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First and foremost, I want to thank all of you so much for your support of my site. As you know it is our intent to keep 90% of the site free for registered members, and super content in the extensive library of podcast for our ‘Premium’ Member Family lacrosse coaching junkies… I am so thankful…Please read through this entire page to really digest what this product is about, And remember, these are not “My” drills (Ok well a few are,) they come from the top NCAA Lacrosse Coaches who have shared them on www.laxcoachmike.com.

I am so excited to share this with you. Your response to my first eBook on this critical element of lacrosse practices, Transition Lacrosse Drills Vol I, was humbling…You all know what a huge believer I am in running at least an hour in each practice of transition drills. And I just can’t believe the audiences at my “Transition” speaking sessions at US Lacrosse events. I continue to get tons of emails, looking for ideas and drills, and new twists on drills for teams ranging from U11 to NCAA lacrosse teams to expedite the learning curve for lacrosse fundamentals. This philosophy has helped me, and helped improve practices for thousands of coaches who are members of our site. Simply put, it works.

This is the second most comprehensive eBook project I have worked on to date. I am humbled and thankful by the hundreds and hundreds of eBooks you have purchased in the past. If you loved the Customized Practice Plans, Changing Philosophies in Coaching Lacrosse, Coaching Youth Lacrosse, or the Specialty Lacrosse Drills eBook, and Transition Drills Vol I, you are really going to love this one. To see all the other five eBooks Click Here… then hit your return button,

At the point of this announcement and publishing this eBook, the drills in the eBook come from our 140 plus hrs of interviews with top NCAA Coaches on our site, www.laxcoachmike.com, many who run the same drills in many different configurations. Although we promised 25 of my favorite transition drills the eBook delivers so much more… You will immediately notice we have actually included 28 transition drills/articles, (I could not force myself to pick just 25) and many offer three to four variations on each drill. So there are 28 transition drills and more than an additional 30 plus variations. Total — Over 70 pages of good stuff… and a lot of diagrams.

Disclaimer — Almost all of the drills are taken form my articles on the site, Laxpower.com, as well as other websites for which I write lacrosse coaching columns. Most are found scattered through websites and on line for free. The concept here was to compile the articles in one single heading of transition drills to help you, help your teams improve, in one single super-easy to navigate eBook, actually the second eBook on Transition Lacrosse Drills.

However, not all of the web published drills had diagrams and I have included many more in the eBook. Please do not email me suggesting you saw the same drill on my site for a refund, this is where they originally came from in many cases, and I want you to know this all on the front side.

Why think about purchasing this eBook?

Although there may be a few traditional drills, I can assure you they come with new twists. The difference between this and other products out there is the timing. This is latest transition lacrosse drills and variations coming from the top coaches in the country. These are not the traditional drills you grew up with, but the latest transition trends from the best NCAA Lacrosse Programs in the country.

Next– the timing of technology, if you have an app for saving a pdf file on your smart phone, ipad or any other popular ‘Reader’ you can have this ebook saved to reference whenever you like. There are a lot of free apps out there to do this, we use “Bluefire Reader” try it out it is also FREE! We have taken the time to put in electronic bookmarks to immediately link you to any of the 28 lacrosse drills and their variations.

If you are running five to eight transition drills in each practice, this allows you to keep the drills different or slightly different for each practice. This is a critical point as we have learned from NCAA coaches that having different drills each day at practice we keep the players interested and engaged at every level. I promise, with a little more time in selection and planning on your part, you will find the players are having a blast and learning and improving at a much faster rate, than traditional fast break drills or 6V6 with a bunch of players standing around.

