faceoff specialist

[Ballinman]

Does anybody have a faceoff specialist on their team ? Almost like alex smith on Delaware.

and What does he do during practice ? Does it get any other kind of playing time besides fast breaks off the draw ?

[the next 'one']

our team doesnt have a guy that only does faceoffs.

i am the faceoff guy on our team, but i do other things. i finished last season with 12 goals and 14 assists too. so it's not like i am literally a FOGO. but we only have one other guy who can faceoff, but he doesnt really faceoff unless i am really tired and need a break or can't play. now that i think about that...it doesnt seem like a very good plan...

[faceofflax15]

A true F0 specialist isn't needed in HS because bad plays/shots/passes happen way to often. In college its a lot more important because they need the possessions.


But I'm our FO man, I took at least 98% of our faceoffs this year. I wouldn't take them in a ridiculous blow out game, or when I wasn't capable of taking them for other reasons.



As a head high school coach, I feel face-offs at the high school level are very important, but at the same time, not nearly as important as they are at the collegiate and professional level. In high school, just like at any other level, possessions lead to goals. But, at the high school level players tend to turn the ball over more, make poor decisions with the ball, and take bad shots. These all lead to turnovers and to a lot of possessions for the other team in return.



At the collegiate level, face-offs serve the biggest purpose. Since there is not a shot clock at the collegiate level, each possession is very important. Teams have the ability to have possession of the ball for as much as 3 – 4 minutes. Especially in a low scoring game, this time with the ball is very valuable. Face-off men have the ability to control possession by fulfilling their role. Winning the face-off late in a one goal game is paramount to your teams’ success. Either giving your team hope to score and tie the game, or giving your team a chance to keep their lead for the remainder of the game.



At the professional level, face-offs still play a very significant role, but with the addition of a shot clock, possessions change almost every minute in the MLL and almost every 30 seconds in the NLL. But, if you can give your team more time to control the ball, this is more time for your team to score and less time that you have to play defense. There are two ways to look at things from this level: It is less important than college since the possessions alternate more with the shot clock. Or the possessions are that much more important since you only get a minute with the ball. Either way, face-offs are still important at the professional level.

[GBaschski]

I'm the face-off specialist for my team. I think it gives your team a big advantage if you have one guy that focuses most of his training on face-offs. Anyway, I would face-off against some other guys for like 10 minutes before practice everyday, but other than that I was always expected to play all-around Offense and Defense like all the other middies at practice. 90% of my face-off training came on my own time.

[LiquidMercury16]

If you have a guy who is FO and can be a specialist but still has great stick skills and what not than he wouldn't have to get off the field and it would be a true fast break

[QPLax11]

we have one guy on our team that doesn faceoffs, but thats not the only thing he does in the game. he is pretty much the complete package, FO, shooting, defense, transition, man up, man down, everything.

[JLancer24]

Theres one guy on my Varsity team that is nasty at faceoffs. He takes faceoffs and plays defense and not offense. He was a senior this past year and in the state semi-final game he went 14-4 on faceoffs.

[truss009]

i play attack but i am the best FO on my team, do you think it makes sense for me to face off then go down and play attack and switch with a middie? but if i lose the face off ill either have to run off or play d for a lil bit. Anyone have kids that do this?

[WinnytheSully]

we just had two guys, one on each middie line who did them

[LiquidMercury16]

i play attack but i am the best FO on my team, do you think it makes sense for me to face off then go down and play attack and switch with a middie? but if i lose the face off ill either have to run off or play d for a lil bit. Anyone have kids that do this?

We have an attackman who does this. We have two FO, one is a middie one is a attack and because our middie FO tore his ACL the attackman ended up takin most of them. He wasn't bad at defense though and had to play sometimes.

[faceofflax15]

i play attack but i am the best FO on my team, do you think it makes sense for me to face off then go down and play attack and switch with a middie? but if i lose the face off ill either have to run off or play d for a lil bit. Anyone have kids that do this?

Why don't you just learn to play Middie?

[UVAlaxer432]

I am the fogo if my line of midfielders isnt out there, if my line is out there I just take the FO and stay in with my line.

[WAC_Shoremen]

i play attack but i am the best FO on my team, do you think it makes sense for me to face off then go down and play attack and switch with a middie? but if i lose the face off ill either have to run off or play d for a lil bit. Anyone have kids that do this?
I did that last season. Unless you're completely hopeless at playing D, it's a good idea. At least try it out a couple times.

[JCface]

i am the main face off specialist for my team JV and Varsity. I don't really practice face offs that much at practice but alot at home and after practice. It is really important for our team especially because we have an amazing attack, so if you get it to them, we'll probably get a goal.

[scarsdalelax08]

this year i was strictly FOGO i won about 70% i did everything our team did until it was team offense me and the back up face off man took FOs but 99% of my moves and skills came from my own hard work in my back yard

[kleinlax-75]

yea we have guys that take the faceoffs but they dont only do that cause we have a kid that faces like a beast but is still one of the best middies we have with the most goals so he doesnt face everytime but a majority

[hclax14]

i took faceoffs with a long pole and won around 70%, and the ones i didnt win, we had a longpole on their faceoff guy so that worked out great. i had 4 goals and about 10 assists on the season. after the face id go to close D.

before practice we would do faceoff drills for about 10-15 minutes while the rest of the team stretched

[truss009]

i might have to switch do middy this years since our team graduated about 10 kids. I have veen playing attack for the past 6 years now, so its what i am most comfortable with. Plus... i am in ko kind of shape to play middie haha. I am gonna end up facing then playing offense, cuz i need to be out there since i led my team in scoring last year