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Congratulations to Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski, who passed Dean Smith for second place on the all-time NCAA wins list as his No. 1 Blue Devils dominated UNC Greensboro, 108-62.
Coach K notched the 880th win of his career to move past the former North Carolina coach and now trails just Bob Knight, who currently holds the Division I men’s basketball record at 902 career wins.
Midfielders play extremely important roles on any lacrosse team. They are the only players to play both offense and defense, so they need to be complete players. It’s key that midfielders can dictate the tempo of a game by playing hard and fast, so in order to do that, players have to drill hard and fast.
Being skilled with ground balls is vital to becoming a dynamic midfielder and it’s very important to be able to pick the ball off the ground. Teams generally want their midfielders to create tempo and cause havoc out on the field, but the only way to do that is by knocking the ball to the ground and picking it up.
Led by Duke assistant coach Ron Caputo, the following drills will teach you proper ground ball techniques, skills and methods to incorporate into your next practice and ultimately improve the play of your midfielders.
A good midfielder doesn’t care about what’s around them and will always run through the ball. In this drill, have a line of players stand about 5-10 yards from a ball on the field. Meanwhile, take two players and have them hold out their sticks toward the ball, but never touching it. While the sticks will hit the players, it shouldn’t matter. One by one, players will sprint forward and scoop up the ball. Even if the ball gets kicked and moves forward, players should not be worried about distractions and conflict.
Players should start out with their right hand first and then use their left h and on the way back. Remember, players should pick up the ball with both hands though. The goal here is to get comfortable picking up the ball and not be worried about contact or distractions on he field.
One of the biggest keys for a midfielder is to be able to move the ball to teammates right away. To do that, players must be able to pick up the ball with both hands and do so very fast.
In this drill, two players will start out about five yards apart and face the main drill participant. One player will then roll the ball out to the main participant’s right hand and as they pick it up, he will “get in the mirror” and pass it back to the roller. Then the other roller will toss the ball out to the player’s left side, and the player will scoop it up and deposit it back to the roller. The drill repeats continuously.
This is a great conditioning drill and will keep your players playing fast and being able to pick up the ball with both hands before moving it quickly to teammates.
Another job of a midfielder is to keep opposing teams off the ground balls and allow one of their teammates to get it. In this drill, we’ll have two players work together at a time. One player will be in front of the other. At the sound of the whistle, the player playing behind the offensive player will try to get around the man and get the ball that’s resting just out in front. Meanwhile, the player in front will use his elbows and hips to box that player out and not let him get the ball. The player may not pick up the ground ball until the coach blows his whistle a second time.
The three drills in this week’s feature can be found in the Championship Productions’ DVD “Becoming a Champion: The Midfielder.” To check out additional videos in the Becoming a Champion lacrosse series, click here.
This week’s player development feature focuses on a variety of drills geared toward offensive lacrosse players and the improvement of their inside play.
It’s important that every team features elite inside players, or off-ball players. The skills of an off-ball player are always needed and are extremely valuable. A good inside player is typically savvy, has great hands, has great stick skills and has developed a knack for scoring goals. Also, these players play a big part in the outcome of lacrosse games as games are often won and lost at the hands of their inside players.
But before one becomes an elite off-ball player, they must develop their stickwork first. Led by Johns Hopkins assistant coach Bobby Benson, the following six drills focus on improving individual stick skills so that offensive players can catch and shoot at a very quick pace and take their game to the next level.
In this drill, two players will simply play catch with each other in place, but using proper techniques. The 2-Man Catch develops one’s general stickwork skills and works on having players deliver a quick release.
Keep in mind when conducting this drill, players should always turn their shoulders so they are pointing toward their throwing partner. The key here is to work on catching the ball behind the head so you can get off a good, quick release. You do not want to catch the ball in front of you. If you do, you can’t do as much in this position and you can’t simply play lacrosse. But with the ball behind you, you can play, shoot or pass quickly and it will help you score goals inside.
Remember, passes and feeds should be done right off the ear.
