This year, the coaching staff of the lacrosse team that I coach has decided that we are going to focus on two things.  The first is fundamentals (teaching the kids how to properly do something) and the second is properly reading and reacting (teaching the kids when to do _____).  Of course the logical discussion that follows is what is the order of fundamentals that should be taught?  How do you assess which fundamentals are more important than others?  For example pertaining to defense, is sliding or covering adjacent offensive players more important?  This led to a conversation, which had great points made on two sides.  It ultimately came down to what is our defensive system and philosophy.

The interesting thing is that everyone agrees that fundamentals are paramount.  But, not too many people talk about which fundamentals are more important than others.  In order to figure this out, one really needs to break fundamentals down and see which ones are built upon others.  Only then, can fundamentals be assessed to see what order they should be taught in.  For example, it was decided that teaching how to cover adjacent offensive players should be taught before sliding.

I am curious to know how many coaches truly think about fundamentals in this fashion and context.