Table of Contents:

Laxcoachmike Foreword, Why Transition?
Transition Communication Tips,

My Favorite Drill in this eBook…
Loyola, Army, The Knight Drill
3V2 And Double Too…
RIT, Great GB to 3V2, w Old/New Beginning
Salisbury, 1V1 to 3V2
Salisbury, Motion to 3V2
Yale, Add a Little Magic to 3V2
Queens, 3V2 Back to 2V1
LaxCoachMike, Quick Clear to 3V2
Army “29” Drill, 1V1 to 2V2, Pick to 3V2
Colorado State Great GB to 3V2 to 4V3
St. Johns, 3V2 Scrapper Drill
York, A Great 3V2

More “Crunch” Drills

Cabrini, 3V2 Crunch Vertical
Hampden-Sydney, 3V2 Crunch in the Circle
Marquette, Cone of Silence… 3V2

3V3 with More…

Mercer, 3V3 Plus One, a New Look
LaxCoachMike, 3V3 Lock On, ½ Field

“Keep-A-Way” Transition Looks… Increasingly more popular at the NCAA Level

Virginia, “In the Box”
Army, Nugget Drill

More Transition,

Brown, Re-Thinking D Mids/LSM’s in Transition
Bucknell, Contest the GB, into 4V3
Harvard, “The Crimson Drill”, w Rides/Clears
Colgate, “The Beast” Drill, 6V4
Hopkins, Retriever Drill, 6V5
LaxCoachMike, “Belly Drill” Condition/Transition

Full Field Transition Favorites…

Stevenson, Ultimate Scramble
RIT, Unsettled Transition
Adelphi, 15 Balls of Transition

We are introducing the price at $21.99 to give all these resources in one place. Again, almost all of my articles are available somewhere on the internet, for free, but here they come all in one super-easy reference eBook.

As with all of our materials, your satisfaction is 100% guaranteed. If you do not think you got a great value for your money, or the ideas for these drills and ideas you may get for new drills, just let me know within a week, and I will refund your entire purchase price. No risk, no hassle. Just do not tell me the drills could have been found elsewhere, we covered that…

After you decide to purchase the virtual product, you will be directed to our shopping cart with e-junkie. You have the option of paying with your PayPal Account or by credit card. And as always, with our virtual products, we are counting on your honesty not to distribute or reproduce, as they are our copyrighted materials…

At the end of the process when you click, submit or purchase (it may take a minute,) you will then receive an email from us (via e-junkie) with the download link. I think it will offer five attempts to download… If you happen to miss the download, just shoot me an email mike@laxcoachmike.com and we will get you fixed up! You can add to the cart or check out, but please consider all the eBooks, they come directly from the great stuff offered by top coaches in our website library… Thanks!

Important Note, Although the eBook is programmed to open automatically with Bookmarks appearing for easy navigation, many Browsers today now show the ‘pdf’ in a “Preview” Screen, if so please click the “Open Bookmarks” at the top and this will be much easier to navigate, thanks, M

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To see all the other five eBooks Click Here… then hit your return button,

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Clik here to view.Working Against the “Shut-Off”
Steve Koudelka, Head Coach, Lynchburg

I love Coach Koudelka. In the most recent podcast we engaged in a dialog regarding preparing teams to run their offenses when a the other team is “Shutting Off” perhaps our most key offensive player. Interestingly, this is also a very common question I receive in my emails from member coaches on my site,

The context: Over the last two years Coach Koudelka had perhaps one of the best DIII Attackmen in the country in Austin Stewart, (2015 NCAA Record 109 Goals.) Although Lynchburg had a lot of talent with their other Attackmen and offensive players, often teams would try and take this individual great attackman out of the offense by “Shutting” him off and denying him the ball.

Most of us as coaches have experienced this at one time or another. And I can share from my personal experience, if it is not something you have practiced and prepared for, it can frustrate an entire offense. However, it can also create a host of opportunities if we as coaches have prepared out players, and integrated the techniques necessary to create opportunities in our practice plans.

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Clik here to view.Lacrosse Off Season – Great Ideas From Penn

In my recent podcast with Mike Murphy from Penn, (one of my favorites,) he shared a new concept that the players love beginning early in the off-season…

Please remember that although in most “State Sanctioned” areas, we cannot directly coach our lacrosse players as a team in the fall, due to the rules of the State, there is still an awesome opportunity to work on the critical intangibles of our teams. Many of us help organize “Captains Practices” or training, but perhaps these ideas can take all of that to a new level.

As a unique team-building activity, leadership development activity, interwoven with competitive elements this is an awesome idea.

