Field awareness

[matty1613]

Coaches I'm running into a situation. I have a very solid team mainly the backbone of the team is the Defense and the problem we are running into is that we are containing legit teams to an ave. of 3.2 goals a game this year just our Offense can't produce. We have the fire power they just don't understand the maturity and discipline on the field. Mostly they lack field awareness and what to do in Game situations. Mostly what will have is the Defense will hold the other team we would get it to the O and instead of containing the ball they shoot. We try to instill into their heads to contain the ball but I think they don't mentally grasp it. Any advice or drills or activity to fill this void.

[TigerLax29]

Try doing 2v1 then 3v2 then 4v3 then 5v4 then 6v5 then 6v6 and emphasize moving the ball and finding an open guy for the best possible shot.

Most of the time when I've seen really short offensive posessions it's from trying to push unsettled situations. One thing I did to encourage settling the offense is starting the offense up top and the defense behind the cage and toss a ground ball up to the O. Since the defense can cover the hole before the O can push toward the cage, the offense can't run and gun but have to set up the O.

[NHLaxDad]

What age group?

You should Google the Kevin Sheehan motion offense articles. Very helpful.

Agree with the 3v2 progressing to 4v3, etc. I would add rules: 2-3 complete passes in a row before a shot, can't hold the ball for more than 3 seconds, etc.

[matty1613]

It's sad to say but HS. I'm an alumn and I'm a goalie coach they are very athletic and their previous coach actually made their team worse. They can play lacrosse just lack the field maturity. Thanks for the advice.