Dodging
The lacrosse dodge is a fundamental skill of lacrosse. Developing good dodging skills is critical to the ability of your team to score. The goal of any dodge is to protect the stick for a pass or shot. All dodges share a common goal which is to keep the stick and ball away from the defender to set up your next move, be it a pass, or a shot.
There are many different types of dodges, but the thing they all have in common is that when you dodge you are trying to avoid the opponent. The dodge is an offensive attempt to evade the defense. There are many different dodges.
Here are a few of the most popular:
Face Dodge
The easiest dodge is probably the Face Dodge. It’s just straightforward you draw the defender to you with a fake shot or pass, and then quickly transition the stick across your face to avoid the defender and then accelerate toward him to set up a shot or pass once you get by. With the face dodge you are just moving your stick from a shooting or passing position quickly across the front of your face to the opposite side tucking it close to your ear. When you have the ball as a defender comes out to attack, you fake a shot and then transition from a shot/pass position to protect the stick with your head and body, and you accelerate past the Defender to an opening for a shot on goal, or a pass to another teammate.
Split Dodge
Split Dodge is like the Face Dodge in that it is a straight-ahead dodge (no roll). This time instead of trying to fake the defender into thinking you are going to shoot, you are going to make him think you are trying to blow by him on one side, but instead quickly plant your lead foot and switch directions. You switch your stick-side hands in front of your face and then blow by on the other side of the defender. Just getting the defender off balance with the quick change of direction and stick hands, and protecting the stick near your opposite ear as you scoot by on the other side.
Roll Dodge
No doubt the Roll Dodge is one of the most effective dodges, especially in the open field. Let’s say that you are stick-side left, stay fairly tight to the defender and get him to commit a little, and then spin to the left keeping your back to the defender, rolling off of him protecting the stick with your body, while switching to right hand. The goal is to get the defender to over-commit and get off balance before you roll. You also have to be very close to, or touching the defender to make the roll effective.
Bull Dodge
Is generally for bigger stronger players. The key to a Bull Dodge is that it isn’t a dodge in the true sense of the word. Unlike the previous dodges, the bull dodge is won by getting close to your opponent, and running by him, always keeping the ball to the free-hand side, away from the defender. Make sure you are at full speed when you try a bull dodge.
Check out some of these dodges in action:
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