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Clik here to view. Coaching Creativity on the Blue Jay Drill, Ryan McAleavey

Coach Ryan McAleavey blew me a way in a recent podcast with his amazing creativity in coaching lacrosse drills. He is a strong supporter of my site and humbly shares how he has modified lacrosse drills from our site as well as other coaches to accomplish amazing things… and here is just an example.

He picked up on a relatively basic Fast Break w Trailer drill while watching a Hopkins Practice and with his trademark creativity turned it into an amazing coaching tool and incredible lacrosse drill.

What it is…

1. Fast Break Drill
2. Unsettled Drill
3. Recognition Drill
4. Working the Substitution Box Drill
5. Riding and Clearing Drill

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Clik here to view.Duke Lacrosse Practice 1V1’s
Variations and Critical Elements

In the most recent podcast with Coach Danowski from Duke Men’s Lacrosse there were a number of elements that really surprised me, as well as his lacrosse practice plan elements that have remained steadfast pillars in a Coach Danowski Practice Plan.

1. All lacrosse drills emulate game scenarios
2. All lacrosse drill are quick reps w a ton of touches (no longer than 10 min/drill)
3. Lacrosse drills are varied every day, even on 1V1’s to keep lacrosse practice interesting and fun for the coaches and the players
4. Amazing attention to detail

I can’t think of a better example of how all these inherent practice elements are included than how they directly pertain to how Duke Lacrosse works on the fundamentals and develop offensive and defensive skill sets in something as basic but critically important as 1V1 play.

The variations and key elements listed below would be included in the daily work on 1V1’s, but on different days during the week to keep it interesting for the players… Please make sure and read to the end of this article, as the final section on “The Detail” is critical and a huge part of this scheme at Duke. Remember, after you read the article you can simply “Click Here” and listen to Coach Danowski describe all this in his own words in the Preview Sample for all Free Members of my site, just log in,

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Clik here to view.Be Better Finishers Inside
Drills from Colorado College

In the most recent podcast with Coach Sean Woods at Colorado College I was impressed on a number of fronts. First the way he has modified his practice plans since we last interviewed him, and secondly, how he has used this specific (new to his team) lacrosse drill to address issues he saw on watching film from last season. In this case preparing lacrosse players to be better finishers inside. I think we all can relate eh?

I might refer to this as what I call throughout my site as a “Crunch Lacrosse Drill” or a lacrosse drill run in a smaller confined area. Coach Woods identified an area he thought that if they improved they would score more and win more games. In this case it was finishing with open looks to “inside” players. Actually he attributes the drill to Coach Berkman at Salisbury, and in the words of Coach Woods, “It benefits us tremendously.”

In this case the lacrosse drill has two segments.

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I love the work done by US Lacrosse and our good friend TJ Buchanan on this 2017 release of the new youth initiatives. As fast as lacrosse is growing, close to 70% of the kids are leaving the sport by the age of 14… This is long overdue, and a must read for all lacrosse programs,

2017 Youth Initiatives, MAJOR RULE CHANGES

For the 2017 seasons and from this point forward US Lacrosse will
be publishing 6U, 8U, 10U, 12U, and 14U rule sets. Since there are
a number of changes this season, we have a brief overview of 6U,
8U, 10U, and 12U lacrosse.

For the full US Lacrosse pdf, just click here…

6U

• Players: 3v3 with no goalie
• Field Size: 60 yards x 35 yards (cross field)
• Equipment: Sticks only, soft-type ball
• Goal Size: 3 feet by 3 feet
• Penalties: Player leaves the field. No time-serving penalties.
Penalties used as a teachable moment to explain the foul that
has been committed.
• Body Checking: Body contact is not permitted
• Stick Checking: Stick to stick contact is not permitted

8U

• Players: 4v4 with no goalies or 3v3 with goalies
• Field Size: 60 yards x 35 yards (cross field)
• Equipment: Full equipment, soft-type ball
• Goal Size: 3 feet by 3 feet
• Penalties: Player leaves the field. No time-serving penalties.
Penalties used as a teachable moment to explain the foul that
has been committed.

