A Lacrosse Weekend 10.1.22
Welcome to "A Lacrosse Weekend" my weekly compilation of thoughts, ideas, stories, myths, truths, about the great game of lacrosse. I hope you enjoy it!
If you are a men's or women's lacrosse player, coach, or parent, I think you will love the weekly content, videos, and analysis.
Thoughts on 2man Game
2man game is an incredibly powerful tool for any offense, but is misunderstood by many coaches and players which creates frustration when it doesn't seem to work. This blog will attempt to provide a simple and practical explanation as to why 2man game is important and how players can change their paradigm to make 2man game exceedingly effective.
Let's start with some analytics: 2man game has higher offensive efficiencies than isolation. Joe Keegan, PLL writer and Director of Analytics along with the late great Dave Huntley have documented this fact through MLL and PLL stats over the past seven years. 2man game creates more assisted shots than isolation and assisted shots score at a higher percentage than unassisted shots. Further, 2man game creates a higher rate of shots with sticks to the middle. Sticks to the middle shots score at a higher rate than shots with sticks to the outside.
The main reason for higher assisted shots is the concept of "Addition by subtraction." When a defense slides to a 1v1 dodge, it leaves four defenders to cover five. When a defense has to send a 3rd player to a 2man game, it leaves three defenders to cover four. More space equals more cuts, skip passes, as well as lanes to dodge.
The goal of any offense is to score goals through creating advantages. Advantages can be created in many ways, but in the traditional Field Lacrosse Paradigm, offenses focus on creating advantages through 1v1 dodging and drawing slides. If the defense doesn't slide, the dodger scores. if the defense slides, an offensive advantage of a two on one is generated (two defenders on one offensive player). In this paradigm, match ups, creating space for the dodge and the "scripted spacing" of a post slide 5v4 are critical. Ball movement then creates opportunities for shots through feeds, skips or getting the ball backside, which at the least, will generate new dodging opportunities. Since defenses are well coached and capable of quick / organized slide and recovery, a centerpiece of any offense is to dodge, draw a slide, bang it twice and attack the backside, creating yet another significant advantage, dodging an approaching defender.
In the traditional Field Lacrosse Paradigm, there isn't a lot of cutting or off ball 2man actions. Yes, there are set Mumbo type actions and exchanges where a perimeter player cuts while an inside player floats out, but these actions occur relative to a dodge. In an average 30 second possession, an offense would have two maybe three dodges with some type of off ball actions, so maybe five total potential advantages.
In the Principles Based Offense which is of the Box Lacrosse Paradigm, there are pick actions occurring on and off ball simultaneously and constantly. Since there will likely be 2-3 pick actions every five seconds, there will be an average of 15 potential advantages in 30 seconds.
The biggest challenge for most players is to learn how to create advantages in 2man games and this is because players are not trying to create advantages. instead, they are usually looking to run by the defender in front of them or cut to the ball. If players look for the advantages afforded to them based on how the defense is playing the pick they can easily create a two on one. If one players switches and one player stays, there are two on one.
2man Game Simplified:
1. Create an advantage: ideally a two on one where two defenders are on one offensive player (leaving zero defenders on one), or create a positional advantage which will lead to a future 2 on 1
2. Deception fuels the advantage by engaging and distracting the defenders who are working together on a defensive coverage.
3. Ball movement allows the offense to capitalize on advantages with new passing angles and an immediate shift in defensive roles and responsibilities. If the ball stays in one place the defense can more effectively cover up advantages. Plus, when the ball moves, new advantages are created through approaches.
My JM3 Athletes learn these concepts on every zoom call and learn to play this way in every pick up game. We film the games, watch on zoom and soon, players truly understand how to create advantages and once they've had enough situational reps they can create advantages at a very high rate! Further, there is no better way to learn all the skills of dodging, feeding, cutting, deception etc than in these 2mah situations.
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The Backyard Curriculum Webinar
I am excited to share with you one of my favorite webinars, "The Backyard Curriculum, Four Key Environments" which I presented a couple of weeks ago. This webinar holds the information that will be the key to your 2man game success. And if you can truly read the defense, utilize coverage solutions, deception and timely passing, you can be world class!
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Ohana Fest
Last night I had the opportunity to hang out with a bunch of lacrosse buddies, Mark Blake, Bruce Bligh, Dennis Goldstein and more at Eddie Vedder's Ohana Fest and watch Stevie Nicks. Stevie was phenomenal! Eddie came up joined Stevie in "Stop draggin' my heart around." She played a ton of FWM tunes and a cool rendition of Free Fallin' . Below is the recording from my phone of Landslide. Enjoy!
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Have a great weekend!