All Access Lacrosse Practice with Lars Tiffany: Setting the Tone for a National Championship Season

with Lars Tiffany,
University of Virginia Head Coach from 2017 to 2026;
2019 and 2021 NCAA National Champions;
2019 and 2026 ACC Tournament Champions;
2019 ACC Coach of the Year;
Brown University Head Men's Lacrosse Coach from 2007 to 2016;
3x Ivy League Champions (2008, 2015, 2016);
2016 NCAA DI Final Four;
2x Ivy League Coach of the Year (2015, 2016);
Iroquois Nationals Assistant Coach;
2018 Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL) Men's World Championship (Bronze medal) ;
played college lacrosse for Brown University

This video shows the early stages of development, from the first two practices of the season, that cemented a strong foundation for an NCAA National Championship season in 2019 for the University of Virginia Men's Lacrosse team. Head coach Lars Tiffany lays out two days of fast-moving, drill-loaded practices. He shows how he implements skills-specific drills and how to build to a 5v5 setting. Each day focuses on certain areas of improvement, and both days show defensive drills and offensive drills that set up scrimmaging situations later in each practice.

Coach Tiffany's practices are detailed, fast paced, high level and competitive. He stresses preparation and explains in great detail how he evaluates every practice, previous games, and players. He summarizes how he takes this information and develops his strategy for his practices for the team. Additionally, Tiffany stresses team/program buy-in and how he expects his upperclassmen to mentor the younger players so they understand the culture of the team.

Practice Segments

The video is broken down into two days of practice. Both days cover defense and offense and are fast-paced. You will bounce from defensive footwork drills to offensive skeleton drills that work on perfecting a motion offense.

Coach Tiffany breaks down how he works his effective rides in games by showing a few of the drills he uses to build the mental part of the ride game. Additionally, he shows how to build a fast transition game using quick outlet clearing drills that move the ball up the field quickly to set up a fast strike to goal. 5v5 scrimmaging sequences put everything worked on in practice each day into a half-field and full-field setting.

5v4 Munro Drill

This drill is a great exercise to build endurance, field awareness and transitioning to unsettled situations. It uses both sides of the field, with each side playing 5v4. With the drill, your players will improve in:

• Competitive play
• Transition play
• Odd man situations
• Communicating
• Clearing/riding situations

This video from Coach Tiffany is loaded with drills that build on themselves to work the small components that are necessary for fielding a successful team. No matter what level of lacrosse you coach, you will learn something useful through watching these practice sessions unfold over the first two days of the 2019 National Championship season!

116 minutes. 2019.