Listen or Read – Your choice! Good luck with the season Coach R and thanks for joining us on our first podcast!

Taylor: How long have you been playing lacrosse for in general?  Or coaching?

Coach Rosenburg: So, originally, when I first started playing lacrosse, I picked up a lacrosse stick in the fourth grade.  My brother, he’s four years older than me, so he was in eighth grade.  And, just throughout my entire childhood, he’s always– he’s kind of been the reason why I picked up a stick so young.  Being that he’s older, I got to kind of grow up around.  It kind of felt natural to do that.  I did exactly what he did.  I started playing in fifth grade, I played all throughout high school, college, and then, I started coaching right after I graduated from college.  So, when I started grad school, I became a GA, which is a graduate assistant, and I coached for about four years at that school.  And then I went on to coach at SUNY Cortland for another four and a half, and now I am currently in my tenth year coaching.

Dylan: So, where did you end up– where did you go to high school?

Coach Rosenburg: So, I’m originally from Long Island.  So I went to… It’s the ESM of Long Island.  It’s called Eastport South Manor Junior-Senior High School.  

Taylor: Where’d you go to college after that, then?  Did you go to SUNY Cortland?

Coach Rosenburg: I didn’t.  I should have.  I ended up going– I have no regrets, but suny Cortland was amazing to me, you know.  It was great.  But I went to a school– a very small school in Pennsylvania called Saint Francis university.  It’s very teeny tiny and it’s very close to– it’s central PA, but on the closer side to Pittsburgh.  That’s where I went, I did my four years there, I played divisional lacrosse at Saint Francis.  

Dylan: Okay, and then you coached there for four years after, you said?

Coach Rosenburg: No, then I went to grad school at John Caroll University in Cleveland, Ohio, so I went a little further west.  And then I coached there as I finished my masters degree.

Dylan: Oh, okay.  So you have plenty of experience before this.

Coach Rosenburg: Yeah, lots of different schools, too.  So it’s kind of interesting.

Taylor: So you started teaching at Chittenango this year?

Coach Rosenburg: Yeah, so I– started in September here at Chittenango.  So, yes– I’ve been here almost a full school year, which– can’t even believe it’s been a whole year.  Like, I blinked and it’s already April.  So it’ll be a full year, I guess, in September, technically.

Dylan: How are you liking it here so far?

Coach Rosenburg: I love it.  This is like, the best community ever.  I love the small town vibes.  You know, all the students are great.  The families I work with are awesome.  Here at the middle school the people that I have met here, all of my co-workers have been really great and super welcoming and helpful, to say the least, because being new it is very hard to make those connections all the time, but everyone here has been really helpful.

Taylor: I’m sure the dynamic of coaching all of the different teams are different, so what’s your favorite part about coaching the girl’s team that you have now?

Coach Rosenburg: Yeah, so the girl’s team here at Chittenango, they are so awesome.  They are so fun.  They definitely keep me on my toes 1000%.  My favorite part, I would say about coaching them, is all the things i’ve learned from them.  Kind of, just like, figuring out my coaching style, while also understanding what works better for them.  Um, I come obviously from a college background, so I feel like sometimes I can– forget to, like, simplify things and explain things as well as I should for, you know, a developing player.  However, they are really great at asking questions, they make sure to tell me if I’m missing something.  They’re not shy.  They’ve got big personalities, um– and it’s kind of like… they remind me of me as a player.  So I feel like i’m kind of an older version of them, which helps me, you know, relate and understand.  But, yeah.  They are awesome.  I have absolutely no complaints about them.  They’re great kids.  

Dylan: What would you say your biggest difference is between Cortland or the other school that you coached at, and high school?

Coach Rosenburg: I would, I mean the game of lacrosse doesn’t change really, No matter where you are and what level.  What I will say, the difference to me is the level of play and the speed of the play, I think is very different.  At the college level, it’s very fast; the ball moves fast, our feet move fast.  The game, the refs officiate, is very fast-paced.  So, that was kind of my big adjustment.  There is also a lot of difference in rules, which is kind of interesting.  LIke, obviously I said the games is the same, but there are some rules that differ, like for example, in college defenders can run through the crease.  In high school, you kind of have to teach them how to get around the crease.  That’s just one example, which changes a lot, so I had to kind of shift my mindset a little bit to simplify things to make it easier for the girls to understand.  But, I would just say overall it’s really just the pace of play, like the way the refs are officiating.