By adding a second ball, this drill picks up the pace and challenges players to go faster with catching and passing. Like the previous drill, there’s only two players working together here but with two balls now, so they have to push each other to go faster and faster. If there’s a bad pass, have the players move their feet to go catch it. Remember, players should keep one foot in front of the other when catching and passing, but remain stationary altogether.
In this drill, two players start out about 10 yards apart and run parallel to each other all the way down the length of the field while catching and passing. Players should go 60-75 yards down the field with one hand before returning in the other direction while using the opposite hand. Remember, look to catch the ball across the face and don’t reach out to catch it. Reaching out to catch the ball will only slow you down. Remember to minimize cradles to get a good quick release and be sure to work on both the right and left hands.
Now, by adding a second ball and running down the length of the field, all previous drill actions are working together. This drill really works on developing speed and playing on the move.
This drill features four players starting out in a box formation and standing on the hash marks of the field. Two players are just behind the goal on opposite wings and the other two players are out in front of the goal also on opposite wings. The ball starts out in one corner. Players will then throw the ball to each other around the horn, catching it behind their head and getting the ball in and out of their sticks as fast as possible. Players — while remaining stationary — keep going around the horn until the coach blows the whistle.
Here, we had a second ball to the drill in order to work at a quicker pace. Remember to move the feet in order to go and get the ball, but overall, players should remain stationary.
The six drills mentioned in this feature can also be found in Championship Productions’ DVD “Essential Skills For Inside Play.” Check out more of our extensive skill development DVDs here.
In this week’s edition of Coaches Corner, Championship Productions editor Adam Warner sits down with Towson head coach Tony Seaman, the reigning CAA Coach of the Year and three-time NCAA Division I Coach of the Year. Seaman talks about the specific tools that players and teams need to be successful in lacrosse, takes us behind the scenes of his program in the off-season, and even reveals his New Years resolutions for 2011.
CP: Take me behind the scenes of your program right now. What happens in these off-season months and what’s the transition like to January and preseason mode?
TS: October and November is when we have our fall practices. We also run individual practices up to two hours a week with each player and we work on dodging, stick-work, shooting, and things like that. Plus, we also have the guys go through a comprehensive strength and conditioning program with one of our coaches four times a week. In December, it’s all about finals for the kids, and we don’t see them anymore.
One of the most stressful times for me is actually in the off-season when I have to check out the final grades of our players. But January 17th is when things get started back up again. We have a February 2nd scrimmage with Bucknell and then we face Princeton at Princeton before opening up the regular season with Johns Hopkins.
Talk about the things you and your coaching staff must do at this time of the year that people may not know about.
Recruiting is going on continuously. It’s a quiet period now, but there’s always a lot of juniors and sophomores coming through and getting ideas from our staff and learning about overall philosophies. Meanwhile, we are always staying in contact with recruits and trying to decide where to go with them, and they’re trying to decide where to go themselves. There is constant contact. Recruiting never stops. It takes up about 80 percent of your time in the off-season. Plus, I personally have an administrative role with 205 Lacrosse Camps in the summer and I’m taking admissions now and making contacts and so I’m spending lots of time with that.
What’s your overall practice philosophy and what are your general goals for practices?
Fall is evaluation time. Basic philosophies are established with the freshman and although the older kids are familiar with them, we reemphasize the key techniques and fundamentals that make up what we do. The individual work that we do makes our players better at all parts of the game. Strength and conditioning makes us faster, better athletes and altogether makes them better lacrosse players. It’s about getting ready for the season. We cover all aspects, from offense and defense to extra man offense and defense to riding and clearing, and then all of the game situations we will see. It’s important to make sure everyone is on the same page.
Our philosophy in the spring is to make each other better every day. We also use a lot of scouting reports, do film study, work on game plans and are constantly talking with the players. We are using newer technology now and distributing breakdowns on laptops so the kids can carry it around with them and back at their apartments to study.
You’ve been around many successful teams over the years. Besides talent, what did those teams “have” that made them so successful?
