A Lacrosse Weekend 2.11.23
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.
The Race Begins When You Say Go
One of my all time favorite quotes about dodging is, "The race begins when you say go!" from legendary Syracuse Assistant Coach Kevin Donohue. What this means you should always be able to get a step on your defender because they don't know when you're going to make your move. In today's blog, I want to explain how you can leverage this concept throughout your entire dodge. Not only does the race begin when you say go, the race goes where you want to go, the race can stop and start at any time... you get the point! What you do and when you do it is up to you! Don't be predictable! Your defender as well as the entire are defending everything you do as well as everything they think you are going to do!
Jeff Teat is a master of getting a step on his defender through deception! Using a hesitation move to disguise exactly when he was "Saying go" combined with a beautiful look off, Teat's race to the middle was almost unfair!
One of the reasons picks are so effective is they give the dodger something to fake! You can make your defender thinks "The race" is to the pick when really it's to the net or vice versa!
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The Race concept works off ball just as well as it does off ball! Watch this Syracuse attacker drift out with her stick in a "receive the pass" posture baiting her man to over play, only to stick her left foot in the ground and the defender couldn't keep up!
Hesitation Moves
Hesitation moves can be used to initiate a dodge, or at the start of the race, but they can also be used in the middle of the race! The analogy I use to describe Hesitation Moves to my JM3 Athletes is like when you're driving and someone is annoyingly right up on your tail, you can tap the break lights and hit the gas to get them off you! Make them slow down while you go! The same thing happens with dodging! When you put on the breaks during your dodge, your defender has to react by slowing down too, but there will be a slight delay of reaction time. Your man will actually slow down while you accelerate! To make it even better, if you slow down AND fake a change of direction with your head and shoulders, not only will your man slow down after you, your man will slow down more than you! Often times you will get a bigger step from your Hesitation Move than from your initial move!
There are many variations of hesitation moves that are worth knowing about and experimenting with! To get a full understanding of the power of hesitation moves, watch the "How to" video below from our JM3 Sports YouTube Channel!
One Step Pop Outs
The hesitation move concept of getting your man to stop while you go also works with pop out moves. Watch the video below of Eric Scott's dodge where he steps out or pops out with one step to bait his defender to veer off course. The amazing thing is the delayed reaction of the defender. Scott gets his man to step out while he is turning the corner to the net!
There are lots of variations of this one step pop out move. Curtis Dickson does the same thing here with a one step MJ move. This clip is fascinating because not only did his man bite hard, but the off ball defender who was ready to slide initially, turned away allowing Dickson to get all the way to the net!
Watch Rob Pannell use a one step pop out fake Question mark with a fake hand switch, which his man bit on hard!
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Have a great weekend!