Dylan: I also saw that you most recently got your first win.  Congratulations.

Coach Rosenburg: Yes, thank you.  That was fun.  

Dylan: What was your favorite part from that game?

Coach Rosenburg: I would say, the way the girls really responded well to different opponents, and I think they knew going into the game that it was going to be, you know every game is challenging, but I wanted them really focus in on certain things this game, so I had set goals for them, like we’re going to run the offense correctly.  We are going to do XYZ when we move the ball through transition; and then on the defensive end, I wanted them to focus on a few different things, when they were stepping out to pressure ball, as well as clear the ball, so I was really impressed that they took those goals very seriously and didn’t let up the entire game.  We were able to dominate the draw, ground balls.  Our shots very disciplined.  They really took those goals and kind of put them to the next level.  They were able to pull out a win in fashion.  They looked really good, and I was definitely very happy with the way they were playing together as a unit.

Taylor: Do you have any goals for the season as a whole in general?

Coach Rosenburg: Yeah, the biggest goal, obviously, we want to win at least 50% of my games.  I think that’s a pretty good goal.  However, the biggest goal that I have for the team this year is to just learn, like be a sponge, constantly be learning, and have a lot of fun while doing it.  To me, winning games is fun.  Obviously that’s not always feasible in tight games where we don’t come out with the W, which happens.  You know, we’re still getting better and we’re still learning, but I just want our girls to learn and be able to retain all of this information because I do, I have a lot of stuff that I want to still implement and give to them.  So, as long as we are learning every day and able to get better at least 1% better each day, I think that’s a really solid successful season for us.

Dylan: You have Mr. Kielbasa working with you, obviously.  Are there any other coaches?

Coach Rosenburg: No, it’s just me and Mr. Kielbasa.

Dylan: That’s gotta be fun.

Taylor: What do you think about working with him?

Coach Rosenburg: So, he’s great.  I actually knew him prior to coming here.  We’re both from Long Island.  He used to work at the school I worked at before I came to Chittenango, so I’m familiar with him.  I didn’t realize he was the coach here, so it was really exciting when I put that connection together, but he has been really great so far as he is very helpful when it comes to lacrosse stuff, to organization and makes sure that we have all of the equipment that we need.  Plus, he has been around the girls for very long, so he has got a great relationship with them, so it kind of made my transition as their head coach very seamless because he sticks by what I say; he kind of takes my message and he puts it into his own words, so he is really supportive.  He helps me kind of be successful as I have been so far.  It’s been really great to have him.  Assistant coaches, they say, are really important pieces, and I would like to echo that.  He has been phenomenal and very funny, too.  He cracks the girls up constantly, so that’s kind of fun.

Taylor: Definitely.

Coach Rosenberg:He’s very funny.

Dylan: Is there anything that you would like to add that you think we are missing?

Coach Rosenburg: No, I think that’s everything.  I appreciate you guys asking those questions.

Dylan: Actually, I think I have one more.  What would you say is your most memorable moment coaching or playing?

Coach Rosenburg: I will say, any time that we have gotten to travel with the girls, like any time we go on a bus or plane.  We have travelled a lot of places so far in my career as a coach.  Like, for spring break in college.  Obviously we have games, so we travel near and far.  The furthest I have gone was Puerto Rico with my team one time.  That was pretty fun.

Dylan: Oh wow.

Taylor: Lucky.  

Coach Rosenburg: That was a lot of fun.  I did Puerto Rico, Florida a few times, and then now obviously we don’t go super far, but I really just like being on the bus.  I think that’s kind of like a team-bonding piece to being on a team, travelling with the girls.  So, this year we travelled quite a bit, so it’s been really fun.  Most recently, we traveled to Windsor.  We lost a very close game, 14-13, but we went to– travelled back and we stopped for food after.  It was just a good time.  We enjoyed each other.  We talked about school, lacrosse, all types of things.  And it’s just a good way for us to kind of get to know each other on a personal level because that’s kind of my MO; it’s not just about Xs and Os in lacrosse.  It’s more so, how can I relate to these girls outside of lacrosse so they can better understand me on the field.  It’s really, like I said, it’s a team-bonding experience anywhere you go with the team on the bus.  So that’s always fun.

Dylan: All right, well, thank you so much for being available and answering a couple of questions for us.  We really appreciate it.  This is kind of a new idea that we had.

Coach Rosenburg: Thank you guys.