A club or school game day — sometimes a tournament with several games, often outdoors in the heat or the cold. The goal is to keep her sharp and two-sided from the first whistle through the last, and to keep a turnover from making her retreat to her comfort side.
The night before & morning of
Bag checked — stick, shin guards, mouthguard, cleats, water, and real snacks for a tournament day. A real breakfast, hydration starting there. Get to the field early enough to warm up without rushing — a rushed warmup means cold hands and a slow, one-sided first half.
Warm-up (before the game)
Wall or partner work first, both sides, to get her stick feeling right — this is the best warmup in the sport. Some receiving on the move, a few reverse-stick reps so the weak side is awake, and a couple of hits. One focus going in: use both sides, receive on the move.
Water and off her feet — a tournament in the elements drains the legs, and tired legs mean lazy first touches and retreating to the comfort side. A real snack, nothing heavy. Don't rehash the last game; one sentence and move on. When she's tired late in the day, the two things that go first are her reverse stick (she avoids it) and her scanning (she stops reading early), so the reminder is simple: both sides, look early.
Her pattern is that a turnover — getting stripped on her reverse, a bad first touch — makes her retreat to her strong side and become predictable again. If you see her getting one-sided, the message from the sideline is calm, not corrective: she already knows. What she needs is to stay two-sided and keep receiving on the move. One turnover isn't the game.
You're not her coach today, you're her ride and her calm. Cheer the effort and the little things — the reverse-stick pass she trusted, the scan that got her there first, the lead to receive on the move. Don't coach from the sideline; her coach has that. She plays freer and more creatively when she knows you're just there to watch her compete.
Let her lead. If she wants to go play by play, go with it. If she's quiet, let it be quiet. Whatever the day was, the one line that always works: "I loved watching you play today." Leave it there.
