Team 24/7 Select Teams

Team 24/7 Lacrosse is Charlotte's Leader in Lacrosse Instruction and our Team 24/7 Select teams are the most comprehensive training program in the region for serious lacrosse players. Our model focuses on helping players continuously develop from the first time the pick up a stick, supporting them through the recruiting process then helping them prepare to play at the collegiate level and beyond. Our Team 24/7 Select program is directed by Team 24/7 Lacrosse Founder and 10yr Professional Lacrosse Player Ryan Flanagan. Ryan plays an integral role in structuring our developmental initiatives in the select program and working with our coaches to implement the initiatives. Everything focuses on our players consistently progressing throughout their development. Having Ryan involved from start to finish creates a consistency in what players are learning and the systems we are running. To put it simply, we make sure our players are progressing each season rather than restarting the process for the first half of every season with a new coach or director. It also creates a comfort for our parents and players that the individual speaking to college coaches for them in the recruiting process is the same person that introduced our systems to them at one of their first practices in the program. 

Our development process is broken in to several parts:

Youth (3rd-7th Grade)
While everything we do focuses on fundamental instruction, that is never more true then when our players are in the youth stage. During this stage are players are introduced to everything from our "triple threat" positioning when we are catching, throwing and shooting to how we are going to cut through in transition. They will learn our offenses, defenses, rides and clears. While it is challenging for them at the younger ages, they learn the importantance of spacing and movement. We focus on developing their lacrosse IQ and their fundamentals. While cutting, timing and decision making under pressure in the "pre-puberty" stage can be difficult, introducing these concepts to players in the "pre-puberty" stage sets them up for success as their bodies change and they get bigger, faster and stronger. Our schedule at these ages is generally focused on playing within a 4hr radius. We don't think it is necessary to ask young players and families to travel all over the east coast to find competition. If needed, we will play a team up an age group to make sure they are receiving an adequate level of competition to support their development process. At this age, we will generally offer teams in the Fall and in the Summer so that athletes have opportunities to play multiple sports.

Middle-Aged (8th-9th Grade)
We will generally see the biggest jump in our players performance on a relative basis during the Middle-Aged years. This is post-puberty when players are in the 8th and 9th grade and all the lessons they learned as youth players begin "click" as their bodies change. The focus during these middle-aged years is continuing to improve our players fundamentals and decision making since a lot of that is now happening at a faster speed post-puberty. For players that are new to our program, this is an opportunity to learn our systems and work with our coaches prior to the recruiting process. For the players that have grown up in our youth program, this is where they start to learn and understand the next layer of our offense, defense, specialty situations and transition opportunities. Processing the game starts to slow down for them since they have built a foundation in our systems. At this age, we will start to introduce players to events in the mid-atlantic and northeast. This helps them see what lacrosse looks like outside of their region without asking parents to travel all over the east coast. We will generally try to find 1-2 events a year for players to travel so they get the opportunity to see lacrosse in other regions without "breaking the bank." Our pre-high school players will continue to tryout for teams in the Fall and in the Spring. In high school, team commitments shift to a year-round model to align with the recruiting process.

High School (10th-12th Grade)
On the field, this is the time that we want our players to be playing their best and their fastest. By this point, they should be sharpening their fundamentals, beginning to make quicker decisions with a developed lacrosse IQ and preparing for the recruiting process. By this point, most of our teams are playing in recruiting events to optimize their time infront of college coaches. During this time, our players and parents will work directly with Ryan Flanagan to navigate the recruiting process. Every players process is different and we want to make sure that we provide support to every player during the process. Having Ryan directing the program from top to bottom allows him to speak knowledgeably about every player and help families identify where their son should be targeting in the recruiting process. Our High School aged players will tryout for teams once per year. This allows us to build chemistry throughout the year and ensures that we are working with players and the team throughout the entire recruiting process and don't have season to season turnover as we dial in the development process and start the recruiting process. Players on a regional team will continue to play a schedule within a 4hr radius while our elite time players will play a schedule predominantly in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast to align with the recruiting process.