Bloomington Youth Lacrosse
Association
Welcome to Boys Lacrosse
Rob Graff
BYLA Boys Coaching Director
March 2014
What we are about
•BYLA is an community-active,
youth-focused sports organization
that teaches lacrosse to boys and
girls from kindergarten to 8th grade.
Let’s move on….Agenda
•General thoughts about lacrosse and
connections with other sports
•What we teach at each age group
•Some tips for parents
•Questions & Hopefully answers
General Concepts
• Lacrosse is a sport whose focus
is to make a 3 inch diameter
sphere enter your opponents 6
foot by 6 foot goal more times
than your opponent throws the
sphere in your goal.
• You have 10 players allowed on
the field, certain sticks are
longer or wider than others and
a limited time period during
which to score goals.
• Can skills/experiences in other
sports translate to Lacrosse?
• Parts of all sports translate.
A “Pull Move” in lacrosse? Yes!
Lacrosse isn’t Hockey/Basketball or
Soccer – but it mixes all of them
• Hockey without the ice? No. But many similarities
(small puck/use stick, face-offs/helmet/position
specialization) force low angle shots, protect the
middle area.
• Important Differences – Lacrosse has more players
on the field, bigger field, bigger goals, no boards,
use of either hand.
• Most “hockey thoughts” regarding volume of shots
are irrelevant. Hockey thoughts re: all even offense
(dump/chase) are irrelevant.
Well, then is it Soccer?
• No, it's not. It has some Soccer elements - big field, spacing
issues, conditioning important, goalie can control transition,
but there are IMPORTANT DIFFERENCES!!!
• Examples - more control over ball in lacrosse, more physical,
more liberal substitution patterns, one on one defense is
different because contact allowed, no space behind goal to
use to make goalie turn. STICK CHECKS.
• Soccer thoughts regarding defense not useful, because one
cannot transfer foot control of ball to "holding" ball in stick,
more control over ball when shooting. Lax need to score
goals to win - not many 2-1 games. Almost impossible to get
lead and then stall, as in soccer
Then it’s Basketball
• Almost…Like Basketball, in lacrosse you can have
lots of control over ball, both have lots of scoring,
and there is no value to mere “volume” of shots.
• Differences: physical, sticks v. hands, face-offs allow
for back to back to back possessions, goalie v. no
goalie, and shot velocity is important in lacrosse not
in basketball.
• Many transferable skills – individual defense, shot
selection, multiple defense systems, transition
offense.
Field of Play
What does this mean?
• Understand that Lacrosse
is different than other
sports.
• Know that some skills
taught in lacrosse will
help in other sports.
• Know that some skills
taught in other sports
will not transfer to
lacrosse, although many
will transfer.
Good feet important in all sports
What are we teaching?
Head Up, Control Goalie, Finish!
•Different skills to different
levels.
•Skills build upon what was
learned previously
•Much of what we teach
focuses on two things –
fundamentals and decisionmaking.
Positions
•Attack
•Midfield
•Defense
•Goalie
•Face off
•Long stick
Midfield
Positions - Attack
• The attack man's responsibility is to score goals
and control the offense.
• The attack man generally restricts his play to
the offensive end of the field.
• A good attack man demonstrates excellent stick
work with both hands and a strong
understanding of what is happening in the team
offense.
• Each team should have three attack men on the
field during play.
Positions - Attack
Positions – Midfield
• The midfielder's responsibility is to cover the
entire field, playing both offense and defense.
(Key emphasis now)
• The midfielder is a key to the transition game,
and is often called upon to clear the ball from
defense to offense.
• A good midfielder demonstrates good stick work
including throwing, catching and scooping.
Speed and stamina are essential.
• Each team should have three midfielders on the
field.
Positions - Midfield
Positions - Defense
•The defenseman's responsibility is to defend
the goal. The defenseman generally restricts
his play to the defensive end of the field.
• A good defenseman should be able to react
quickly in game situations. Agility and
aggressiveness are necessary.
• Each team should have three defensemen on
the field.
Position - Goal
• The goalie's responsibility is to protect the goal and
stop the opposing team from scoring.
• A good goalie also leads the defense by reading the
situation and directing the defensemen to react.
• A good goalie should have excellent hand/eye
coordination and a strong voice. Quickness, agility,
confidence and the ability to concentrate are also
essential.
• Each team has one goalie in the goal during play.
Positions – Defense/Goalie
Positions - All
U9
Introduce the Game
Helmet fitting is Important
•Love the game and have fun!
•How to hold the stick
•Scooping, catching and throwing
mechanics on the run
•Spacing & How to help our friends
•Defensive foot movement (stay between
ball and goal, “spidering in”
•Trashcan Lacrosse
U11
Fundamental skills & love for game
• Learn and develop proper scooping/
throwing/catching mechanics.
• Learn and develop proper ideas of passing to
moving target, catching on move, and keeping
head up while moving.
• Learn and develop proper ideas regarding
moving feet on defense, and forcing to outside.
Learn and develop proper poke check/lift check.
U11
• Install ideas regarding keeping the ball moving.
• Teach mechanics of shooting, and begin to teach
ideas about where to shoot
• Work on finding space, creating space and
exploiting advantage situations.
• Do so in a fun-focused way with positive
reinforcement and teaching.
U13
Develop basic team/game concepts
• Refine and continue to
develop above
fundamentals, but at
faster speed with more
challenging drills - Do it
Faster!
Nice Jump Shot Form!
U13
•Learn how to recognize and react to more
complex unsettled situations
•Work on 2 man game concepts off ball as
well as on-ball
•Learn basic team defense concepts – when
do I slide, how do I slide
•Refine offensive dodging - defensive 1-1
concepts
•Work with F/O men
U15
Integrate and Accelerate
Lax at the Big House
•
The focus during
these years is to refine
ones stick skills, while
making the right
DECISION! And doing
it FAST.
•Situation specific drills
to drive acceleration in
thinking and stick
work
U15
• Conditioning focus
• Continue to refine stick skills - force repetition, force
speed
• More teaching in game-related situations - double teams,
moving ball 2x to shot, early slide defenses, counters to
those defenses.
Expectations rise for stick skills.
• Refining offensive and defensive skills - setting up dodge,
dodging off pass, movement off ball to facilitate same, 2
man game. Defensively - when to check, more work on
holds, really emphasize defensive talk as an expectation.
• Learn to play with pace- advantage of slow v. fast pace.
• Clearing/Riding become big focus here.
Practical Tips for Parents
He needs the $125 head, your U13
probably doesn’t…
I. . If you come away with nothing
else from this paper/talk, please
note this point. At this level, the
type of head that the player uses is
pretty irrelevant – most are not
skilled enough to take advantage of
the expensive “pinched” heads.
But the pocket is another matter.
There is nothing more important to
the youth player/coach than having
each player with a pocket that is
NEITHER a “tennis racquet” NOR a
“bag”.
Practical Tips
II.
III.
Kids need to practice
throwing and catching
away from practice.
Tennis balls can be used
to lessen potential
damage…
Provide viewing
opportunities for your
players to watch better
lacrosse than they play.
ESPNU and YouTube.
10,000 Hours…
Practical Tips
IV. Enjoy Watching and learning a new sport. Most studies of lacrosse
indicate that one significant reason players love it is because their
parents have not played it, and thus cannot correct them.
Practical Tips
V. Lacrosse Camps. There are
numerous opportunities.
Like all other sports, different
camps for different players.
Legendary Joe Cuozzo
Bloomington Youth Lacrosse Association
Great Organization.
Great Coaches.
Great Experience for
our children.
2012 7/8A State Champions