10U

• Players: 6v6 with no goalies or 5v5 with goalies
• Field Size: 60 yards x 35 yards (cross field)
• Equipment: Full equipment, NOCSAE lacrosse ball
• Goal Size: 6 feet by 6 feet (5×5 or 4×4 allowable)
• Penalties: Time-serving penalties

12U

• Players: 7v7 or 10v10, depending on size of field used
• Field Size: 60 x 35 yards (cross field) or 110 x 60 yards
• Equipment: Full equipment, NOCSAE lacrosse ball
• Goal Size: 6 feet by 6 feet
• Penalties: Time-serving penalties.
• Body Checking: No Body Checking. Please See 12U rules for
additional information.
• Checking with the Crosse: See 12U rules for allowable stick
checks.

14U

• Arm pads are now optional pieces of equipment for goalies.
• Eye black and eye black strips are allowable as long as
they do not contain offensive words, shapes, images, or logos.
• If a player or team commits a foul before any faceoff, the
ball will be awarded to the offended team in its offensive side
of the field at the center.
• No defensive player, other than a properly equipped
goalkeeper, can enter his own crease with the perceived intent
of blocking a shot or acting as a goalkeeper. A second violation
by the player will be enforced as a releasable unsportsmanlike
conduct foul.
• Any player who accumulates 3 personal fouls or 5
minutes in personal foul penalty time shall be disqualified from
the game.
• Failure to wear the required mouthpiece, unless it comes
out during play, is now a technical foul.
• During the last two minutes of regulation play, stalling
rules are in effect for the team that is ahead by four goals or
less. When the score differential is five goals or more, neither
team is forced to keep the ball in the box.

Please please click here to listen to entire podcast w TJ on this new program, the depth of the research that went into all of this will amaze you, Congrats to US Lacrosse, best initiative ever!

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Clik here to view.This is my handout for the 2017 LaxCon Session on designing Practice Plans,

Download 2017 US LaxCon Handout

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Clik here to view.Canadian Shooting Drill, Coach David Huntley, Director of the 2014 World Champion Canadian Men’s National Team, Currently Head Coach of the Atlanta Blaze,

Over the last month or so I have really had a blast getting to know Coach Huntley much better including the podcast done live from the floor of the US Lacrosse 2017 Convention. He is a great guy, a great coach, and an amazing student of the game.

We have had long dialogs on lacrosse coaching philosophy, especially regarding the influence of the Canadian Players on US Lacrosse as well as when and when Box Lacrosse principals are directly applicable to our game. Thus this coaching article which gets pretty deep into philosophy differences.

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Clik here to view.Cabrini “Hub Drill” to 4V4 and so much more…
Coach Steve Colfer, Cabrini Men’s Lacrosse

This coach simply blows me away every time I interview him with his creativity and unique style for many of his lacrosse practice drills. Although this most recent podcast has a ton of new twists on drills, I get a lot of emails on new ideas for “defensive lacrosse drills” and this one is awesome!

The drill begins a lot like a skeleton defensive slide drill with a recovery element, and then evolves into a unique 4V4 Drill with unlimited options and potential coaching elements.

The format for the drill is four cones placed in a diamond shape around the cage, or even a square box around the cage defined by the low profile cones.

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Clik here to view.Quick Start Lacrosse Drill, Scott Marr – Albany

Many coaches talk about Transition Lacrosse, or “getting it up and down,” but at Albany their success is no accident. Although it appears unstructured, and there are not a lot of “formal” plays, it is a culture that is reinforced in practice every day.

In the recent podcast with this great coach he shared an awesome transition drill – The Quick Start Lacrosse Drill. It is a transition drill, a reaction drill, an “Even” drill and a quick start drill, all in one.

The lacrosse drill begins with four offensive players at the far Restraining Line, 70 yards from the goal.

I am alway open to posting new articles to help coaches, in this case Coach B from Michigan shares a practice routine for those of you who are still pursuing the dream playing in the 55 and over bracket… This will put a smile on your face,

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Clik here to view.Coach B from houNDs lacrosse – Over 55 practice ( Half Century Division )

Here’s a typical practice for an over 55 team preparing for a big tournament.

Stand around and BS drill- 15 minutes – A Half Centurion staple. A great way to delay the inevitable, running and having to scoop GB’s which is over rated and difficult at 50+. This is also a good time to open up your gear bag to realize your elbow pads, cleats, helmet or cup are 600 miles away in your garage.
Coaching Point- Know the address to a Dicks Sporting Goods nearby.

