Re-Thinking D Mids and LSMs in Lacrosse Drills at Brown
Lars Tiffany is one of my favorites of all time and after this last podcast my head is still spinning. OK, at the time of this article they have dramatically changed the offensive culture at Brown this season to fast and faster. For example at the time of this article after six games in 2015, they were averaging 51 shots a game.

Having a successful coach so willing to look at new ideas could be a great article in and of itself, but in this case it is the practice modifications that have me so impressed. The renewed focus is on transition. After we start with a transition theme, how do we as coaches continue to make the drills directly emulate game scenarios? That certainly rings close to home for me eh? Especially with the game continuing to change, and how we modify ‘personnel’ decisions and substitutions. And with a renewed focus comes some deep thinking about how these changes need to be integrated into lacrosse practice plans and drills.

The concepts and philosophies we discuss below definitely have a higher impact for transition teams that love to get it up and down, however, there is also a logic in the way they run the drills that can help all of us.

In a nutshell, lets start with the observations from Coach Tiffany… “In a recent game (a very close game incidentally) we noticed that our D Mids played over 40 minutes, while our offensive middies played 10-15 minutes.” For many of us this means that what we thought were our better lacrosse players playing offensive Middie, they may not be on the field as much as we would like them to be. And breaking it down it might look like this…”[private]

1. Face Offs – for most coaches include an LSM and a D Mid
2. After a Face Off win, we now press to the offensive end with the same players to press to a quick look
3. After Face Off Loss – D Mids and LSM stay on the field
4. If their goalie saves quick strike – D Mids, LSM stay on the field
5. If we have a quick score, then the D Mids, LSM stay on the field for the next face off
6. With the lack of horns in the game, coaches find themselves clearing more often that not with D Mids and LSMs
7. Conversely, with the lack of horns, many of us are watching our Offensive Middies playing more defense off of a quick clear by our opponents

So thinking about these new tendencies in the game the thought is how do we modify or change our lacrosse practices and drills to be more game realistic, prepare or players and put them in a position to be successful? Maybe we go back to 2-Way Middies, many of the great college lacrosse coaches we talk to talk about this, but honestly I still do not see it much at the NCAA Lacrosse level.

At Brown, they have made some dynamic changes to drills that we all might run two or three times a week. And although I want to focus on a single example, you might find a number of ways to add this to your lacrosse practice plans.

So lets consider a basic ¾ Field Transition Drill, or even a fast break drill as a base or place to start the dialog. After an earlier podcast with Coach Pressler (Bryant,) we started running these types of transition drills from the far Restraining Line down to the cage, rather than a half field or less …

Sometimes we have one Attack and one Defender in, or at the top of the Box, and start three offensive players and two defenders from the far Restraining Line. Or, a more typical fast break with three attack, and three defenders at the top of the box into a traditional fast break, with a single middie on the break, or two middies and a trailer (5V4), etc… Or sometimes four offensive players and three defending players all at the far Restraining Line, and all seven then sprint downfield in transition. There are endless combinations and all points in between.

The nature of these types of lacrosse drills encourage ball movement and the players love them. It will also serve you well as a conditioning exercise.

The key point/modification here, is this season at Brown, the players initiating the break in almost any configuration are the D Mids and the Poles and LSMs. And the traditional ‘O’ Middies are streaking down in the drill but not on offense but on defense. In addition, every rep is slightly different. I loved it!

For a small high school or Rec roster, consider this. Try it with Two Attack (White Pennies) and Two Poles (Brown Pennies) outside the Box in the offensive end. At the far Restraining Line Three lines of players with White Pennies to be on offense, and two lines of players in Brown Pennies to be defenders. If you have a big roster go with three Attack and three Poles, anything will work.

However, the player in the “White Pennies” lines are all defenders and D Middies and LSMs. The players in “Brown Pennies” are offensive middies.

To make it different and fun, the coach calls out the configuration of players in the drill making it slightly different in each rep. “Two O, and One D” and go. Or, “Three O and Two D” and go… Or “Two O and Two D” and go and roll the ball to an offensive line.

I usually have our poles and D Mids in 3V2 drills once or twice a week, but honestly in quick drills on the half field. This idea just makes so much more sense. I guess that is why he coaches at Brown and I just write articles.

You might want to take four or five minutes and listen to Coach Tiffany discuss this in his own words, very very interesting, just click here for all free members, then click “Preview”

I found this evolving philosophy so interesting especially for transition teams, or those moments in games when we cannot get the players “off”. I am anxious to try it, and anxious to get your thoughts below,

mike@laxcoachmike.com[/private]

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