If you make a donation to the Canadian Breast Cancer
 Foundation, please mention "lacrosse" in a note with
 the donation. At my request, in memory of my wife
 Brenda, the CBCF will then direct the funds to a
 facility seeking a "cure", rather than a "control".
 

Great work done for women's lacrosse

by Northmen4ever (Login Northmen4ever)

Lyn Orth was recently honoured for her efforts with Women's field lacrosse by the Toronto Rock, and took the ceremonial face off.

A great article is attached from the Kitchener/Waterloo Record


No-yell coaching pays off
CHRISTINE RIVET



Lynn Orth, coach of the women's field lacrosse team at Wilfrid Laurier University, will be honoured in Toronto tonight.



KITCHENER (Feb 10, 2006)
Toss out the handbook. Throw away those throat lozenges.
Kitchener's Lynn Orth has a new blueprint for coaching success.
A keen watcher of hundreds of minor hockey, volleyball and lacrosse games while her two kids were growing up in Waterloo Region, Orth took mental notes she had no real intention of using.
After falling into the profession quite by accident, Orth has dumped the old model of the roaring, hard-bitten coach, the one which has been an unofficial code for too many bench bosses the world over.
Orth's kinder, gentler coaching demeanour gives hope to aspiring, so-called under-qualified coaches everywhere, even if they've never played the game themselves.
Her philosophy emphasizes the empowerment of young athletes by providing them with the skill sets they need and letting them make their own decisions.
Won't work, you say?
Orth's resumé begs to differ.
Although Orth has never played the game, the coach of the women's field lacrosse team at Wilfrid Laurier has compiled one of the winningest records in Ontario University Athletics history.
Her teams at Laurier have won an unprecedented four Ontario titles, including the first three-peat in league history, culminating this past October with an 8-7 overtime thriller over Queen's University in the gold-medal game.
Her won-lost-tied record? A mere 59-17-5.
In fact, Orth's winning percentage over the past three seasons is a remarkable 96.5 per cent.
Even a legendary dressing-room paint peeler, like Texas Tech's basketball guru Bobby Knight, ought to stand up and take notice of a number like that.
"I take exception to the yelling coach. I don't understand the value of it," explained Orth, 54, who will be honoured by the National Lacrosse League's Toronto Rock tonight at the Air Canada Centre for her contribution to the game.
Orth will perform the ceremonial ball drop before the Rock meet the Rochester Knighthawks.
"I'm a pretty calm coach. I put a lot of the onus on the girls. When they get out on the field, I'd like to think that they can make a lot of the decisions for themselves.
"If they don't know the answer, then they should ask (one of their teammates). Or, if they need to talk to me, they can come over and ask."
Orth, who got hooked on the game by watching her son, Kelsey, and daughter, Caitlin, play minor lacrosse, is a long-time volunteer with various local minor sports organizations and has served as the national women's field lacrosse team's general manager.
She is also an executive assistant for the Kitchener-Waterloo Minor Lacrosse Association.
In fact, the Orths have been called Waterloo Region's first family of lacrosse. Along with her husband, Al, Lynn is a majority owner of the Kitchener-Waterloo Kodiaks, Canada's reigning senior men's national box lacrosse champs.
A phone call inquiring about a field team for her daughter eventually landed her an assistant coaching gig with Laurier.
Orth took over as the team's head coach a year later in 1999.
Although she grew up in Waterloo Region playing field hockey, basketball, badminton and tennis, Orth admits she is sometimes bewildered by her lacrosse success.
"Can't play. Can't catch or throw. I keep telling myself I'm going to have to learn how."
crivet@therecord.com






Posted on Feb 20, 2006, 11:11 AM
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