U.S. Women's National Team Prioritizes '3-2-1' Moments at Training Camp

SPARKS, Md. — The U.S. Women’s National Team will wrap its training camp Thursday, and head coach Acacia Walker-Weinstein will have seen plenty during the four-day session — the last one before the team embarks on its trip to Tokyo for the World Lacrosse World Championship later this summer.

The camp started with what most teams, athletic or not, do to kick things off: a meeting. Fresh off their flights, the athletes and coaches gathered at USA Lacrosse headquarters, and Walker-Weinstein addressed the roster for the first time.  

In her kickoff talk, Walker-Weinstein detailed “three-two-one moments.” It was a pivotal part of her monologue; one intended to provide a glimpse of what the team would focus on during its time together.

Three-two-one moments are moments of pressure. Moments when the team and its athletes must make split-second decisions.  

These game situations were priority No. 1 during the training camp, which has also included a day at Towson University to practice on astroturf — which they’ll play on in Japan — and a visit from former Baltimore Ravens Joe Flacco, Todd Heap and Dennis Pitta.

"There are a thousand different situations in a game where if you don’t execute your strategy, you lose,” Walker-Weinstein said. “It could be the game is tied, the three-two-one moment is that we have to win the draw to get the ball to try and score.”

Lacrosse is the fastest sport on two feet, and still, nobody can outrun the pressure. It’s part of the game. The best players know how to harness that pressure and perform to the best of their ability.  

Winning players look forward to it. So how are the U.S. players handling the intensity?  

“I think they’re doing a really good job of rising to the occasion,” Walker-Weinstein said. “They got themselves in a place psychologically to really think through every step.”

Running through systems step-by-step isn’t just the athletes’ job. The coaches were out on Tierney Field running through defensive breakdowns and positioning 30 minutes after the afternoon session ended on Wednesday, too.

Their love of the game and passion for coaching this team were on full display. With nobody in the stands, this is where the real work is done.

“What we’re doing here this week is trying to win a gold medal at the World Cup,” Walker-Weinstein said. “We can’t wait until the first game to see these scenarios.”

So no, three-two-one moments are not countdowns — but they could be the type of moments that decide a gold medal as the clock is winding down.

The U.S. Women’s National Team will meet in Los Angeles for a three-day staging camp before heading to Tokyo for the world championship, which begins July 24.