Seeing the Field

[truste1]

In response to WHEELAX2's post about posting tactic-oriented topics, I figured I'd ask about something that I had trouble with at the last clinic I attended. I'm new to lacrosse, got into it before summer but we really only had a short intro-to throwing/catching/scooping practice before summer. Lax is new at my school (club) and our rival school has a more established club team that's been helping us out (they hosted two clinics for the guys and we're going to combine with them.)

Anyway, I've been practicing my stick skills pretty much nonstop (more or less everytime I stand up, I noticed today at lunch I was subconciously cradling my fork.) Though, at the last clinic I had a problem with seeing the field when I was playing offensive middie (we played half field). This would often lead to me getting the ball, getting passed my defender and going for a goal, not seeing the open pass, and maybe getting by 1 or 2 people before losing the ball. Is the ability to see open passes better something you pick up as you go along, or is it relative to which helmet you use or what? I just couldn't focus on my line of travel, the defender on me, and the open players.

(By the way, since we were playing half field and weren't doing face offs (middie would just start off by passing) the midfielders were encouraged to score if they had a shot not just get the ball to the attackmen.)

Any tips would be appreciated.
Thanks.

[xSURFERx]

well, i have the same problem, and ive been playing for awhile, scince 5th grade and im now a junior in highschool, so it may b somthing u pick up, but i havent.....anyway, im sure the helmet may help with seeing the field, but i dont think it would make that big of a diffrence. i know this wasnt a very helpful post but i have the same problem so i figured id share

[lax16]

At first it's very hard to incorporate so much into your game. You have to worry about your cradling your defensemen where you are on the field your dodge. There's a lot to think about when you're just starting out. Once you start mastering these skills and become comfortable out on the field and with whom you're playing with you'll begin to see the field a lot better.

A great drill I do is i set up two cones about 30 yds or so apart. Then i have my coach or a teammate stand about 10 yds off to the right or left. You then start running from 1 cone to the other cradling, when you get to the other cone you switch hands and you have to make sure you keep your head up because your friend or coach will be holding up 0-5 fingers and you have to call out how many fingers are up as your turning. This should help you out.

good luck

Mike

[LongIslandLax]

First off is it possible for you or anyone like this to have ADD. This might affect your ability.
My second thought is that it takes time for these things. You are new to the game and do not know how your teamates react and where players are lineing up. You are worried about losing the ball. Once you gain confidence you will be able to think ahead of what is happeneing and properly react.One tip for this is that you should watch as much lacrosse as possible and focus on each individual player according to your postion. Watch his footwork and notice how his head is always up looking to score or pass.
If you can't watch lacrosse watch basketball. Watch him lead his players and make moves to either shoot of pass. Also notice how he leads his teamates and the backdoors.

Good luck.

[laxfolife24]

I play girl's lax so I don't really have to worry about guys coming at me.

I think that seeing the field is something that either comes natural to a person, or take takes a lot of time and experience to pick up.


Work on keeping your head up.

Have some of the guys on your team practice with you, just play a 7v7 or so and tell them what you are trying to work on. And if they want to have a better team they will do it.

Also talking to your coach might help because he/she probably has a lot of lacrosse experience and can help you point out what it is that you are doing wrong.

[truste1]

I was just more or less looking for tips that I could keep in mind while playing. Having my team help me won't work until the two teams combine actually, as I'm one of the more advanced players on my team (maybe 3 kids actually have experience, but they never come to any of the practices and stuff since they're mostly intro stuff I guess.) I actually practice and research the different stuff so people are usually asking me for help. My coach is just a teacher from my school who played D3 ball (defense) and he's really not to informed on the stuff for the other positions I guess, plus he has no coaching experience. We were talking and he said he's going to learn as much as he can about coaching while the teams are combined so hopefully in the 07 season we can break off and have our own varsity team. The coach for the school that's helping us played for Navy, and once he comes back from his tour at sea I guess is when we'll start doing stuff again with the team mixed together?

I think we're looking into a winter league too, or something like that. I think the problem might have been, at that time, I was much worse at cradling than I am now so I might have been focusing on that a lot more.