If You're Not Stealing Drills, You're Doing it Wrong.

It's not stealing if you share it freely. Right?

The high school lacrosse season looms like a benevolent specter over literally everything I do. One day I’m excited about it; the next day I’m terrified of it. It’s like going to Taco Bell - eventually, you get used to delicious disappointment.

Today I am excited, so we’re going to roll with that energy and present a few alternatives to traditional drills.

Yes, we’re talking about practice.

When you’re on a high school team, you go to practice ten times more often than you play games. You spend all that time preparing - and yet, the most impactful things are all from the games.

Unless you’re a coach.

When you’re a coach, your job is to develop and prepare. You know which drills work because you see them every day. Some people work the reverse of that, but for me, it’s always more about development than preparation. That’s because of the level that I coach at, but it’s also a personal preference. So, in the spirit of that ethos, I’m going to share a few things that we do at Hopkinton to prepare our players.

Instead of regular line drills, try four corner box drills.

A four-corner box drill is like a continuous line drill that is set up with 2-4 players on each corner of a box marked by cones.

You start out by going counter-clockwise to the outside hand (so, the right-hand throws and the left-hand catches). You can transition hands with a split to start, then a roll before you switch directions and go clockwise (outside-hand left, right-hand catches). Then you can transition to ground balls, over-the-shoulder, cross-handed/body passes, shovels and/or behind-the-backs. Once everyone gets the hang of it, you introduce a second ball.

This drill, like many of the drills I’m going to go over, also hides conditioning because players have to run to get to the next line or they are going to screw up the momentum. It’s all about touches. Each touch is a rep and each rep gets you .001% better. So get as many as possible.

Instead of four-on-threes, try a staggered count-up.

Split your team into offense and defense. The drill starts with, essentially, a one-on-none with an offensive player and a goalie. Once he scores, another offensive player is added as well as a defensive player. Then it’s a two-on-one until the ball is scored or saved.

If the ball is scored, another O player comes out with another D player (turning it into a 3-0n-2). If the ball is saved (and cleared depending on how much of a tyrant you want to be) another defensive player comes out to make the game even. If the offense scores, another O player is added to give an advantage. If the ball is saved and/or cleared - another defensive player is added and you go shorthanded. For the defense, the drill ends with a clear when you’re up by two guys.

You get to see a lot of permutations with this format. If you have really good offensive players, this should lead you right into your man-up. If you’re trying out a new guy in the rotation for either side, this drill will give you a good idea of what they can do. It’s all about adaptation, communication, and execution. Mentally, the drill is tough because both sides know they get an edge if they can make the other side make a mistake. You can always start and restart with different guys to see where they perform the best in that scenario.

Instead of fast breaks, try flat-break transitions.

Everyone that does set up fast break drills is doing it wrong. The triangles just do not happen in games without moving, so why pretend that they do? Half of a good break is getting into the right position for both the offense and the defense. So, to simulate that, you have three defenders and three attackmen start flat (lined up across the field) 5-10 yards above the restraining line.

Then it’s basically a regular fast break drill, but you tell the ball carrier to run from the middle until he picks a side to shift the placement of everyone. This makes the offense and the defense react and pay attention.

The added bonus is that it will weed out lazy attackmen who sit in their shooting spot AND cheating defensemen who like to stay in the middle for the slide in traditional fast break drills. You can spice it up by adding a defensive chaser so that the midfielder can’t just jog his way down an alley to draw a slide. The only thing worse than a lazy attackman or defender is an even lazier midfielder. Smart middies will see this drill as a chance to get their shot off and go full speed at the defense. Other middies…will not be able to make the first pass.

Instead of 1-on-1’s, try four-corner two-on-twos.

I am of the personal philosophy that one-on-ones are stupid. How controversial, how brave? Yes, yes - I know. Honestly, I just think they exist for ego-stroking in certain age groups and scenarios. At the higher levels, they’re useful because players have to be able to execute more than one dodge to get around their guy. But at the level I coach at, you’re either getting around that dude or you’re not.

So in an effort to make the concept of beating a defender - or a defender learning how not to get beat - we use a diamond two-on-two approach.

There are eight lines in this drill. Offense and defense lines on the right wing, the left wing, at X, and up top by the restraining line.

An offensive player and a defensive player start on the crease, with a goalie in the net. (The ball can start from any side.) From the whistle, the offensive player on the crease can come set a pick or run underneath to give space and tease a double. We like to teach a lot of fake picks and sweeps, so this drill helps a lot with that.

Once the play is over, the initial ball carrier and their defender move to the crease and the drill starts again from another spot. This is mostly a drill about field awareness and communication - scoring the goal is almost secondary to getting a nice pick/pass/shot off for the offense. For the defense, it develops an aggressiveness for doubling and switching - two things we love to promote at Hop.

If you have any questions about the drills, feel free to reach out to me on Twitter or in the comments. I don’t think lacrosse can afford gatekeepers if we want the sport to grow. I am happy to share any and all information I have at any point.

Thanks again for reading and being a subscriber. I appreciate you.