Minimum Stretches – 2-3 minutes – Since dynamics are exhausting and statics may cause injury at this age, everyone is on there own prior to a practice. We like to model after the clowns when they come out at Barnum and Bailey circus. Everyone should be doing some type of ineffective gyration. Groaning and profanity can be added. A good stretch commonly used is to stretch while getting gear out of your equipment bag. It saves time and combines two important aspects.
Coaching point – Blow your whistle after 3 minutes to minimize injuries.

Partner passing drill – 10 minutes – For this drill we do not move. Since no one brought enough balls, the groups will be 3 – 5 guys slinging a greaser around. This drill combines some frequent jogging as many passes are overthrown. Its also a good time to practice one handed GBs and Rakes.
Coaching point – Make notes on whose skills have really depreciated and make them D Mids.

Wild shooting drill. 10 minutes – Always a classic. Basically a time to rip on cold goalies who haven’t played in a year. The good news is early shots are either 4 feet high or 6 feet wide. By the time the sticks are “tweaked”, fatigue makes most shots between 40 or 50 MPH, making it good warm up for the goalies.
Coaching points – Move players into 4-6 yards to shoot to build confidence. Pull goalies aside to “talk” basically protecting them so you actually have a goalie for the tournament.

6 v 6 Exhaustion drill. 15 minutes – A classic of over 55 drill, with flashes of brilliance from days gone by. Defense goes right into the NO SLIDE package, due to sliding being tiresome. The LATE SLIDE package is not used in practices, only in games. Offensive goes with one pass adjacent pass, weak dodge and shot from a poor angle. We always use this time to hit goalies with point blank shots, giving them deep bruises and making less mobile on game day.

Coaching point – Try to hold back from hysterical laughter which may lower morale.

Bar Car Drill – 60-90 minutes – A good team will always finish the day with an uptempo and exciting drill that engages all players. The bar car drill is a timeless classic in old man club ball that always gets solid participation. This is a great team building exercise that can be frequently repeated. Great for post practice, not recommended for pre-game.

Coaching points – Put down whistle and join team.

PLAY TILL YOU CANT

-coach B

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Clik here to view.“Work Your Tail Off Drill” – To open practice from Cornell

Head Coach Matt Kerwick is definitely one of my favorite people and favorite coaches in lacrosse today. In our recent podcast we were discussing fast paced drills that most college lacrosse coaches are using to set the tone for practice as soon as they get done stretching.

Perhaps after stretching or at the very least after some stickwork, most college lacrosse coaches are immediately going into a fast paced transition drill to set the tone for the rest of the practice. It works and the players love it. In many cases it is a 3V2 lacrosse transition drill or occasionally a 4V3 transition drill, fast reps, fast whistles and get the players flying in transition.

In this interview, Coach Kerwick has added a unique dynamic accomplishing many of these objectives but with a new twist.

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Clik here to view.Virginia, 5V4 Munro Lacrosse Drill
It is awesome!

Lars Tiffany always – always delivers a great podcast with a ton of new lacrosse drills. His drills are definitely among the most popular on my site. In this case a new lacrosse drill that features incredible support for transition lacrosse teams, a few new twists, quick reps and Riding and Clearing fundamentals all in one…

At this point after 150 plus hours of podcasts with great NCAA lacrosse coaches I was close to thinking I had seen it all on transition drills. Until this podcast.

The drill is a full field drill with 5V4 at each end, with Goalies. Nothing new so far eh? However there are some awesome wrinkles in this version of the drill which Coach Tiffany credits Jamie Munro with sharing. However, Coach Tiffany got what he expected and was surprised that he got even more.

So we are 5V4 at one end and then 5V4 at the other end… we roll the ball out to one end of the field, and we go back and forth from one end to the other end, like a full field transition toggle drill. This is where it gets interesting,

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Clik here to view.Boston University, Rapid Fire Lacrosse Drill
Head Coach Ryan Polley

Following the recent podcast, actually my first podcast with Coach Ryan Polley, it is easy to understand the success of this relatively new program. Coach Polley coached under Andy Shay at Yale (a great friend of the site) and I found Coach Polley to be an extremely interesting interview in terms of his practice structure, and I believe a program that will do great things.

