The Santa Monica Dragons were formed as a 501c3 non-profit in May of 2012 under the legal name Academy of Lacrosse. We first took to the field in December of 2012 as a 3rd and 4th grade team with 14 or so players. We played a "development season" in the West LA winter league in early 2013 and then won the 2013 Adrenaline Youth League Spring championship in the 3/4 division with a 14-0 record. Alon
g the way we solidified our approach to teaching the sport and running our organization. The following year we were asked by other parents to start offering additional age levels, and we did. In less than 2 years we grew from 14 or so players to almost 200. We now run recreational and travel programs on the boys side, all the way from 2nd grade through high school. We also run Lacrosse 101 introductory classes, athletic training, fall training sessions and box lacrosse. In January of 2015 we launched a Dragons girls program, which is expanding into a full program from 2nd grade through high school as well. We believe in putting the highest quality product on the field. We do an excellent job of teaching the game of lacrosse, but just as importantly, our program teaches the players life lessons, a good work ethic and solid values. The result has been teams that play and compete at a very high level. We've won league championships, box tournaments, local tournaments, regional tournament championships and out of state tournament championships. But we're also the best place to send a beginner. An incoming 2nd or 3rd grader learns more in our program than they do anywhere else. Dragons co-founders are Jim Gelb and Randy Grube. Our Athletic Director is Erik Krum, who is also head coach of the 2021 squad, our original team. As AD, Erik is responsible for infusing all of our teams with the knowledge, drive, focus and passion he brings to the game. Our full-time coaches are Erik Krum, James Burton, Will Manning, Meghan Toomey and Madeline Morrissey. We use a very simple curriculum called the Development Ladder that focuses on building strong fundamentals. Here are the basic building blocks of our approach to our Dragons Philosophy:
- Build a core and keep it together. In our system, kids enter the Dragons in 2nd or 3rd grade and stay with the same teammates and coaches through the end of high school. This approach has huge benefits for the kids and coaches because we are not relearning the roster and the kids aren't relearning a certain style of play. In our system, every drill at every practice is part of a building block for the future.
- Build a system, bring on coaches, bring in players (in that order). We believe everything starts with a system. Then you need to bring in coaches that can develop your system. Then you build a coaching staff that can add more value than the sum of its parts. Most organizations do it the other way around.
- Expect more from your players. Our experience has taught us that kids play up or down to whatever level you set. If you run a casual practice, you will end up with a casual team. If you run a focused practice, you will end up with a focused team. For all intents and purposes we run a college practice adapted to the youth level. We constantly challenge kids. We get them to dig deeper and do better.
- Focus on core values. When we look at players, we look at three things. How hard are they willing to work? How hard are they willing to run? How well do they listen?
- Manage well. We hate it when things are disorganized. We're not the fastest to make decisions and sometimes we lag in coming out with new programs. But it is simply because we want stuff to be done right when we do it. The bottom line is that we keep our eye on maintaining a high quality standard. As players, parents, coaches and managers we spend so much time on the field, driving to practices and games, etc. that it is our belief that we should be spending our time well and in pursuit of a high quality standard. Not just to be out there on the field for the sake of being out there.
