Vince Cara: RISE Head Coach interview

Team Rise Head Coach, Vince Cara, has been sharing his thoughts ahead of the opening weekend of The Fly.

Cara, England U21 Assistant Coach, is someone who likes to experiment and challenge his players and himself, and is looking forward to the learning process of the opening day.

“I'm excited to be involved with The Fly. I think it's going to be it's going to be different and I'm looking forward to being involved with something where there is no set way of doing things.

“I'm actually looking forward to also being wrong and seeing how we are able to change and pivot and try and find out what else we can do over a short time frame.”

And while Cara and his assistant Gavin Donaldson have spent the last few weeks planning and putting together their game plans, he also sees it as a fine balance between preparation and inspiration.

“We're going to try and go in with a game plan for each game depending on who we're playing but equally we want to empower the players to really own this process so not only can the coaches be free and creative and try things, we also want our players to do the same.

“I think it's going to be really important that the players have the ability to go out there see how they feel in the game, have conversations with us and we can learn together.”

In terms of what we can expect from Cara’s Rise team, he will be looking for his squad to entertain.

“I like playing fast lacrosse, I like playing exciting lacrosse, I would rather win 15-14 than 3-1,” Cara said.

“We want to play fast, we want to be assertive, we want to take the game to the opposition, and I want the players to be expressive and feel like they have the ability to do that.”

Conversely, while he will ask his team to be expressive, Cara sees defence as one of the most challenging aspects of the new format, with the removal of the traditional long stick from the game.

“I think for defenders this is going to be the biggest challenge of any position because their skillset has to change massively with defenders who were reliant on their stick now having to play with their feet.

“It will definitely give our players, and us as coaches, something to think about.”

In coaching at The Fly, he will come up against his mentor in U21s Head Coach, Ryan Garnsworthy, Head Coach of Team Swift, a contest Cara is looking forward to.

“Ryan and I have spoken a lot about 6s and it’s going to be fun to see the little things we’ll throw at each other and see if the other one spots it and can deal with it,” he said.

“I’m a young coach, and just as players need to play better players, I need to coach against better coaches to improve and get all the experiences I can, so this is a good format to do this.”

While they will be adversaries at The Fly, many of the squads contain players from the U21 squad and Cara believes the competition will prove valuable for the players involved.

“Our goal as an England coaching staff has been to develop future England Senior players and it comes to a point where you now have to go out and play against these top guys.

“Everyone in our squad is good enough to do that, and I’m looking forward to seeing what they can do on this stage.”

And although the mind is fully focused on leading Team Rise to victory at the Fly, Cara is also aware of the longer term opportunities that come with the competition and the format with the sport looking for Olympic inclusion.

“I think our sport has to progress and grow and Lacrosse being in the Olympics would be amazing.

“Everyone grows up watching the Olympics and the more ways that we can be seen as a sport no doubt that’s better for our longevity.

“I think The Fly will be a great kick start into the next year and this will be the start of a great year for lacrosse in general.”