Like the recent podcast with Coach Danowski, Coach Polley spends a significant amount of time on basic fundamentals for a significant amount of time, 30-40 minutes at the beginning of his practices before focusing on the “Pace” of his practices. Perhaps more coaches are returning to this type of practice schedule at the beginning of practice.

However, once the practice fundamentals, throwing and catching and stickwork portion of the practice everyday concludes, he gets into “Pace” in a huge way, thus this Rapid Fire Lacrosse Drill. To increase the temp of the practice at this point there is also an important competition element.

At Boston University they run interestingly enough, as a 6V4, although Coach is quick to point out that it might a 5V3 or even 6V5. The choice of running this drill as a 6V4 was very unique and his reasoning was on a loose ball in the offensive end, the initial look might often be a 6V4… and it requires more offensive passes to get an open look. I have not heard this before but it seems to make sense.

First the drill…

The drill begins as players enter the drill, six offensive players and four defensive players. You might choose to position the offensive players in your preferred set, but at Boston University the most common format is one behind, one up top, two in each alley outside or at the lines of the Box. (see the diagram below)

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Clik here to view.Limestone Lacrosse “IKE” Lacrosse Drill

Awesome GB to 4V3 Drill w Trailer, Add One Feature and a Twist…

In the recent podcast with Coach JB Clarke from Limestone he shared a number of new drills, and comments on other Clearing Drills from Limestone I have posted but this one particular lacrosse drill I fell in love with…

OK, … Coach Clarke directed Limestone to National DII Championships in 2014, 2015, and 2017, he is President of the IMLCA, former Coach of the Year, coached at teams in the Final Four at the DI, DII, and DIII levels, is a great friend of the site and has an awesome sense of humor.

If you like lacrosse drills that are fast, you will love it, if you like transition drills, you will love it, and if like me you love drills that “multi-task,” this is one for you. They call this one “Ike” after President Eisenhower.

We begin with three Attack and three Close defenders at each end with Goalies. At each “offensive” corner of the Substitution Box

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Clik here to view.Yale Defensive Communication Drill
Coach Andrew Baxter, Yale Defensive Coordinator

I am always getting lacrosse drill requests from coaches about more drills for their defensive players and their poles. Coach Baxter shared an awesome defensive lacrosse drill focusing on defensive communication.

To use this drill you will need some “Nubs” actually at least four of them but you will not be disappointed. This drill is better suited to HS teams and I guarantee it will take them and us a few days to get the hang of it, but when they do it will really help and his players have a blast with it!

This drill is designed to be run in the time that your offensive players are at the other end of the field and you are working on the other end with just you defense. So we actually have defensive players with their own sticks playing “offense” in this drill.

Coach suggests that this unique drill can be run out of a 6V6 or a 5V5, and they most often run the drill out of the 5V5. The 5V5 offensive set like “5 on a Die,” is usually an open set or even a 5 man version of a 2-2-2. The poles who are playing offense in this “anchored set” are playing at about 50% speed. The emphasis is to move the ball around, exchange, and then possibly dodge or go “Motion” once the players have the hang of the drill.

Here is where it gets really interesting…. So we have five players playing defense, are you with me so far? Four of these players are playing with “nubs” not their long sticks or even a shortie length lacrosse stick. One player has a pole. Still with me?

In this lacrosse drill the defensive players are recovering inside, and “exchanging” the Nub for a pole or visa-versa. Hang in there….

As we begin to pass the ball around here are the rules:

1. The player covering the ball must be a Nub, cannot be a pole
2. The player who has the “Next” slide from your defensive package can only have a Nub not the single pole this applies to slide guy
3. If you are adjacent (assuming it is not an adjacent slide package) you may have the pole
4. Or if you are the defender “off ball” you may have the pole, but you need to be or should be inside

So as we begin to move the ball, if it is “next” to the player you are covering then that defender retreats or recovers inside and actually exchanges or trades their stick for the Nub with another one of his defensive teammates.

