Lacrosse players at all positions need practice at shooting to capitalize on transitions during games. One offensive technique you have at your disposal is a type of shooting called quick stick, lacrosse’s version of the one-touch shot in soccer or the catch-and-shoot in basketball. This shot is also called the hot potato. You would do well to add the quick-stick to your repertoire to make your game more dangerous and put more pressure on defenders, writes Janine Tucker, head women's lacrosse coach at the Johns Hopkins University, in “Women's Lacrosse: A Guide for Advanced Players and Coaches.”
Components
A quick stick requires you to take a feed, typically a high one, and redirect it in one motion with a snap of your wrist toward the goal, Tucker notes. You catch the ball without cradling it and snap through the shot using a push-pull motion that takes practice to master. Cradling refers to turning your wrists and arms to cradle the ball in the stick pocket, and thus maintain control of it as you move down the field.
Considerations
In practice, you need to work on feeds that come in high, low and in the middle so you are ready for anything. This prepares you for balls that don’t come in ideally. Often two offensive players work together for a quick stick, with the feeder near the crease and the shooter on the back post, ready for a cross-post feed to control and redirect into the goal, Tucker observes.
Preparation
Readiness for a quick stick requires you to evenly distributing your weight on the balls of each foot, notes Rachel Lenzo, an assistant coach at Eastern University in Pennsylvania, at the online site Play Sports TV. Bring the ball in quickly and release it. Make the cradle if you can’t manage the advanced skill of quick stick so that you do at least control the ball. Given the difficulty of this skill, Lenzo advises that you be patient and give yourself time so eventually you can make beautiful plays with this shot.
Drills
You can practice with two teammates throwing quick sticks in a triangular pattern. Or have a player or the coach stand behind the goal with a supply of balls while the players sprint one at a time toward goal. The coach lobs a high ball as each player enters the arc for an attempt at a quick-stick goal. If you want to practice on your own, stand 5 feet from the wall, grasp your stick and do 50 quick sticks with your dominant hand uppermost on the stick, then switch to place your other hand uppermost and repeat.
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