A Lacrosse Weekend 12.24.22
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.
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Time & Room Shooting
Is one of the most important skills for any offensive player to master. Here are the key attributes:
- Accuracy
- Quickness
- Deception
- Power
Please watch this video from the JM3 YouTube Channel for a comprehensive breakdown of the shots you will want to learn to enhance your time and room shooting!
Accuracy: the ability to hit a spot is often times what separates great shooters from everyone else. The kind of pocket you play with can often times impact your accuracy. There are very few players with good enough hands to be super accurate with a big whip. This is why you will see so many of the best box players in the world, like Mark Matthews or Randy Staats who play with no whip.
I coached Staats and Mathews in the summer of 2017 with the Atlanta Blaze and one day while they were having a catch, I asked could try Randy's stick and I almost sailed it over Mark's head on the first pass his stick threw so high!
No whip + small pocket = Accuracy (and quick release)
Quickness: a quick release through the "Push / Pull" action of a wrist shot is arguably the most important element of shooting. Most right handed players can shoot better on the run lefty because they can out "quick" the goalie with their bottom hand yank.
The ability to get a shot off quickly is a big part of the equation. An efficient catch, crow hop and release will be a must in certain situations. While you must be able to release quickly, some coaches over emphasize this as if one must always release quickly. If you watch Canadian box players, when they have time and room they use Multiple Hitches and pumps to find their screen and to move the goalie.
A shallow pocket will also help with a quick release.
Another way to increase your quickness of release is to choke up on your stick with your bottom hand. Anytime I'm shooting and I'm having a hard time scoring on a quick goalie, I choke up on my stick a little more. Try it!
Deception: As the great Darris Kilgour says, "Every time you shoot you are telling a story to the goalie." This is true whether you know it, whether the goalie knows it. Goalies are reading your body language every time!The problem most American shooters have is they shoot on empty nets constantly whereas Canadian Shooters shoot on goalies! When you practice shooting on an empty net, you are likely picking your corner, shooting it, and then admiring when it goes in the corner. This is practicing "Telegraphing" your shot.
There are two types of deception:
The Where: for example fooling the goalie into thinking you're shooing high when you're shooting low. There are many ways to do this that we will cover.
The When: a release so the goalie can't tell when it's coming, either a little quicker or earlier or a pause later than they expect.
Some great examples of deceptive shots:
Will Manny's signature shot is his low to low, chest up, handcuffing shot called an Anti-Leaner. This is a great angle of a thing of beauty!
The Low High Wind up is a shot that most every Canadian and Native box lacrosse player shoots as their go to time and room shot! It's a must for every field player! Starting with a low cradle or low pump fake, as the shooter lifts their hands, they can lift the goalie and delay the release of the shot.
Randy Staats has the nastiest Leaner you'll ever see! If you ever threw with his stick you would know why! He plays with no whip! His stick throws as accurate and true as you could ever want a stick to throw and is built for leaners!
Girls shoot Low-High Wind ups and this is a perfect Leaner on an 8 Meter free shot! Watch the goalie's stick!
Austin Staats is a master of the Pump and Lift or the Powless Pump, which I named after a player named Johnnie Powless who shot this shot all the time!
Here's a great leaner. Watch the goalie drop!
Sick Leaner on an 8m Free Position!
Anti Leaner: when you shoot low to low and aggressively lift your chest up as you release it holds the goalie up! Watch how handcuffed this goalie gets!
How To Increase Your Shooting Power
Power: this is pretty simple, the harder your shoot the more range you will have and at a certain level of power, goalies can't catch up to it.
No Ball Shooting
Check out this video on an incredible way to learn how to shoot deceptively: No ball shooting! If you ever shoot on a goalie with no ball they may say, "I saved it" but then you would say, "how did you know where I was shooting?" While this idea sounds crazy, it actually works because it takes scoring out of the equation. The entire idea is to deceive the goalie and it works!
How to practice deceptive shooting
Using a small net and tennis ball allows players to begin to get a feel for different releases, different hitches, swing angles, all kinds of ways to of being deceptive. 6x6 nets are just too big and deception on closer shots with no context just isn't necessary whereas with a smaller net shooters are more challenged and will learn these amazing techniques.
- Proper spacing on EMO and in transition. If you catch it too tight you already have a pole in your hands. If you catch it too wide you're not a threat and the defense has time to recover.
- Catching at X after a slide. Where is the 2-slide coming from? If you can see the field prior to receiving the pass at X you might know if your look is inside, through the defense on a skip, a reverse to the follow, or a simple pass forward.
- Off ball- In my experience, this is where there is the biggest upside for coaches! Players tend to do nothing but stare at the ball and look for opportunities to cut off ball. If you start to watch your own defender you will get open more often and then you can start looking for the ball. This is no different from the "two looks man one look ball" technique on defense.
- Clearing- If you are the midfielder who is covered by an attackman stretching up the field. How much space do you have to find that soft spot?
Coach Damon over at Lax Goalie Rat is putting on another amazing Goalie Summit. Head on over to VirtualGoalieSummit.com and grab a free stream pass. There is also some premium VIP passes you should really consider for learning from the best goalies in the world.
Get prepared for your 2023 season by subscribing to the JM3 Coaches Training Program. This program is ideal for coaches at any level but also for players. If you are a coach or player looking to learn the systems and skills other coaches and players are using to see next level advances the Coaches Training Program is the place. Invest in yourself and invest in your team.
Go to JM3Coaches.com and see all the membership levels available. There is a membership for everyone. To your success.