The Great Drill Drop
Stop driving the struggle bus to practice.
I am not sure when this Substack became a lacrosse drills codex, but I’m not mad at that at all.
Context: In case you missed it, here are some of my other entries on this topic (please disregard my inconsistent/pithy titling) -
If You’re Not Stealing Drills, You’re Doing it Wrong
Wall Ball and Shooting Workouts
Earlier this week I asked - nay, begged - the internet for drills that would help my Jayves get a better sense of where they were on the field and what they were supposed to do there.
And, man - did the internet deliver.
I’m going to go through three drills we were able to implement one by one this week and how they may help your team improve this season.
Navy
The best aspect of this drill is that we can use it just for Varsity and just for Jayves.
So, this teaches newer players to look for passes instead of just putting their head down and going to the goal. It also teaches defenders to be disrupters instead of takeaway merchants, which is really what defense is all about in lacrosse.
However, my favorite thing about this drill is how it helps to teach attacking from the wing. As someone who runs a top-down decoy party-starter offense, opening up the wings is crucial for changing up the point of attack. If you wanted to restrict the drill even more, you could put a line of cones down the middle of the goalmouth perpendicular to the restraining line and have the offensive players only operate in that space above GLE.
Towson
Man, the kids were pumped when we told them to move the goals in, but as soon as we told the defense and the goalies what this drill was they were all the way out. So, be prepared for that reaction. It’s the best West Genny fakeout you can pull.
This drill will teach you a lot about how players understand spacing in a short-field situation. It’s how I found out that one of my middies was an attackman at heart because he kept getting underneath the second defenseman for an easy finish off the second pass and was also open for a skip from the first ball carrier.
For defenders, it teaches patience and zone concepts that are useful in man-down D as well as good approaches. One bad approach by a defender means at least a good shot on the net, if not an easy goal. So that first defenseman has to communicate his intention or the second D-guy won’t be able to get in between an easy dump-down pass.
Ultimate Lacrosse
(From multiple sources)
Did I think this was dumb when I first read it? Yes. Am I humbled by how well it worked to explain off-ball movement? Also, yes.
This is just Ultimate frisbee with lacrosse sticks and a manned (or unmanned depending on player skillset) goal. At first glance, it would seem to promote not moving feet when you have the ball - which was the first reaction of the Hopkinton coach when I suggested that we do this - but if you look one layer deeper, it’s really about teaching the rest of the kids how to do three key things:
Get open to receive a pass
Space the field
Play ball-adjacent shut-off defense
Those are all integral skills to both the settled and unsettled situations that players see dozens of time a game. The field awareness component is also present, as going far and long for deep passes is not a good strategy, nor is just quick passing up the field against longpoles. Players have to think about getting to better spots in the middle of the field and then spreading out as they get closer to the goal in order for a consistent attack to be executed.
Thanks again for subscribing to LacroCity. If you’re enjoying the newsletter, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. Every little bit helps.
If you have a lacrosse-related question, send it to LacroCity@gmail.com so your question can make it on the next episode of Office Hours, a question-and-answer segment where I answer burning questions from subscribers.