Championship Productions Blog

2 Highly Efficient Clearing Drills for Up-Tempo Lacrosse

Join Colgate men’s lacrosse coach Mike Murphy as he demonstrates a pair of high-tempo clearing drills. Watch as Coach Murphy provides an overview of each drill before breaking down the action with his players on the field. These clearing drills incorporate proper fundamentals, conditioning, transition aspects, and playing at a high tempo while under control.

Bang it Off the Wall Clearing Drill

This is an efficient drill that Colgate uses to simulate clearing situations, playing fast in the middle of the field, getting looks to the inside and outside, and getting quality shots as well.

Start with a defender with the ball on the GLE. He will break out wide and then make a long pass to a midfielder near midfield. From here, the midfielder will turn and pass across midfield to another midfielder, who then breaks up field before passing to another player, who then turns and fires to an attacker behind the GLE.

Next, the attacker will then turn and look for a streaking teammate cutting in from up top for a quick shot and score. Meanwhile, a feeder on the opposite side of the cage will also hit a second streaking player for a shot on goal. Overall, there will be two shots on goal, one coming after the other.

In summary, this is a terrific full-field drill performed at a brisk pace that features quick turns, fast ball movement, and lots of shots on cage. You can also do this drill on both sides of the field at once to get players more reps.

Coaching Tips: Middies should be working hard to the ball. Shooters should be calling for the ball. Remember, this is not a shooting drill, it’s a scoring drill.

Dragon Clearing Drill

The Dragon Clearing Drill enables attackers to run the field and get shots in. It also allows middies to play the middle of the field utilizing proper stickwork before getting some shots in. The defense works on crossfield passes. The second part of the drill focuses on unsettled play as the attack and defense play in a 3 v 2 situation.

The drill starts with three lines of players. Three at a time, players run up the middle of the field, keeping proper spacing and passing back and forth. Then after a pass around midfield, one outside player will then streak in and get a shot off on goal while on the run. From here, two different feeders hit the other players for shots as well. Altogether, the three drill participants get shots off on the cage.

Finally, things move into 3 v 2 action at the end of the drill. Players will go full-field with a clear (similar to the first drill) and then the action finishes in a 3 v 2 scenario and shot on goal.

The previous clips can be seen on Championship Productions’ DVD ”High-Tempo, High Energy Practice Drills” with Mike Murphy. To check out more videos focusing on team drills, click here.