Improve your Lacrosse Team with these Drills
If you look at the numbers, it’s safe to say that
the sport of Lacrosse continues to be a growing sport. In the United
States alone, participation grew over 3% in 2017 with over 825,000
people playing the sport. That was the 12th consecutive year of growth
with a net increase of at least 20,000 players each of those years.
Participants include boys, girls and men and women from the youth level
up to the high school and collegiate years.
With the
increase comes the need for more knowledgeable coaches who can teach the
game the right way. Sure, some coaches have played the game and have a
good idea of the types of drills and practice sessions needed. But for
the more beginning level coaches, it’s helpful to have some drills to
fall back on that can help improve your team. Here are five drills that
we think can help.
Catching Drillsg Drills
Catching
drills are important because throwing and receiving are such important
parts of the game. Start with some stationary drills between paired up
players. Have them make some throws and catches from their left side and
then their right side until they are comfortable.
Move to
catching drills where the players are running. They need to learn to
throw and catch while on the move while also alternating between their
right and left hands.
Finally, have them practice making
poor throws so it’s more difficult to make the catch. This will get them
practicing extending to catch passes or moving their stick from one
side to the other.
Clearing Drillsg Drills
Goalies
need to practice making clearing passes after a save. Practice this by
having one player shoot the ball while another moves downfield towards
the midfield line to receive the pass from the goalie. You can start
with the goalies making passes to stationary players and then change it
up by having receivers on the move catching the goalie passes.
Ground Balls Drillls Drill
Pair
players up and roll a ball so that each player has an equal chance to
get it. The goal is to have them battle for the ball and not allow the
other player to win it. Some tips here is for players to practice using
their body to box out the other and gain possession or kicking the ball
loose from a scrum to get a better advantage. This drill will teach
players how to aggressively gain possession of the ball for their team.
Cradling Drillsg Drills
Have
players cradle the ball while running down the field. First using both
hands and then switching to one hand and alternating between each hand.
This is needed when a player needs to ward off a defender with their
opposite hand.
Shooting Drillsg Drills
These
can be done in a variety of different ways to simulate game conditions.
They should practice shooting on the move going to both their left and
right, and sometimes with a defender in front of them. They can also
practice shooting after scooping a ball off the ground or when coming
from around the back of the net. You can also use cones to add specific
target areas for players to improve accuracy.
