Podcast: Chris Panos of Fork Union on discipline, drills, fun

On this episode of the "Chasing the Goal" podcast, the guys are joined by Fork Union Military Academy head coach Chris Panos.

On this week’s episode of New England Lacrosse Journal’s “Chasing The Goal” podcast, hosts Kyle Devitte and Owen Hart talk with Fork Union Military Academy head coach and associate athletic director Chris Panos.

Panos has an extensive playing and coaching career. A 12-year veteran of the National Lacrosse League, where he was a world champion and All-Star selection, he began his coaching career as an offensive coordinator at the University of Tampa from 2014-16, helping the team reach the NCAA Division 2 quarterfinals in 2015 and semifinals in 2014 and ’16.

Panos then went to Queens University, where he served as the offensive coordinator and recruiting director until 2019, when he took over as the head coach. As head coach at Fork Union, he led the team to a 21-6 record last season.

Watch the full podcast below on YouTube. It’s also available on all major podcast platforms. If you enjoy it, please leave a rating and a review. Watch more episodes on the Chasing the Goal podcast channel.

Here are some excerpts from the pod.

Owen Hart: As two guys who coach JV teams, it has taken years off our lives with just the nonsense we’ve had to put up with and getting guys’ attention. Is practice at a military school just like heaven, where it’s just straightforward? Do guys stop when you say stop? Because if it is, I’m going to get mad and transfer to a military school.

Chris Panos: I mean, it’s a process, you know? First of all, a couple of things. We don’t allow cell phones, which is a unique situation. When we travel as a team, we’re allowing the kids to take them on the road trips, but the customary, “Let me pull my phone out for like 20 minutes and look at stuff” — that doesn’t happen here. We’re really based on character, discipline, respect, integrity and faith.

It’s a Christian faith school and an all-boys school. But, you know, boys will be boys. We have 40 different countries represented at the school. I really deal with the U.S. and Canada guys for my team, per se. But when they come here, they don’t really know what to expect.

They’re on a strict routine. There’s not a lot of free time, which bodes well for the consistent approach of the daily habits. They’re up early. They’re in uniform. We offer a one-subject plan, so they’re not juggling four or five classes at once. We do one subject for seven weeks. They take a final and they move on. Our team GPA over the last two years combined was a 3.9. So there’s no real excuse not to be successful academically and, obviously, in the lacrosse landscape, we’re playing junior colleges, NCAA D-2, D-3 and NAIA. We’re playing upwards of 30 games, and there’s a huge strength and conditioning program as well.

Kyle Devitte: I’m just curious, are there drills that you’ve taken from the box background that you’ve now applied at Fork Union that you see making a big difference in the development of these players you’re coaching? 

Chris Panos: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, to your point, the creativity. There’s a time and place for shots in the sixes game, just to touch back on that; you have the opportunity and there’s a lot more space. So you’re playing five-on-five against short sticks like you would in box. However, the confines of the rink are tighter, whereas in field for sixes it’s a wider field, so there’s room to operate and kind of win those match-ups, and there are no poles coming at you. You can kind of finagle your way through traffic.

The biggest thing for me, and I tell my guys all the time, I’m all about fitness, fundamentals and IQ. If we’re in really good shape and we have really good skills and we’re really smart about it, we can play with anybody, and we’ve shown that. And it’s trying to have those guys buy into the creativity. It’s like, “Listen, I’m not gonna yell at you for trying a behind-the-back shot or a shovel shot or a one-handed shot.” And we practice that. We do. Diving across the front of the goal mouth. We put out a big track and field pole vault mat and it’s like, “Hey, make a cool move,” and we’ll just dive and celebrate.

We have fun with it because you want to have fun. Practice is tough as it is, but we’re doing lots of pick-and-rolls, stuff like that. I mean, it sounds basic and all, but we master the fundamentals and that’s really the key. 

I have a lot of staple drills that we can kind of mix and mingle, but it’s always going to come back to just the basics of the game, and can we really pass, throw and shoot? How is our footwork? What is our technique? Where’s our positioning? How’s our leverage? Things like that. 

@TheKyleDevitte
kyle.devitte@laxjournal.com

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