I woke up the morning of May 1 sore as hell.

A day earlier, the athlete development team here at US Lacrosse put on a field day. We spent an hour playing games like Sharks and Minnows and hoarding tennis balls with fiddle sticks in mini-goals as “squirrels” bringing “nuts” back to our “nest.”

Fun stuff. Child’s play. Bring on the Chipotle.

But as I rolled gingerly out of bed the next morning to tend to my then 6-month-old son, I recognized the leg and posterior soreness as the way I used to feel when I’d play lacrosse after a long layoff.

TJ, Natalie, Erin, Beth and Dara totally Miyagi’d us.

In “Karate Kid,” Mr. Miyagi disguises Daniel’s training in the form of chores. Sand the floor. Paint the fence. For our LADM sensei, Tierney Field was their dojo.

For the dozens of US Lacrosse staffers who participated, it was a place to reconnect with our inner child while better understanding the kinds of movements we ask our own kids to perform when we introduce them to the sport.

Obviously, we had a blast. But it got pretty heated too. I literally somersaulted to take out the shins of a colleague to get to the cone she stubbornly defended. Go big or go home, right?

US Lacrosse recently published “60 Ways to Play,” a resource for coaches that’s chock full of activities to help kids develop body awareness, movement confidence and other skills they need for a lifetime of fun and fitness with physical activity. Hard copies are available for purchase and free PDFs for download on uslacrosse.org.

Do yourself a favor and devote practice time to these activities. They’re more useful than static stretching and straightforward running, but you also don’t need a kinesiology degree to do them. These movements come naturally to kids, but by isolating them in fun games and drills, you’ll foster physical literacy that undoubtedly will make them better lacrosse players over the long haul.