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Targeted Creative Lacrosse Drills
Jason Lange, Montevallo University – 32 Keep A Way
After my recent podcast with this young coach, I was struck by his creativity, and began to give a lot more thought to my own personal practice plans. Incidentally, as it Corona Virus time the full podcast is free to all members, take the time to be a better coach, click here and listen to the entire podcast,
It is interesting that I interviewed and did a podcast with Jason four years ago (when he was at Pfeifer,) and in just four years his practice plans template has changed dramatically. Most of us think that great coaches have a plan or template and stick to it, just inserting drills to keep it interesting. I am amazed on my site how the good coaches are always changing the way they practice.
In the podcast Coach shared a drill that was born out of his own creativity and driven by a specific skill set that was not great in a recent game. I want to share the specifics, but the point here is much bigger than the individual drill,
In this case his young team struggled a bit in a game with quick double teams and heavy pressure. Not unusual for a young team correct? But in this case Coach addressed the issue with a new lacrosse drill.
Picture this; the field is laid out with a three to five stations, all the same, several squares defined by flat cones. The size of the four-corner square is 12×12 or even 10×10. In each square we play a 3V2 Keep-A-Way in the tight confined area. For this lacrosse drill, all players are mixed, our poles are playing offense, our attack is playing some defense and so on…
A group of five enters the box, three on offense, two on defense. And we play Keep-A-Way in the tight box. The play continues in each box until the defense causes a turnover, or the ball goes outside the box. With this stipulation, each rep or set might be just 10-15 seconds per group. And bang we have a new group…
Although we run a ton of 3V2 “Crunch Drills” (small space 3V2 we have a number of these on the site or email me) the go to a goal or a shot, offense usually plays just offense, etc… In this case by having multiple boxes depending on the size of your roster, everyone, each and every player is getting a lot of reps to reinforce the identified fundamentals.
Now Coach puts a twist on the drill, as the offense is playing in the box, we add a stipulation, it forces a pick and requires a pass out of the pick. And we are reinforcing “step away” techniques, or perhaps behind the back passes if your team can handle it… or pass and pick, encouraging the defense to double team the pick and so on…. Just be creative. All this goes on for just 5-7 minutes then on to the next drill on your practice plan.
This a great lacrosse drill and an interesting addition to your practice arsenal, but the point for coaches is even bigger…
In this down time, perhaps review part of a game film, and challenge yourself as a coach to design or search on-line resources for a drill to address the identified fundamentals. Try and create a twist on the drill that keeps everybody moving, again perhaps in multiple locations.
I know for me, and I think for many coaches, we have a ton of drills on file and just plug them into the practice plan. Taking a bit of time to adjust or create a twist on a drill directly from a game film makes all of us better lacrosse coaches. Keep it fast and keep it fun!
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