Coach Todd Cavallaro told an interesting story when I spoke with him over Christmas break. 

He was in town coaching with the Van Arsdales-Marc, Guy and Max.  Marc is the offensive coordinator at the University of Virginia, Guy is the defensive coach/goalie specialist at Penn State and Max is an attackman at Penn State.  Coach Cav is the offensive coordinator at UPenn, an Ivy League university in Philadelphia.  It was a great camp and the kids were eager and willing to learn from three different DI coaches, certainly an exciting experience for all the kids. 

It's always difficult to figure out what coaches see when they look at athletes.  Some people see greatness and others don't.  Why did people pass up Michael Jordan or Ladainian Tomlinson in their respective drafts (neither were number one choices)?

So, what do coaches look for in their athletes?  Many coaches look at different things and after talking to these coaches, I will venture to say that one thing is paramount in a prospective athlete: industriousness.

Industriousness: (Excerpt from Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections)(McGraw-Hill)

"Industriousness? In plain language, I mean that you have to work - and work hard. There is no substitute for work. None. Worthwhile things come only from real work... I called it industriousness to make very clear it involves more than merely showing up and going through the motions. Many people who tell you they worked all day weren't really working very hard at all, certainly not to the fullest extent of their abilities.
You can work without being industrious, but you can not be industrious without work."

All the coaches over the weekend seemed to agree that continuing to work at something, repetition, was very important for the kids to understand.  At every mistake I heard coaches Marc and Guy Van Arsdale say something like "That's the right idea, it will come" or "I would rather have you make a mistake with your left hand..."  They were always encouraging and made sure the kids knew it was ok to make misakes as long as they were working at it.

Coach Cavallaro, who also runs All Star Lacrosse camps across the country, told the story about one of his recruits and how much he worked.  Coach Cav said it didn't matter what this players game stats were, whether he scored five goals or no goals, he would ask Coach Cav to go out on Sundays and shoot on goal.  Sundays were normally the day off.  He eventually became one of the best lacrosse midfielders in the world-A.J. Haugen.  Kyle Harrison cites A.J. Haugen as one of his influences from watching film.                                

What separates you...?