College lacrosse coaches now have access to a comprehensive new rating system they can use to recruit goalies, it’s called the Guardian Rating Classification (GRC) index. The GRC index is the first-ever quantifiable player-rating index in sports, outside of the NFL’s QBR ratings, to provide statistical figures for coaches to compare and contrast the skills and athleticism of lacrosse goalies.
The GRC index is the brainchild of Ginny Capicchioni, the first woman in North America to sign and play with a men’s professional lacrosse team and the founder of Guardian Sports and the creator of the Guardian National Championship.
“The recruitment of a competent goalie has always been a major priority for every college coach,” said Ginny Capicchioni, founder of Guardian Sports. “Any college coach will tell you that recruiting a goalie is a very difficult process. In the past goalies have been recruited and measured by which club team they played for, the state they live in, their stance, body type and the techniques they use in cage. Individuals controlling the fate of goalies may be a former goalie howeverm for the most part, they are non-goalie coaches. There has never been until now anything that subjectively measures a goalies functionality or productivity.”
The Guardian Rating Classification (GRC), rates lacrosse goalies from 0 to 100 points for their performance in 16 goalie-specific tests in four keycomponent areas; REACTIONARY, OFFENSIVE, ATHLETIC and VIRTUAL. The GRC does not take into account a goalies school, height,technique or experience, only their success rate at completing each of the 16 tests designed and implemented at the annual Guardian National Championship. (July 27-30). For example, a save is a point and goal is not; a completed pass is a point and a drop is not, and the completion of a ball handling and dodging drill over a 50 yard distance within a required window of time is a point. The scores are then tallied and applied to GRC’s proprietary patent-pending formula to calculate the score and classify each goalie into one of seven levels of competency. “A level 7 goalies is a player who is ready now for collegiate play versus a level 1 player is a beginner/intermediate goalie who is just learning the fundamentals of the position” said Ginny Capicchioni, founder of Guardian Sports.
The Guardian Rating Classification is based on the following goalie-specific tests:
REACTIONARY
Ability to save a shot through a screen or an obstacle
Ability to save a second or rebound shot
Ability to save a bounce shot
Ability to track “cutters” from mid to low distances
Ability to follow plays that start below GLE
OFFENSIVE
Ability to hit standing targets 10 to 50 yards in distance
Ability to hit moving targets 10 to 45 yards in distance
Speed to clear the ball from a save
Speed in ball-handling and dodging over a 50 yard distance
ATHLETIC
SLIDEBOARD TEST: Record the amount of completions of a 6 ft side-to-side movement during a one minute period
MED BALL TEST: Measures a goalies upper and lower body strength
5-10-5 TEST
VIRTUAL
PLAY RECOGNITION: Ability to process game-like situations and communicate to defenders
PRO BATAK MACHINE: Measures a goalies reaction time/peripheral vision over 60 seconds
MEMORY TEST: Computerized test to measure a goalies memory
“Our goal in creating the GRC was to provide college coaches with the most complete, comprehensive tool for assessing and identifying their next field general. We feel that the GRC will provide goalies with a realistic assessment of their skills and coaches will know have all of the data they need to identify who will step between the pipes for their team.”
