How to Play Lacrosse
These are skills that even the best players in the world work on, day in and day out. The thing about lacrosse is, the better you get at it, the more fun it becomes to play. If you can give yourself a strong foundation in all these basic fundamentals, then you will be well on your way to becoming a great player!
Goalie Communication
One of the most important jobs of a goalie is to communicate with his defense. There are some basic calls that a goalie should know and his defense should understand at the intermediate level. When making these calls, the goalie needs to be loud and commanding as he is the quarterback or captain of…
Midfield
At the intermediate level, the best athletes should be used at the midfield. The key qualities of good midfielders are the abilities to run up and down the field, to pick up groundballs, to shoot from the outside, and to play strong man-to-man defense. The athlete that plays midfield is strong, fas…
On-Ball Defense
As discussed before, on-ball play is when a defender is covering the man with the ball. Playing one-on-one for a defender is much like playing one-on-one for a midfielder. The main goal is to prevent the ball carrier from getting to the top side, or to the middle of the field.
Off-Ball Defense
Off-ball defense or covering a man who does not have the ball, is one of the least understood aspects in youth lacrosse. Youth defensemen either stay right on their man and pay no attention to team defense or they stare at the ball and pay no attention to the man that they are covering. They need t…
Defense
Beyond knowing basic footwork and obeying rules, it is unnecessary for a youth player to learn defense until he has reached this intermediate stage. It is important for youth players to be able to catch, throw, scoop, and cradle with a short stick before they move up to using a long stick on defen…
Scooping
As players start getting better and the competition starts to improve, groundballs become more and more crucial to success. Less accomplished players can be important to successful teams by becoming workhorses and picking up every ground ball. Many of the best ground ball players in the game have…
Cradling
One aspect of lacrosse that players must continue to improve is cradling. The better a player gets at cradling, the better feel they have for having the stick in their hands and controlling the ball. Players should be encouraged to constantly have their sticks in their hands and practice cradling w…
Passing
It is important for an intermediate player to continue to work on his passing every day. Using the beginner drills that this site outlines is a good way for an intermediate player to warm up or practice on his own every day. One-armed passing is a great way for an intermediate player to continue t…
