The same sequence every game — built so an athletic kid arrives with both hands warm and his head in the game, instead of settling in by the second quarter.
Bag packed — stick and a backup, cleats, gloves, water. A real dinner, in bed early. One sentence about tomorrow, then let it go.
A real breakfast, hydration starting early. Keep the house calm — no long "remember to..." list. He plays looser when the morning is quiet.
- Wall ball first, both hands — the single best warmup in lacrosse.
- Shooting to corners, set and on the run.
- A few dodges each way and a couple of ground balls.
He doesn't need to be gassed before the whistle — he needs both hands warm and the off-hand awake.
Pick one thing to carry in — this season it's usually use both hands or pick a corner. One cue is a reminder; five is a lecture that tightens him up.
A breath, water, a reminder of the one focus. The off-ball habit — keep moving — starts here, not after a lazy shift.
After a turnover, the cue is short: "Next play." His dodge handles the highlight stuff — the routine's job is to keep one forced turnover from turning into three.
Why the sameness matters: Aiden can press and force everything to his strong hand when a game gets tight. A routine he's run a hundred times gets both hands warm and his head calm, so a big tournament game looks like an ordinary wall-ball session. That's the edge.
