Box lacrosse drills

[Janessa]

Hi,

This is my first year involved in lacrosse. Where I coach they were scrambling for coaches so I sort of got "volunteered" I've coached hockey, ball and coach kayaking but I'm finding it really hard to come up with good drills for the kids.
We do passing and loose ball drills as well as the "Star drill" and the "pick" drill (where you get kids to set up screens)
We do box lacrosse as our fields are still frozen (today it actually snowed!).
I need some drills for offense and defense. The kids I coach are 12-13 year old boys. ANY help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Janessa

[RockStar]

Try ontariolacrosse.com for coaching materials. I think there's a few teasers online, and that you can order videos and playbooks.

Good luck!

[Paul_Gait_RULZ]

have them scrimmage at one end use the two ends....

make them call the shooter to score to make it harder, and when the 'd' gets it, they clear to the blue line hard and all come back and set up.......with two ends going no one sits.....

also..... have you 5 guys lines start a shuttle drill in front of the net.....let the goalie call clear when he pleases....the ball is then given to your goalie in his crease....the 5 guys break out with the shooter on the opposite side of the bench running to mid-line/or breakout pass and run a 5 on 0 breakout to the other end on the other goalie....you can add the other 5 playing 'd' and then the o guys play d after type of set up....

a fun drill for kids is at the end of then practice do shootouts but with the kids standing in groups of score or miss....the group that guessed wrong runs end boards and back...good harmless fun running thing.....

3 man weaves down the floor.....all 3 men run down the floor, they follo the pass...so left guy starts passes to the middle, runs to the middle as the middle guy dished right he goes right with the pattern continuing....man gimme your e-mail in PM, I got some lax books I can scan and send a PDF or whatever of to you...I have lax for dummies and lax fundamentals both by jim hinkson....

[a_nik_02]

Originally posted by Paul_Gait_RULZ


a fun drill for kids is at the end of then practice do shootouts but with the kids standing in groups of score or miss....the group that guessed wrong runs end boards and back...good harmless fun running thing.....



We do the same thing except the people who miss have to do push ups or situps.

Another good thing to do at the start of practice is to make them do a 10-12 minute run. Its really hard but will build up endurance and make them better players.

[Janessa]

I already have the kids doing a 15 minute run before practice. No real problems there.
The only thing I have problems with is to make the drills fun. We do a lot of competition drills but we have one really weak player on the team (he can't catch or throw yet). The team Captain and the Two "A"s have taken it upon themselves to help this kid but it really inturpts practice.
Also, we're playing against two really tough teams with really skilled players. We have two or three skill players, the rest all really take the body. Any suggestions on what to do?

Janessa

[Gordon]

have them scrimmage at one end use the two ends....

make them call the shooter to score to make it harder, and when the 'd' gets it, they clear to the blue line hard and all come back and set up.......with two ends going no one sits.....

also..... have you 5 guys lines start a shuttle drill in front of the net.....let the goalie call clear when he pleases....the ball is then given to your goalie in his crease....the 5 guys break out with the shooter on the opposite side of the bench running to mid-line/or breakout pass and run a 5 on 0 breakout to the other end on the other goalie....you can add the other 5 playing 'd' and then the o guys play d after type of set up....

a fun drill for kids is at the end of then practice do shootouts but with the kids standing in groups of score or miss....the group that guessed wrong runs end boards and back...good harmless fun running thing.....

3 man weaves down the floor.....all 3 men run down the floor, they follo the pass...so left guy starts passes to the middle, runs to the middle as the middle guy dished right he goes right with the pattern continuing....man gimme your e-mail in PM, I got some lax books I can scan and send a PDF or whatever of to you...I have lax for dummies and lax fundamentals both by jim hinkson....

I am in the same situation - can you also forward the drills to glaing@tru.eastlink.ca

[Mike H]

would love a copy of that drill pdf too .. coaching Bantam Box House League

Thanks
Mike
mikejhowarth@hotmail.com

[RockStar]

^^Mike and Gordon:

Where do you coach?

I'm a first year ref doing games in the Toronto area (Willowdale Minor Association).

[jeffhobbs9]

If you are stuck indoors and with a new team. Learning the basics is the most important thing you can work on. Lacrosse is a lot more fun if you can pass and catch.

-Line drills are very basic but extremely important in getting sticks working properly.
-3 man weave is good for ball movement on the run.
-If your in a rink or a gym and there is a wall get the guys to do drills off the wall by themselves or line drills (every canadian box player does this from peanut to nll)
-Get some hitting involved. So 3 on 2s or 1 on 1s really seems to help the guys enjoy themselves
-As for the running make your drills full speed with lots of up and down play. This makes the running "game like" (don't waste your floor time on running do it before you get the floor time also do the team stretch. pratice time is 6-7 get the guys there at dressed by 5:35 warm up run and stretch. Maximize floor time if it is scarce)
-The weak stick get him to practice on his own. Wall ball is key to development.

[Ivo]

Two fun drills I came up with.

#1) Run the Gauntlet - Lines players up 3 or 4 across the blue line, centre line and other blue line. Each player has an area he must defend. Start a player with ball by the net and they have to run through all three lines, then become a member of the line with a new player going to ball carrier, its a rotation.

#2) Find a soft lacrosse ball. Something that can be throw normally but wont break arms. Then try to hit your players as they run around with thier heads off. Kids love it, although the parenst though I was using a real ball. Its good cardio and fun, no harm actually done.

[redfive]

...man gimme your e-mail in PM, I got some lax books I can scan and send a PDF or whatever of to you...I have lax for dummies and lax fundamentals both by jim hinkson....

redfive@gmail.com

Thanks!

[CTLaxer]

Talk to a local hockey coach. A lot of the drills hockey teams use can be converted for use in box lacrosse. Basically the same looks and ideas are involved in both sports. Working the puck around to the D on the blue line for a one timer can be converted to lax for an outside shot with traffic, that sort of stuff.

Errr...just realized you said you weren't a box team but were practicing in a box field due to weather...my bad. Same advice can still be used though. You mentioned you coached "ball", if that's basketball then you can use some of those drills as well. The beautiful thing about lacrosse is there are so many aspects of other sports that you can easily steal drills and exercises from other sports to fight lacrosse.

[laxdude13]

try the 3 man weave, it works their stick skills and speed

The box passing drill: 3 short sticks on the outside, 2 guys playing defense in the middle. Make the 3 outside guys pass the ball while rotating in a box. The 2 defensemen call ball or man, depending on who is closer. It works the kids' dominant hands. Then call reverse so they work their weaker hands.

Groundballs: 3 guys line upon the endline. Throw the ball downfield and have them retrieve it. Switch it up from every man for himself to having the 2 outside guys work together. (To give incentive, if the middle guy wins the 2 outside guys do pushups, etc.)

One on ones

Line drills

Dodging (Split dodge, roll dodge, etc)

Running (suicides)