Home / Articles-Drills /Featured-Bottom / Article: Incredible Creativity on the Blue Jay Drill, Coach McAleavey

screen-shot-2016-10-19-at-11-15-03-am Coaching Creativity on the Blue Jay Drill, Ryan McAleavey

Coach Ryan McAleavey blew me a way in a recent podcast with his amazing creativity in coaching lacrosse drills. He is a strong supporter of my site and humbly shares how he has modified lacrosse drills from our site as well as other coaches to accomplish amazing things… and here is just an example.

He picked up on a relatively basic Fast Break w Trailer drill while watching a Hopkins Practice and with his trademark creativity turned it into an amazing coaching tool and incredible lacrosse drill.

What it is…

1. Fast Break Drill
2. Unsettled Drill
3. Recognition Drill
4. Working the Substitution Box Drill
5. Riding and Clearing Drill [private]

The drill starts basically the same way we all run fast break drills. At one end of the field we have three attack and the poles and a goalie. At the other end of the field, the goalie/coach throws an outlet pass to a middie or a ‘D’ middie or LSM and they sprint down on a fast break. A short period later that varies – a trailer (former O middie getting back on D) trails as the fast break continues. And we play to a fast break, or perhaps the offense realizes it is really a slow break, or because we have varied the time of the release of the trailer it might even actually just be a 4V4.

The drill only goes one way down the field, Stay with me…

Also in the initiating “defensive” end we have two additional middies who were simulated offense and two D middies/LSM who were simulated as if they had been on defense. Again at varying times they too are released thus a fast break to an ultimate 6V6… Still with me?

The key element here is how the coaches vary the release of the other players from the initiating defensive end. Thus it might be a true fast break, slow break, at the very least “unsettled” in a different way on each rep that occurs very quickly. Or maybe just evolves into a 6V6.

Creativity in Controlling the Situation

Each rep is fast and different depending on the release. If the pure break might not be there, we want to get the ball into the Box, work the ball behind, recognizing the numbers and play.

In addition on some reps the goalie or coach whoever is throwing the initial outlet might just roll a ground ball to an LSM who runs down and maybe everybody is released. Creativity and varying the scenario are the key to making it most effective.

Next Situation – Substitution Box

Now, on some of the reps, the varying the release dictates that it is not a fast break, or for whatever the reason we are in a settled 6V6.

Now for some creativity from Coach McAleavey. We immediately go into our Substitution Game. Running the box is a challenge, especially practicing with smaller rosters. For most of us at the HS level, it is hard to dedicate the practice time to substitutions and the science of running the Box. But it is imperative to being successful. Most college teams might spend up to ten minutes a day just on the substitution game, a luxury most HS coaches just do not have.

Practicing the Box and substitutions is boring, tedious, laborious and often …sucks. But by integrating the Box play into this fast paced drill we can help our Box Coach and our players.

Now for some more creativity from Coach McAleavey. He will often have a hurt defenseman or kind of a placebo defenseman close to the Box in the original defensive end, just to sub off and get his O middie into the game ready to join the offensive end at the midfield line on the field as an O middie coming in for a D middie or LSM exiting. Very cool!

Next Situation – Riding and Clearing

Now we have made our substitutions and play 6V6… but after a score or shot we are immediately into a Riding and Clearing portion of the drill, clearing the ball to midfield, and then an immediate new transition outlet or ground ball and we go again.

I love this drill because the creativity and the fact that each rep can be different. Perhaps we get a goal on the initial break and we immediately start a new group. Perhaps we let them play 6V6, or perhaps we continue all the way into the substitution and riding/clearing elements.

Or perhaps, one day we run just the first portion, and the next day two or three of the other segments. And a very cool thing is that we do not necessarily need a full college roster size to run this drill at the HS level even with 25-30 players. Regardless quick multiple reps are the key,

All Free Members can listen to Coach McAleavey explain this in his own words in his own way in the “Preview” for all Free Members, Just Click Here

Love to get your thoughts below! Or mike@laxcoachmike.com [/private]

Leave a Reply