Inside Duke Lacrosse: John Danowski's Practice Session

with John Danowski,
Duke University Head Coach;
3x NCAA champions, including back-to-back seasons (2013-14);
2x NCAA Men's Lacrosse Coach of the Year;
seven ACC regular season titles and four ACC tournament titles; over 375 wins;
Team USA Head Coach; 2018 Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL) Men's World Championship (Gold medal)

Every coach wants to have players that are masters of fundamentals and can perform at a consistently high level. Take this opportunity to go behind the scenes with a top D-I program and get unique insight into how John Danowski designs and delivers his practices to prepare his team to play fast, throw hard, scrap, and play with confidence.

Coach Danowski walks through each phase of practice: warmups and stickwork, individual drills, small group, half-field, full-field, and end-of-practice drills. You'll see him run his team through two days of practice, covering a variety of fun drills within an organized structure that any coach can emulate.

Beginning with pre-practice drills on day 1, Coach Danowski presents 22 drills over the course of the two practices. From individual drills to unique variations of full-field 10v10, he demonstrates how a structured, organized practice can be fun, engaging, and promote the development of your players.

Practice Drills

Many of Danowski's drills incorporate multiple balls, keeping the action and pace at high levels throughout. You'll watch two early-season practices that focus on one or two major principles in each practice. Skills covered include:

• Shooting Drills - Positional work to help offensive players attack the cage and master finishing.
• Ground Balls - Learn to attack loose balls as a team and gain more possessions.
• Spacing & Exchanging - Develop essential passing and catching skills to maintain possession.
• 1-on-1 Play - Teaches players to put themselves into position to score.
• Teammate Play - Improve communication and off-ball movement on offense and defense.
• Team Play - Shows full-field and half field situations and drills to help with clearing, riding, and transition.

Coach Danowski demonstrates position work that prepares each athlete mentally and physically, followed by dynamic warm-ups and stick work. Throughout practice, Danowski describes not only the drills themselves, but the thinking and rationale behind them. He provides advice on how to handle player discipline and reinforce fundamentals, such as turning to the outside and scooping a ball with two hands. His thoughtful tips will help you understand the keys to success behind each drill.

Day One Practice

Operating within the same basic structure each day, Danowski runs his team through a variety of drills that start by slowly getting players ready for the rigor of the full practice. In the pre-practice phase where fundamentals are emphasized, the team breaks up into smaller groups and works different skills at an easy pace. From there, the entire group stretches while the goalies take shots. Ball handling and shooting drills follow, with more emphasis on the fundamentals. The entire team then takes part in a ground ball drill before breaking up into individual groups based on position. Here, the attackmen run through a variety of moves and finishes unique to their position.

Alternating between full-field and half-field drills, Danowski demonstrates how the team is able to work on essential skills at game speed while also slowing things down to teach concepts in a skeleton. In a bookend to the pre-practice drills, Danowski runs his team through a series of fun post-practice drills, giving his offensive players an opportunity to take even more shots on goal.

Day Two Practice

With a practice structure that has led to three national championships, there's no need to change the format on the second day. After a pre-practice and warmup period, Duke's attackmen are back in individual drills, running a variety of exercises that are a variation of the drills they ran the day prior.

From there, Danowski jumps into a 3v3 drill where all of the skills and techniques the attackmen had worked on for two days are necessary in order to be successful. A live teaching period follows, where the first teams take on scout teams in a live 6v6, but with plenty of time for instruction. The practice finishes out with a one-shot 10v10 drill, a run through of man-up, and more fun in the post-practice with two unique shooting drills.

This video from John Danowski will allow you to take a look inside the practices of an elite lacrosse program and implement the same successful drills and concepts into your program!

74 minutes. 2018.