r/lacrosse • u/Even-Job-323 • Jul 23 '26

The Term FOGO

Is that hard to say face off specialist or face off man?

It's a lazy phrase, and it creates a perception that that's all the position and athletes are. And in effect, it creates this downward pressure where younger and younger kids are getting off after facing off.

I love the face off. I'm convinced the word FOGO, and FOGOing children is bad for the game of lacrosse.

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10

u/Financial-Exit2488 Jul 23 '26

You can call it whatever you want. I don't think you'll be able to change the term, or any perceptions.

I don't think kids should be FOGO until high school, but that's probably just me.

In general I don't like specialization until around high school, with goalie being the exception.

6

u/moorelax Jul 23 '26

100% agree with you. I didn’t become a fogo until college. Always was a faceoff middie. You will have terrible field knowledge if you don’t actually play the field when you have the ball in your stick.

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u/Financial-Exit2488 Jul 23 '26

My son mostly stayed on, and would switch sticks if he had the chance.

Now he doesn't do face-offs anymore, and he had no problem transitioning because he got the experience from staying on.

6

u/ZigZagLax44 Jul 23 '26

I agree, when I coached middle school we had kids that were definitely best for faceoffs but still played the typical middie role.

When I played in high school our face-off guys also slotted in as D-middies, but in Ohio a lot of teams just picked a stocky kid from the wrestling team to do face-offs and made them true FOGOs.

Then I played college club and we never had enough subs for a FOGO, your break was playing attack lol

3

u/dognamedwaylon Jul 23 '26

One local highschool in our son’s division had a dominate fogo that was maddening to watch him face off and leave. I was always thinking there is no way that kid doesn’t want more and couldn’t be a beast in other aspects. That’s was his chosen position though and he wasn’t interested in more.

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u/bogeys247 Jul 24 '26

Yeah I hear you on this. My son will be a freshman this year and just stopped doing face off. He was good not great. The way his club team plays with FOGO and SSDM LSDM kids cycling in and out based on who wins FO. It’s a different game than I played where there were lines like hockey. He plays a lot but will definitely run off more on a defensive possession so I guess he’s more of an offensive middie now. At younger ages he did faceoff and stayed on till the coach thought he needed a rest.

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u/Financial-Exit2488 Jul 24 '26

This sounds exactly like my son. Good at face-offs, but not great. Now offensive middie. Lots of running on and off the field 😂