face-off?  

Nope.

Did Ethan Walker get hurt?

Nope.

Well then…  what happened?

I guarantee the Denver coaches were sayin’ that exact same thing.   

I finished watching the game on Tuesday night and proceeded to...

I’ve watched lots of lacrosse film over the years…

...but I’m realizing it’s not nearly enough.

One of my best buddies, Ben Bloom, is the linebacker coach for the Dallas Cowboys. During the season, he watches 40 to 60 hours of film a week!

(Talked to him last week about his “film watching” process... got some good tips.)

I bet Belichick is watching film right now…

Football coaches watch tons of film for a variety of reasons…

• to...

I first met Jake Deane in November, 2009 out in Chicago.

I remember the exact time cuz it’s when Tiger Woods crashed his car outside his Florida mansion…   I remember reading that on the back page of USA Today Sports and tellin’ Gabel this is gonna be a big story...

I was there to help work a True Lacrosse clinic and spend Thanksgiving with my boy, Mike Gabel.  Jake and Gabel started True Lacrosse in 2008...  they recognized an opportunity and pursued...

I think Justin Guterding might have been kinda motivated for the season opener.  After all, he was snubbed from the pre-season Player of the Year lists.

Duke opened up against Air Force… just like last year.  And it was obvious early on that Air Force wasn’t gonna pull off the upset this time around.  Duke cruised the whole game as it was a strong showing for the country’s top team.

It was Guteding’s birthday, and to celebrate he loaded up the stat...