Or before you cover the ball if you have the “pole” you need to come inside and exchange it for a Nub.

Those are the basics…

The key point here is the defenders need to be constantly communicating about keeping the Nubs and the Pole on the right offensive players in accordance wit the rules above.

Defenders Must:

1. Communicate with their defensive teammates by Name
2. Defenders must also be constantly communicating the defensive calls you have in place. Perhaps it is “Next” or “2 Slide” or “Scrape” etc.

Coach shared that if in the actual rotation a pole covers the ball, then, he must drop for some push-ups.

Thus the ball does not move offensive really quickly, coach estimated about 50% speed especially while everybody is learning the drill. So Coach suggests not having the offensive players moving or dodging until we start to get the hang of this unique drill. So he called it an anchored set to begin. Once the players learn the drill (and it will take three or four times minimum) then you might have the offense begin to move or pick etc…

The is an amazing way to reinforce our defensive players to not only communicate, but dramatically builds their awareness of where all of their defensive teammates are, where the ball is at that moment and where the next slide might come from and anticipate accordingly.

Option

As a unique wrinkle, Coach Baxter my run this drill where only two or three of the defenders are allowed to talk. Thus really reinforcing all of the other defenders to really listen to their teammates, especially if one of the “designated talkers” is off ball.

I strongly recommend you click here to listen (6-7 minutes) to Coach Baxter explain this drill in his own words, The Preview Sample is Free for all Free Members, he was great,

Love to get your comments below, or mike@laxcoachmike.com

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Clik here to view.GA Tech, Coach Ken Lovic, MCLA President
The Hub Drill…

OK, my head is still spinning a bit from this portion of the podcast. I chose this specific drill to write about and feature in the Preview Sample for all Free Members as it demonstrates the difference in practice philosophies. Or at the very least opened my eyes his unique way to focus of defensive slides in a drill that I would have never thought to use for that point of teaching and emphasis. And let there be no mistake this is a very strong defensive team under his direction.

He refers to this drill as their “Hub Drill” and it is basically a 5V5 drill and initiates out of a 2-1-2 look or a 1-4-1 look with five players. So many of us run 5V5 in practice but perhaps I learned a whole new perspective.

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Clik here to view.Marquette – Be UnComfortable to Win, Lacrosse Drill
Coach Joe Amplo, Marquette

This is a great lacrosse coach and following my second podcast with Coach Joe Amplo it is easy to see why. In describing this drill, Coach Amplo continuously mentioned finding ways to put players in an uncomfortable situations, uncomfortable dodges and uncomfortable slides. His vehicle for this is a 5V5 drill with a number of unique components which they run two to three times a week at Marquette, and who can argue with their success?

In some ways the dialog jumps into the debate as to run plays or not run plays with the understanding that most goals come in some sort of unsettled situations, and this is how they prepare their players to be successful. But clearly the key teaching fundamental of this Marquette lacrosse drill is to be “unscripted.”

Coach is developing ways to create dodges from different areas where offensive players may not feel comfortable, and equally as important creating slide scenarios where defensive players need to communicate and be on the same page as a unit to be successful.

The 5V5 can emulate a slow break, or emulate a substitution situation but in this case it is all about dodging from different angles and figuring out how to stop them defensively as a unit.

Although Coach uses a 5V5 drill, he might begin with a 4V4 and build up, and then even continue into a 6V6 situation, but here is how they do it at Marquette. Coach Amplo begins the drill with a quick pass from a Coach to an offensive player.

So, in a 5V5, Coach keeps the ten players on the field for three reps with each group. And we can use any formation for the five offensive players but here are some examples of what they are likely to do in a Marquette practice.

First Rep

The offensive players are set up in a 1-3-1 formation and the drill begins with a quick pass to a wing player, thus creating a dodge from an “uncomfortable” place on the field and a unique slide reaction. A pass to start the drill and then we play to a shot or turnover. Generally each rep is 10-12 seconds.

