Mastering Coaching Fundamentals: Essential Skills for Coaches and Players to Succeed

Lacrosse is a game that demands a wide range of skills from players, from ground ball pickups to dodging, shooting, defense, and stickwork. Coaches can design drills that focus on these key skills to help players improve and become more effective on the field. For ground ball pickups, drills such as scoop and cradle, partner passing, and three-man ground ball can be practiced.

Meanwhile, for shooting, coaches can teach players the fundamentals such as grip, wind-up, follow-through, and regular practice. Dodging is also an essential skill for offensive players, with face dodge, roll dodge, and split dodge techniques being some of the most common. Defensive techniques, including the triangle drill, sliding drill, and no-pass drill, can also be practiced. Finally, stickwork and conditioning are crucial aspects of lacrosse that require drills such as wall ball, one-handed cradle, two-ball wall ball, shuttle run, and suicide sprints to improve players' skills and fitness levels.

Ground balls:

Ground balls are one of the most fundamental skills in lacrosse. Players need to be able to scoop up loose balls quickly and efficiently. Ground ball drills are an essential part of any lacrosse player's training regimen. Some of the drills that coaches can teach their players include:

• Scoop and cradle: This is the most basic ground ball drill. The player rolls the ball out, then goes and scoops up the ball and immediately cradles it in their stick.
  
  
• Partner passing with ground ball pickups: Two players stand facing each other about ten yards apart. One player rolls the ball to the other player, who scoops it up and passes it back. The players alternate roles.
  
  
• Three-man ground ball drills: Three lines of players face the same direction, the 2 outer lines are teammates. Each line is about 10 yards apart from each other. The coach rolls the ball to the middle player, the player closest to the solo player yells "Man" and tries to keep that player from getting the ball. The other player yells "ball!" and tries to pickup the ball.

Shooting:

Shooting is one of the most critical skills in lacrosse. Coaches can teach players various shooting techniques, but should focus heavily on the fundamentals:

• Grip: The player should grip the stick with their dominant hand at the base of the handle and their non-dominant hand near the head of the stick. The grip should be firm, but not too tight, to allow for flexibility and control.
  
  
• Wind-up: The player should bring the stick back behind their head with their dominant hand while simultaneously stepping forward with their non-dominant foot. Hiding the head of their stick behind their helmet gives the goalie less time to anticipate the angle of the shot.
  
  
• Follow-through: After releasing the ball, the player should continue to follow through with their stick, pointing it at the target and holding the follow-through position for a few seconds.
  
  
• Practice: Shooting is a skill that requires practice, and players should work on their shooting technique regularly to improve their accuracy, power, and consistency. Regularly scheduled shooting practices can increase the comfort your players feel when taking shots during the game.
  
  Want more scoring tips? Check out this article on scoring more!

Dodging:

Dodging is the ability to get past defenders and is essential for offensive players. Some of the techniques that coaches can teach players include:

• Face dodge: The ball carrier approaches a defender head-on and begins to cradle the ball in one hand. As the defender approaches, the ball carrier quickly shifts their weight to one side while simultaneously faking a pass or shot in the opposite direction with their head and shoulders. This sudden movement can cause the defender to commit to the fake, allowing the ball carrier to quickly change direction and continue down the field.
  
  
• Roll dodge: The player cradles the ball in one hand and approaches the defender. As the defender approaches, the player shifts their weight to one side and begins to roll their body in that direction, keeping the stick in the opposite direction. As the player completes the roll, they can quickly switch the stick to the other hand and continue down the field, leaving the defender behind.
  
  
• Split dodge: The offensive player will first approach the defender with the ball in their dominant hand. They will then fake a dodge in one direction, by dropping their shoulder and stepping towards that side, while moving the stick in the opposite direction. This is done to get the defender to shift their weight and move their stick to that side, creating an opening on the other side.

Defense:

Defense is a crucial aspect of lacrosse for all positions, not just defenders. Coaches can teach players defensive techniques such as:

• Triangle drill: Three players form a triangle with about 5 yards between each player. The coach passes the ball to one player, who throws it to another player in the triangle. The third player must slide to cover the player who receives the pass.
  
  
• Sliding drill: Two players stand about 10 yards apart, one with the ball and one without. The player with the ball tries to dodge past the other player providing minimal resistance, a third player who would otherwise be guarding someone else, slides to the player with the ball, stopping them from taking a shot.
  
  
• No-pass drill: Two offensive players stand about 10 yards apart, with a defender in between them. The objective is for the offensive players to pass the ball to each other without the defender intercepting it.

Stickwork:

Lacrosse players need to have excellent stick skills. Coaches can teach players stickwork techniques to practice on their own, or can be done as a warm-up early on in practice:

• Wall ball: The player throws the ball against a wall and catches it with their stick. The player then repeats the process with their other hand - paying special focus on one or more locations and keeping proper form.
  
  
• One-handed cradle: The player cradles the ball with one hand while running - while most of the time two handed cradles are more sturdy, one handed cradling can be very important when on the run.
  
  
• Two-ball wall ball: In this drill, the player stands facing a wall and has two lacrosse balls in their stick. The player throws one ball against the wall with their hand (usually at a high arc), then quickly sets their hands and passes the other ball against the wall, switching back and forth between the two balls. The objective of the drill is to maintain control of both balls while keeping the stick moving quickly and fluidly. This is a drill that more advanced athletes will want to consider.

Conditioning:

Lacrosse is a fast-paced sport that requires players to be in top physical shape. Coaches can get their players in conditioning shape by doing one or more of the following each practice:

• Shuttle run: The player runs back and forth between two cones, touching each cone with their hand.
  
  
• Suicide drill: The player runs back and forth between several cones, touching each cone with their hand.
  
  
• Sprint ladder: The player sprints between a series of cones placed in a zigzag pattern. This helps with ankle strength as well as dodging/agility.