practise drills

[ChiefsLacrosse1]

does anyone out there have a site, or no of any good drills that could be used in a midget-aged box practice? i searched, but could only find ones that taught the basics. diagrams would help too. thanks.

[#15Roadies]

That is a very large question! But sometimes the "basics" are the hardest things to teach midget aged kids.

Is there a particular area you need to work on?

btw - If you have the cash to spare, this manual on eBay is pretty solid:

http://cgi.ebay.com/LACROSSE-DRILL-MANUAL-COACHES-150-PAGES_W0QQitemZ290134309055QQihZ019QQcategoryZ1604 3QQcmdZViewItem

[ChiefsLacrosse1]

well im just an assistant captain, and my coach told me that were running the practices for this week, and im completly stumped on how to kill an hour and a half. i dont exactly have the dough to dish out, but even the fundamentals like finishing your picks and connecting the passes are troubles for us sometimes. Im just looking for drills that could improve on things like reaction time, recognizing opportunities, shooting on the run off picks, etc.

[Jarzombek]

**Revised per your post above**

If you don't mind taking advice from an American I may be able to help. We work very hard w/ our 14-16 yr olds on quick sticks and touch passing.

Drill # 1: Triangle, 3 players, 2 balls. Player at point catches and returns w/o cradle, fast as possible. Players rotate at point.

Drill # 2: Zig Zag competition, split squad in two. Set each up next to cones in a Z formation, about 10 yds apart. A full bucket of balls at one end, an empty at the other. First team to fill the empty bucket wins. Teaches touch passing, great team work, etc.

More to come gotta go . . .

[#15Roadies]

OK, I hear ya.

1. Four corner drills: have a group each of lefts and rights on their crease and corner positions. Goalies in net.

- 3 pass ball starts low: R crease passes up to R corner, who then passes across to opposite L corner. Once the R crease has passed the ball, he will cut up, then in (sharp push off cuts) to receive a pass from the L corner. Pass should hit the creaseman when he is on his proper side of the floor and he should shoot quickly. Alternate which side the ball starts from.

- 3 pass from the top: R corner passes to opposite L corner who then passes to the L crease. Once the R corner has passed the ball he will cut down then in to receive the pass from the L crease. Same deal - start on one side, then alternate.

- 4 pass low: same as the 3 pass except once the creaseman as received the ball he will then pass to opposite creaseman who has timed himself to arrive on the crease for a quick stick. If you want to work the goalies have the first creaseman option the pass or a shot.

Note: Once players have completed their pass or shot, they will move to the opposite line on the same side of the floor (i.e. L crease moves to L corner, etc.)

Variations: A) when a player passes he follows his pass to a pick position then rolls to new position once the subsequent pass has been made. B) have defenders play soft and try to block the passing lanes with their stick.

- pass & cut: a little complicated, but imagine it - it is just a continuous series of give and go passes. Ball starts low. R crease passes to R corner, then cuts inside for a pass. R corner makes the give n go pass to R crease then cuts inside for a pass. R crease then passes to L corner and rolls to R corner position. L corner then passes to R corner (who is cutting) and then cuts inside for a pass. R corner then passes to L crease and then rolls into R crease position. L crease passes the ball to L corner who passes the ball to the next player in the R crease position. L crease and L corner exchange positions (end of the line if you have groups of players) Then it starts over again.

Notes: if players have never done this drill before, best to start wide near the boards and slowly. Once they get moving you can reduce the area they are passing and cutting in to the middle lane. Reducing the size will get the players passing the ball very quickly and starting to use quick stick passes.

Start on one side for 5 minutes, then start on the other side.

Variations: instead of the final pass, the cornerman will take a shot.

- 1-on-1 (a player favourite) with the players in the 4 corners, one player comes out to play D. He will butt gloves with the first player in the L crease (who has a ball) and then the L crease will go 1-on-1 for a shot. Once a shot has been taken, the same D guy will butt gloves with L corner, then R corner, then R crease in successive 1-on-1's.

Notes: run drill at top speed so the D guy gets a workout. Once the D guy is beaten he can butt gloves with the next guy to get things started. You can have the D guy only butt gloves with each corner once and then switch off, or he can go through the whole team. Depends how much time you have and you don't want guys standing around too long.

2. Star Drill: a group of players each on the corners and a group in the middle point position. Very quick passing drill: r crease to L corner; L corner to R corner; R corner to L crease; L crease to point. Point goes in for a shot. Switch starting side after 2-5 minutes.

Notes: players follow their pass to the line they are passing to. All players must pop-out to receive a pass.

Variation: players follow pass and either set a pick to try to defend the passing lane against the next pass.

3. War on the Floor Corny Derks style (THE player favourite!) Take nets and put them into paperweight position, i.e. cross floor between end & restraining line. (Works best with two goalies.) Divide players into two teams standing behind the restraining line. If the ball goes over the restraining line it is out of play. Switch mini team players often, say every two minutes or every goal. If you have ppw creases marked on the floor, cool. If not, no crease. (but players have to use common sense - they don't want to crank the most valuable players on their team - the goalies.

To start play the coach will throw the ball off the end boards. You can do any variation of players on each mini team, but you can start like this: 2-on-1's, then 2-on-2's, then 3-on-2's, 3-on-3, 4-on-3, 4-on-4. The play will move very fast and guys got to be moving constantly to find open space.

4. War on the Floor Steve Millard style: divide players into equal lines of 5 (you should have 3 lines of 5 and maybe some subs) and call them A, B, C. Goalies in both nets running full floor (run 'n gun). A starts and attacks B defending at the other end. Once possession is gained by B (a save, goal, loosie or 30 second count) they attack C who is defending the other end of the floor. A then takes the defending position in the end that B originally was defending. Once C gains the ball, they attack A at the other end, and B then assumes defence at the end they were attacking. And so on. You can run 30 minutes with this drill, and it is a lot of fun.

Variations: you can have lines of 3-on-3 or 4-on-4 to play this, just make sure each line defends and then attacks in sequence.

5. Partner drills: each player has a partner.

A) Passing - players are stationary and pass the ball to each partner. Start outside from boards to boards, then move them in until they are passing the ball across the middle lane only. Depending on skill level, have them do cranks or quick sticks, bounce or goose eggs (rolls).

B) Passing Cross Floor - a) players 10 feet apart heading in one direction - do over the shoulder catches reverse when player A reaches the boards. b) players facing each other going cross floor, one player is passing & catching while backpeddling and they reverse when the backpeddling player reaches the boards.

C) Defense - player A tries to go cross floor while while player B is cross-checking. Player A has to stay in his lane and roll.

6. Goalie work (best if you havr two goalies at either end)

- umbrella drill - for warm ups then 3 yds off the 24 foot for cranks and then slowly move the shooters in.

- scoop and shoot. Groups of lefts and rights in their respective low corner - alternate who starts. Coach rolls the ball in the middle to the restraining line, a player must run up, scoop the ball then run in for a shot. Coach can vary the roll - i.e. toward the net, away from the net, to the same side boards, to the opposite boards, etc.

- break away contest - break the team into two mini teams (i.e. rights versus lefts, or whatever) and the players go in for a shot. Keep score. If a player misses the net they either run the boards or do 25 pushups or some other suitable punishment.

Notes: any time a player hits the goalie in the mask, 25 push ups, then 30, then 35, etc. This generally keeps the shooters more accurate.

Anyhow, this should keep your team busy for 90 minutes. If you need diagrams, PM me with your email address and I'll see what I can do...