It takes a lot more than just talent. Although, things are a lot more difficult without talent, that’s for sure. Our job as coaches is to bring in talented players. But it’s a team game and a team game can be stronger than the individuals. I’ve never heard of a team that was successful and didn’t have great chemistry, and I’ve never heard of a team that wasn’t successful and did have great chemistry.
It’s an amazing thing. Our team last year started the season at 1-5 and was almost falling apart and then we went 5-0 in the league and got it all together. It comes down to leadership, how badly kids want things and hard work. But in the end, it’s also about goalies making saves, defenders making stops and players putting the ball in the goal.
As a program, how do you decide on which offensive and defensive systems to implement? Does it stem from the coaching staff and their preferences or do you make adjustments and decide based on personnel and the personality of the current team?
If you are going to be successful over time, you must be able to adapt to your personnel. One of the best things of my career was that I got to be a JV and varsity high school coach. There was no recruiting involved and it forced me to adjust and that was so important. Now, big schools can find the perfect players that fit to what they do best. But in high school, you couldn’t do that and you had to adjust and change your philosophies to be successful.
Losing coaches never adjust. I listen to my assistants a lot and we talk a great deal, and we also talk a lot with our older players and we find out what fits best for us. We do a lot of that in the off-season, but also during the season, too. We talk about the things we have to incorporate and make us better and it’s an ever-changing process.
What do you look for most in recruits?
Athleticism, speed and agility stand out right away. After 10 minutes of watching a game, you see a player that continuously beats opponents up and down the field. But in lacrosse, it’s also about stick skills and kids who score no matter how fast they shoot, and the defensive kids that have sound fundamentals. Those things stand out.
Attitude is also key, plus players who hustle and get dirty and work hard for everything they do. In the end, those things help you separate others, who to take and who not to take. You also look at the family, character, where they come from and their reputation, especially in the classroom.
What common bad habits do you see at the high school level that players should focus on improving if they want to take their game to the next level?
It drives me crazy to see sticks down at the hips. Kids need to learn how to play vertical and always have the stick up and down versus across your body.
What’s your favorite drill to run in practice?
We really love 4 on 4 drills. It gives us three slides in defensive packages. We can move people around and simulate our offense pretty well with four people and the kids get a feel for where they belong. Plus, we can work on spacing, picking off the ball and defensively, who will be the first, second and third slide. We can get so much done and there’s less people to worry about and look at on a daily basis.
What’s a favorite drill of your players over the years?
Anything that’s competitive, like 6 on 5 or 5 on 4 drills. Many times we’ll make it into a game where 10 points wins. If the defense clears or makes a save, it’s a point. Or if the offense scores, his team gets a point, and we’ll reward the winning team and punish the losing squad. The guys typically like anything that challenges them.
What’s the best advice you can give to a young player?
Take 100 shots with your right hand and 100 shots with your left hand every day, no matter the weather and no matter what your girlfriend says.
What’s the overall outlook for Towson in 2011?
I believe this is as good of a recruiting class as we’ve ever had. We’ll see down the road, though. They are all talented and come from good teams and they all had a great fall. I think that four or five of them will get some extended playing time this year, and they deserve it. We also have one of toughest schedules in the country and it’s going to be a challenge week in and week out.
Any New Years resolutions?
The more you win, the less you eat and the more you lose, the more you eat. That seems to be the case each year. So I think winning will certainly help my diet next year.
Tony Seaman has produced seven lacrosse videos in partnership with Championship Productions. To check out more videos in his exclusive series, click here.
Congratulations to Geno Auriemma & the University of Connecticut women’s basketball team on their 89th straight victory! The Huskies now own the longest winning streak in NCAA Division I basketball history as they surpassed UCLA’s previous record of 88 straight wins from 1971 – 1974. UConn hasn’t lost a game since the 2008 national semifinals and has played more than 600 games since losing back-to-back games. The Huskies are the only team in NCAA Division I women’s basketball history to finish consecutive seasons as undefeated national champions.
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