Wall Ball and Shooting Workouts
Off hand swole, kid
If I never learned how to “play” wall ball I would have never played college lacrosse. I didn’t even know what it was until I was 16 years old - I just knew that Mark Millon told me to do it in Offensive Wizardry. There was a time in my life that I would do anything that man told me to do. He was my Northstar, my #Shortking Sun, my Unproblematic Joe Rogan.
So I did what any kid trying to improve their stick skills should [not] do: I adopted a very frustrating wall ball routine to be just like him.
I would bring one ball into the basement and do 50 perfect reps in a row with both hands. By perfect, I mean I had to have a perfect catch and a perfect throw. If I dropped the ball I reset the counter. It was…way too frustrating. And obsessive. Yes, it helped, but it also annoyed me to no end. I dreaded that walk down the stairs after dinner and not because one time my friend grabbed my heel through the gap and I screamed like a banshee. Because that was funny.
Smashing a ball against a cement wall, sometimes taking that ball straight to the dome when I zoned out too hard (Remember to always wear a helmet and gloves, kids). My advice to you, or your son/daughter, is to make summer training fun. That doesn’t mean that it shouldn't be challenging, but it shouldn’t be soul-crushing, either. So, let’s build a fun wall ball routine and maybe some shooting exercises that I have found to be effective at developing players and their confidence.
Wall Ball
50 *collarbone cradle reps, strong hand
50 CCR (hell, yeah, brother!), weak hand
25 **cross-hand Canadian, strong hand
25 cross-hand Canadian, weak hand
25 one-handed, strong hand
25 one-handed, weak hand
As many quick sticks as you can do in a row - just make sure to beat the number you did the day before.
* This just means that you keep your stick above your collarbone to catch, cradle, and throw. Elbows up, slacker.
** Bring the stick across your body (with your hands in the regular position) to throw, and back to the natural position to catch.
That’s it. That’s the wall ball workout. Can you add reps? Absolutely. This is a starting point. Build as you see fit. Want to add behind the backs? I wouldn’t try it until you can do everything above with the ease of putting your shoes on. BTB’s are helpful, even useful, but unless you’re playing box you’re not using them as much as you’re catching and throwing the ball normally. Practicality is the key to advancement.
Shooting
God, I love shooting. Hitting a sick shot in a game is the best. The “PING” off the pipe. The “THWAP” that the ball makes as it hits a corner pulled taught. No better sound(s) in the world. But you don’t get there by just dumping a bucket of balls out and shooting them all into the net from various angles. Except…that’s exactly how I started my post-practice shooting. (Which I pretty much always did by myself because #DIIILife.)
I would pick a bucket of balls up on the top of the crease and spray them all over. Then I would drop the bucket and go left to right shooting every ball. It’s actually a great warm-up, and if you have a full bucket, it will take a few minutes. Rinse. Repeat, this time right to left. You can switch hands as you cross the middle of the goal, but I’ll be honest and say that I rarely did that.
After you’re done with the spray and pray, refill the bucket and walk outward at a 45-degree angle from each pipe and place a pile of six balls every five steps. Start shooting from the closest pile and only aim for the far pipe. This time you have to switch to the inside hand.
If my arms were still functional, I would take the balls up to where the alley would be and dump them in two piles. I’d drive down the alley and shoot on the run, also trying to hit the far pipe.
There are plenty of other variables when it comes to shooting; including form, hand position, and energy transfer. They’re all important and it should be said that during this little workout I would shoot as hard as I could as many times as I could. That’s not really all that healthy for younger players because the technique is more important than the velocity, but if you’re having a bad day nothing makes you feel better than hitting a dirty bardownski by yourself as the sun is setting.
Just remember to end your shooting on a corner shot.