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Offensive Lacrosse: 2 Efficient Mid-Range Shooting Drills to Boost Production

By adam.warner - Last updated: Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Looking to improve your offensive production? Implement these efficient mid-range shooting drills to your lacrosse practices this season. Follow along as Haverford School assistant coach Mark Pittrone runs through each rep with his team at full speed. Great for midfielders and attackers alike, the following drills ensure players get a ton of reps in a short time while improving overall shooting accuracy.

Island Curl

Lacrosse teams often run shooting drills from the top down, but it’s also important to work on drills from the bottom up, especially for attackmen. In this drill, players will dodge up from the end line to about “7 and 7” or “5 and 5”, what we call the “island.” From here, players will roll back, curl off a cone, and get away a mid-range shot on the run or curling to the goal.

We will put a few cones on the island where the players need to get to. The next player in line should get moving as soon as the previous player starts his roll back to the goal. You can also add a second shot to this, for instance a curl shot right after shooting the first one.

Reinforces: Dodging from X, inside shooting, mid-range shooting, and coming from behind the goal to out front and delivering a nice accurate curl shot (with a second shot, which helps attackers be alert and think a little bit).

Figure 8 Drill

This is a versatile drill that’s helpful on seven-yard shots. It involves a lot of stickwork skills and is a great conditioner too. Also, it requires constant movement as players must catch a pass while running and then shoot it while running. Players will curl around cone and catch it right after the curl for a quick shot.

You can run this drill with as many players as you’d like to. For this example, we will proceed with four players: Two feeders and two shooters. When the players start to get tired, we will have them switch up.

You can also mix things up by going for long-range shots, mid-range shots, and tight space shots. You can even put feeders behind the goal so the players can step down and shoot it. Look to add some fakes to the shot before shooting, tight shots with both hands, and then shots using outside and inside hands. Clearly, this is a very versatile drill.

The previous clips can be seen on Championship Productions’ DVD ”Efficient Shooting Drills for Lacrosse Practice” with John Nostrant. Check out more shooting videos by visiting our lacrosse library.

All Access Haverford Lacrosse Practice: Warm-Ups & 3-on-2 Drills

By adam.warner - Last updated: Tuesday, August 14, 2012

In the latest edition of All Access, we head back to Haverford, Pennsylvania for a behind-the-scenes look at a Haverford School boys’ lacrosse practice. Follow along as head coach John Nostrant leads his team through a number of warm-up and odd-man full-field drills.

Don’t miss this opportunity to learn several effective drills that are a practice staple for one of the nation’s most renowned high school programs. Then look for ways to implement them with your own squad as you gear up for another lacrosse campaign.

Warm-ups – Passing and Stickwork

On the heels of a pre-pracitice pep talk, Haverford immediately gets into passing and stickwork drills. While the offensive unit starts in “Diamond”, the defense gets things going with footwork and ground ball drills. The defensive unit first focuses on changing positions based on ball movement around the perimeter.

Next in Diamond, the offensive players are working on meeting the pass, rolling back, and protecting the stick. Notice how the outside guys are working on long passes around the perimeter and quick ball movement while the inside guys are making rapid-fire passes between teammates set out about 10-12 yards apart.

Notre Dame Drill

In the Notre Dame Drill, players pick up ground balls, kick the ball, move it, and handle pressure in a high traffic scenario. This is a nonstop ground ball drill where half the team in the same area of the field. The drill, which goes for about one minute per repetition, works on each player’s ability to handle pressure and get the ball out of their own end of the field. Go for about 4 reps total.

3-on-2 Continuous

With this final drill, players are coming down on a continuous 3-on-2 break where you got two top guys and a crease guy and one of the top guys will try to drive it down the side. You always want that middle guy to get down low on the high crease. If you do, try to pop it up through the middle. If the top guy tries to drive it across the top, then the crease guy comes out behind him. Make sure you designate a crease guy and he gets up the middle early.

As Coach Nostrant explains, there are a couple of different ways to approach a 3-on-2. For instance, you can drive it deep or you can put a guy inside and roll him out. If you drive it, the crease guy can pop out on the other side, while the other side drags it.

Notes: Look to play to points and make this drill competitive. Haverford will often put juniors and seniors up against freshmen and sophomores to get the competitive juices flowing.

The previous clips can be seen on Championship Productions’ DVD “All Access Haverford Lacrosse Practice.” To check out our entire All Access catalog, head over to our lacrosse library.

Filed in Lacrosse Newsletter • Tags: All Access Lacrosse Practice, Haverford Boys Lacrosse, John Nostrant, Practice Organization for Lacrosse

All Access Haverford Lacrosse: Pre-Practice Drills and 6-on-6 Action

By adam.warner - Last updated: Tuesday, May 15, 2012

In this week’s edition of All Access, we take you back to Haverford, Pennsylvania for a behind-the-scenes look at a Haverford School boys’ lacrosse practice. Follow along as head coach John Nostrant leads his squad through a number of team pre-practice drills focusing on defensive fundamentals and 6-on-6 half field simulations.