Second Rep

Quickly the offensive players move into a different formation. At Marquette it may very well be a “Y” look with one player at “X”, two players in the crease, and two players at the corners of the Box up top. Generally the first pass into the drill is to the player behind and a dodge, or a two man game w a player from the crease, or a drive and pass back. … You are gonna love this… and they also may want to have three of the middies, (two up top, and one from the crease) immediately go into their motion look, fading out of the crease to top, replacing the crease middie in into their triangle movement as part of their motion. Now we play to a shot, goal, or quick outlet. Remember just 10-12 seconds for each rep. Pretty cool eh?

Third Rep

This is one I have not tried yet… now we have a player at “X”, two players in the crease, and the two players up top are in a “stack.” The initial pass goes to a middie up top in the “I” formation and we play. It might be a dodge with a mirror, it might be a pick, and we play to a quick shot, goal or save. This Coach is a genius.

Defensively following a save or a ground ball we can let them quickly clear to Midfield, but if they need to throw back, or move to more settled clear, a whistle blows and the next group or the next rep immediately takes place.

Remember the whole idea of the drill is to create an obvious dodge with an obvious slide man, all in an unsettled-like formation but perhaps more importantly, an uncomfortable dodge and an uncomfortable first and second slide. Defense needs to figure out as a group how to defend in these “Uncomfortable” or different situation.

These are not scripted “plays” but helping our players to feel comfortable in uncomfortable situation.

Just Click here to listen to Coach describe this drill in his own words, for all Free Members…

Love to get your thoughts below! Mike

Another year, now in our 9th year providing free content on lacrosse drills, now over 900,000 pageviews, I am so humbled by your support, Every December we close out the year with our Top Ten Drills that had the most clicks and pageviews from you our Member Coaches. Here you go, enjoy!! All of these drills have already been published on my site in the article section, but I thought you might enjoy having the most popular drills from 2017 in one place!

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Clik here to view.

# 10 –Yale Defense Drills, Coach Baxter

This is the most creative way I have seen to grow communication within your defense, the comments from coaches have been amazing! Coaches are seeing dynamic improvements in communication from HS players,

#9 — Rapid Fire, Coach Polley, Boston College

This drill is awesome! If you are looking to improve ball movement in a fun “scramble-like” setting with quick reps check this out!

#8 — Colorado College Crunch Drills, Coach Woods

These tight space crunch drills have become an important part of many NCAA Lacrosse Practices, and very popular on my site, in this drill the markings provide the space, and the variety makes it a blast!

# 7 — Duke (2016), This is how to run 1V1’s Coach Danowski

This article is still among the most popular on my site, even though it was published in 2016 following the podcast w Coach Danowski, the focus is on how to make your 1V1’s so much more game realistic, an amazing tool to have in your practice plans!

#6 — Virginia Fast 5V4, Coach Tiffany

Coach Tiffany has been an awesome friend to my site, and his drills are extremely popular w all of you, if you like fast, and you like transition, check this out!

#5 — Albany Quick Start, Coach Marr

Ever wonder how the great coaches drill fast play, here you go, fast, recognition, and an additional phase that makes it really game realistic, one of my favorites!

#4 — Cabrini, Hub to 4V4, Coach Colfer

This is from a coach that always impresses me…if you are looking for a drill to improve offense and defense out of a 4V4 then you will love it, once you get it the options will improve your offense in a huge way,

#3 — Limestone 4V3 then add one, Coach JB Clarke

OK maybe I am biased, but the drills we get from JB Clarke are incredible, if you have a full roster your players will love this GB to 4V3, try it this way!

#2 — Canadian Shooting Drill, Coach Huntley
Atlanta Blaze, Calvert Hall

This drill came from a live podcast we did at the US Lacrosse Convention in January. I talk to a lot of coaches, but this dialog on how to maximize the shooting percentage in tight made my head spin. It has had a major impact in changing the way I coached these fundamentals for the last 30 yrs. He has some great thoughts and has become a great friend, please check this out,

#1 — Practice Planning for Generation Z laxcoachmike US Lacrosse Handout

OK, this is kind of weird for me, OK really weird for me, this is actually the handout (filled w concepts and drills) from my 2016 US LaxCon presentation, remember this is not my material but a synopsis of what I have learned from great coaches, the pageviews were well over 1,000 from lacrosse coaches… humbling to say the least, again, thank you,