Lacrosse, just like any other sport, requires practice to learn and perfect the necessary skills. Lacrosse is a team sport played with a stick and a ball with the main objective being to score in the opposing team's goal, similar to hockey. In practice, coaches utilize several drills and techniques to teach their players the skills needed to play well. There are a number of offensive, defensive, goalie and skill drills that can be done.
Offensive Drills
The offensive players in lacrosse are responsible for controlling the tempo of the game through ball control and maximizing time of possession. One-on-one drills focus on passing and catching, skills offensive players must fine-tune. Shooting drills also are good. One example of a shooting drill involves lining 15 balls at the top of the crease and having the player scoop the balls and shoot at the goal as quickly and as accurately as possible.
Defensive Drills
Defensive lacrosse players are responsible for defending the goal, typically with a long stick. Most defensive drills focus on body positioning, poke checking and long passes. Poke checking drills can be done with the defenders lined up next to one another with their long sticks to the right side of the body. The person at the end of the line faces the first defenseman next to him, in a defensive posture, and poke checks that player's stick twice, repeating this action as quickly as possible down the line with each player. In one-on-one drills, defensive players practice preventing a good shot or taking the ball from an offensive player.
Goalie Drills
The goalie is responsible for preventing the opposing team from scoring and drills should involve improving accuracy as well as clearing the ball. A drill to work on accuracy uses the goalie and an offensive player, or even the coach. The player or coach stands about 15 yards from the goalie, who is in goal. The player then shoots high for several minutes and progressively begins to shoot lower until he is bouncing shots at the goalie. A passing, or clearing, drill involves the whole team. Offensive and defensive players line up on both sides of the net, with the coach in the middle shooting at the goalie. Each time the goalie saves the ball, he should yell "Clear," at which time a player from one side runs up, allowing the goalie to pass to him so that he can move the ball down the field.
Ground Ball Drills
One of the most basic skills a lacrosse player should learn, after passing and catching, is how to pick up a ground ball. There are many drills to help learn and improve this skill. The box out drill teaches the player to get his hips low when protecting the ball from the defender. It is a good drill to use in pregame warm-up as well. Two players stand one in front of the other. The first player puts the ball down and the other player tries to move around attempting to get the ground ball. The goal here is for the first player to defend and scoop the ball. A second ground ball drill is an out and back that reinforces scooping and quick passing. This drill is done in pairs and is useful in conditioning as well as pregame warm up. Players pair off, one standing on each sideline. One of the players rolls the ball toward his teammate, who scoops up the ground ball and then passes it to the other player. Each player does this three times before switching sides.
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