Pre-Practice Blocking

We start things off with a few pre-practice drills on the defensive end. This opening blocking drill forces players to go 1-on-1 from behind the cage, but the offensive player does not have a stick. The objective for defenders is to use their stick skills and fundamentals to keep the offensive player from gaining certain areas and to force them away from the cage. Three cones are set out on each side of the goal (in the shape of an arc). These cones provide defenders with a guideline for where they should prevent the offensive player from moving.

Tips for Defenders: Do whatever you can to get around the cone and grab the ball. Find that leverage spot and get inside that offensive player’s glove. Don’t let the attacker get top side, either. To help with this, get your stick up field, placed on your man’s back, and wheel him around with the goal to get him back behind the GLE. As for the offensive guys, look to go around the cone and get top side.

Slide Progressions

In this slide progression series, we have an offensive player going up against a number of defensive players. As the offensive player makes a variety of moves, the defensive guys work on their slides based on where the offensive person goes. There are four designated spots, so make sure that players change spots each time. Also have the first two players start back-to-back to commence the drill.

6-on-6 Action

At this point in practice, Haverford is looking to implement certain schemes in a half field setting to prepare for its upcoming games and the playoffs. The goal here is to throw in some different wrinkles defensively and offensively. First, the squad will go for about 10 minutes vs. man-to-man defense and then finish up with 5 or 10 minutes against the zone.

This is a prime opportunity for the offense to work on limiting turnovers, an area of concern for the team lately. A few minutes in, the team loses focus and is forced to run sprints. When they get back into things, Coach Nostrant reemphasizes handling the ball and passing and catching with authority — even when you’re getting tired.

The previous clips can be seen on Championship Productions’ DVD “All Access Haverford Lacrosse Practice with John Nostrant.” To check out more videos in our All Access library, click here.

Filed in Lacrosse • Tags: All Access Lacrosse Practice, Haverford Boys Lacrosse, John Nostrant, Practice Organization for Lacrosse, Pre-Practice Drills

3 Efficient Shooting Drills for Lacrosse Practice

By adam.warner - Last updated: Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Look to add these highly efficient shooting drills to your lacrosse practices this year. The drills come from John Nostrant, the head boys’ lacrosse coach at the Haverford School in Haverford, Pennsylvania. Perfect for warm-ups, game days, or after conditioning, these three shooting drills get your players a lot of reps in a short time and aim to improve overall shooting accuracy.

3-Man Shooting

This shooting drill uses three lines of players. It all starts with a pass from the right line to the middle guy and then a shot on cage by the middle guy from about 15 yards out. Next, a pass immediately goes from the left player to the right player for a hard shot. Remember, there should be no defense or goalie’s in this drill, just offensive players working on their shooting. Players should always switch lines.

The goal here is to get a volume of shots, get players warmed up, improve on stick work, and to not wear on their legs. 3-Man Shooting is a good pre-game drill and perfect following a lot of conditioning work. Note: The team will burn through a massive amount of balls in about five minutes. There’s constant movement involved, ample passing, and a lot of reps.

2-Shot with Dodge

Next, have all the lacrosse balls start in the top middle area. The players on the wings will get two shots back-to-back. The first is a set shot, like you’d get in an extra-man situation, set play, or fast break. The second shot is a “hitch and go” featuring a big shot fake and run to the middle.

This is a terrific warm-up drill, but also ideal for teaching technique, dodging, stick skills, and overall throwing and catching. Make sure that you get players to make a big pump fake and then sprint to the middle before unloading a shot.

Also, provide two feeders up top just constantly feeding players with passes. This should be their only job. It really helps players get in a lot of reps. Force the players to mix up shots, whether it be a low shot, high pipe shot, bouncer, etc.

Tip: Since there’s no defense here, players have the tendency to take their time and make a big wind-up. Constantly remind them to get their shots off quickly like in a game situation.

2-Shot with Backdoor Cut

Finally, using the same set-up as before, get players to first make a set shot. Then for the second shot, have players step out, make a backdoor cut, lead with the stick, catch the ball, make one fake, and then shoot it. Remember, don’t run behind the goal. Stay in front of it. Meanwhile, lead players with your stick on the backdoor cut. Like before, players get back-to-back shots in the same sequence here.

Does your squad implement any of these drills or similar variations as part of their practice routine? Which other shooting drills do you recommend for getting your players a ton of reps?

Filed in Lacrosse • Tags: Drills, Haverford Boys Lacrosse, Inside the Crease, John Nostrant, Shooting