How to Play Lacrosse

Zone defense in lacrosse is a defensive strategy where defenders cover specific areas of the field rather than individual offensive players. To beat a zone defense in lacrosse, you need to be able to move the ball quickly and accurately to create scoring opportunities.

If this concept of this finding space is to move to the next level, players must now formally execute it as they run their offense. We introduced the concept of motion offense at Adelphi University to teach the concept of finding space to our players (Lacrosse Magazine, February 1986). Richie Speckman, one of the most […]

Safety is a big part of coaching lacrosse. The sport involves a lot of contact, so youth coaches must not only stress skill development but also explain lacrosse rules to youngsters to promote safe play. It’s especially important to coach beginners about the proper way to handle their lacrosse stick.

This is the basic tenet of defense whenever the other team has the ball. So many times our players play adjacent to or in front of the man they are covering. Other times they are just plain out of position. The most basic fundamental of defense is that they should be positioned between the man […]

You have now succeeded in teaching your youth players the fundamentals and basic skills of lacrosse. You can only marvel at your players’ ability to switch hands, roll dodge, and pass and catch with both hands with proficiency. Thanks to Gary Gait, some of your players can now pass behind their backs, and with Casey […]

Just like defense, it is our philosophy that intermediate players can learn how to play offense through transitional situations. Even in six-on-six situations, the job of the offensive players is to make it a transitional situation. The ball carrier tries to dodge to draw a slide, which turns it into a six-on-five situation.

Learning to play transition defense is the key to understanding general defensive concepts. It is vital to a team’s success to learn to play defense as a unit, as well as individually. Defense is one aspect of lacrosse where the whole is far greater than the sum of its parts. Transition drills and practice reinforce […]

Clearing the ball means getting the ball from the defense or the goalie upfield past the midline. The in-bounds clearing is when the goalie makes a save or the defense steals the ball and has to get it upfield to the midfielders. Out-of-bounds clearing is when the offense throws the ball out of bounce and […]

Riding is pressuring the other team’s defense when they are trying to clear the ball in-bounds or out-of-bounds. At this level, there is really no need to set up a complicated riding package. For both in-bounds and out-of-bounds riding, the most important aspect is to make sure that the midfielders pick up a midfielder on […]

The most important distinction that you want to make when setting up a defense is where you want your defensemen to slide from. A defenseman has to slide when the person covering the ball gets beat by the ball carrier. The area in which many defenses slide is the crease. Many programs call this “crash” […]

As mentioned before, a successful offense will break a defense down into a transition situation. Proper positioning is essential to exploit these opportunities. For example, if two players bunch up near one defenseman, they allow him to defend two players at the same time. In this situation, if the ball-handling offensive player does his job […]

There are two options when running transition drills. The first option is to have no trail checker and make it easier on the offense. The second way is to have a trail checker and make it more realistic for the defense. The first should be used early in the season and coaches can slowly work […]