09/10/2017 - Practice Plan

Official First Practice at Norris Park from 2:30 to 4:30PM. Theme is Defense.

Time	Drill
5 Min	Active Stretching
10 Min	Warmup Keep Away Build an area with cones about the size of the top of the box to the mid line Have 6 defenders and 5 offense Offense keeps the ball away without going out of bounds If ball turns over, subtract a defender and add an offense Variation: If ball touches ground, turnover
10 Min	Cone Stepping Course Coach demonstrates proper footwork when approaching a guy Turn the hips and run sideways Drop Step
5 Min	Water
10 Min	Goal Hopping https://www.hoganlax.com/goal-hopping On GLE setup 3 cones about 5 feet apart on each side of the goal Have the kids lineup in the crease in front of the goal Objective is for the kids to turn their hips but keep their shoulders square towards their man (who is behind the goal) Kids will run, hop over the back of the goal, then then turn and come back to the original starting point, then turn and go to the other side of the crease. When they reach the 3 cones, they should run sideways with their hips turned Next guy goes when the first guy comes back to the original cone
10 Min	2v2 Cylinder Approaches https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlWQt1ZzVZw&t=3s Good drill to help the defense with their approaches to the ball. Have defensive players pair up Group 4 defensive players together Have two outside players about 15-20 yards apart Put a line of cones down the middle, each of the side guys are 5-10 yards from the cones Put two defenders in the middle, one covers the man with the ball, the other with his foot on the line, but towards the other offensive guy A man passes to the next, defense must adjust and give a lift check, The other defender runs to the mid line After the lift check the defense stops engaging, player makes the pass, defense adjusts again Far Defense guy keeps their stick up looking to intercept passes
5 Min	Water
10 Min	Dodge Bounce Redodge https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ur4s6YHIlg Partner up the players Make one line at the midline Have an offensive player with a ball and a defensive player Have the offensive guy make a dodge with the defensive player shadowing via side step, back pedal etc Have the offensive player make a dodge, bounce out to fake a pass, then redodge Defense works on footwork, doesn't try to take the ball away, and looks to lift check while shadowing Repeat 2 or 3 times down the field Switch roles when starting on the opposite side of the field Offense works on split, roll, face, and swim dodges
10 Min	Tap The Hat A good 1v1 or up to 3v3 drill to teach a kid how to approach a running offensive player. You put a cone in the middle of the box Put a line of kids at the top of the box Put a line behind the cage The person behind the cage throws the ball to the player at the top of the box The person who threw the ball goes and plays defense on the person he just threw the ball to, but first he must tap the hat (cone) You can make this 1v1 to start and move it to 3v3
5 Min	Water
15 Min	5 Cone & Crease Defensive Position Setup 6 Cones in a 2-3-1, 2-2-2 or other offensive sets, the crease cone can be a bucket to make it more visible Teach kids the following terms Ball - the guy covering the ball Adjacent - the 2 guys adjacent yell "got you left", "got you right" Far guys - the 2 guys two passes away from the guy with the ball move inside, head on a swivel Kids Setup facing their cone Coach points at a cone in sequence around the goal Show kids the proper positioning and then run through it full speed Kids need to adjust to cover their men while yelling what position number they are Short Choppy Steps when approaching the offensive guy
10 Min	6 on 6 Practice Talking and Calling Out Numbers
5 Min	Water
10 Min	4 on 3 fast break

Parent Meeting Information

• Please regularly update your availability on the shutterfly calendar
• We play like we practice, kids should come with a good attitude and ready to give 100%
• Kids need to be dressed and ready by the start of practice
• Goal is to get kids knowing the concepts as second nature so they can run the concepts themselves
• We need a positive sideline, reinforce to your child that talking negative to teammates accomplishes nothing
• Parents should enforce that lacrosse is a team sport. Cheer kids on when they make ground balls, good passes, get assists. Teamwork and taking the right shot at the right time are way more important then scoring
• Parents should not criticize their kids from the sideline. It gets in their heads and will make them perform worse
• Encourage your kid to find the role they excel at, is it ground balls, communication, sliding, passing, setting picks, etc
  • Ground balls and possessions are the single most important thing a kid can excel at
• At all times parents should show respect to the refs and players
• If you are upset about something practice the 24 hour rule before talking to the person you are upset with
• Individualism and selfishness can kill a teams unity - Dudeism: A threat to teamwork
• Playing time will be as close to equal as we can make it
  • Goalie will obviously play more time, its the most important position
  • Middies will play close to 1/3 of the game, its the lifeblood position of our team
  • Attack we need strong finishers and kids that will draw 2 and dump
  • More than 7 goals is our key to winning, stress the importance of possessions, winning GB's, and unselfish play