Transition Play

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Please Note: The practice is designed to bring value across multiple age levels. You can use this as a foundation to build and develop your own practice. With that being said, we highly encourage you to adjust the drills based on your team’s age and skill levels. Lacrosse Drive should always be used as a starting point — you can make drills easier or harder by changing the constraints.

To make a drill easier, you might Increase the playing area, reduce the number of defenders or rules, add time or space to make decisions

To make a drill harder, you might: Shrink the field or add boundaries, add defenders or touch restrictions (e.g., “one-pass before shooting”), or Limit time or space to force faster decisions

Small adjustments to field size, player numbers, and rules can significantly change the challenge level while maintaining the same core learning goal.

Practice Theme and Objective: Transition
Creating an up-tempo environment that sharpens players’ ability to recognize, react, and execute during transitional moments, from defense to offense and offense to defense. The emphasis is on speed with purpose: pushing tempo, communicating through chaos, and finishing with composure. Our objective is to build instinctive habits in unsettled and semi-settled situations. Players learn to make quick reads, support in lanes, and manage numerical advantages or disadvantages while maintaining team shape and flow.

10 Minutes

Pre-Practice Offense Shallow Cut Shooting

Summary

Shallow cut shooting is a good high volume drill you can do if your team played out of a 2 man game type set or just working on any basic clear through and throwback dodging from the wings

Tags

2-Player GameAdvancedAttackBlock - On Air (no opponent)Box LacrosseCollegeFoundational SkillsHigh SchoolIntermediateMen’s LacrosseMidfieldOffense Spacing PrinciplesShootingStep Down ShootingTeam ShootingTeam Systems & Conceptual Play

Set Up

Do these on both sides of the field, so you have 4 lines. The lines are up top, and starts with a pass down. That player who just passed the ball, will execute a shallow cut floating to the space/area their teammate just came from. The player will carry the ball up, and throw back to shallow cutter for a shot. Its important to note the shallow cutter should not fade towards the crease, but more to the outside making slide longer for an opposing defender

Coaching Points and Principles

  • The shallow cut should be like a banana, cutting on an arc. Don’t just run to the new space
  • The ball carrier should add in a little pump fake ahead of them, before throwing back. Make sure they are stepping away to make a good pass
  • Catch loaded and try to finish quickly. Aim for far pipe

Progressions

  • Simulate a Pick instead of a shallow cut
  • Start opposite, pass up, clear throw for a shot up top

Tags

2-Player GameAdvancedAttackBlock - On Air (no opponent)Box LacrosseCollegeFoundational SkillsHigh SchoolIntermediateMen’s LacrosseMidfieldOffense Spacing PrinciplesShootingStep Down ShootingTeam ShootingTeam Systems & Conceptual Play

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12 Minutes

Activity 1: Tampa Clearing

Summary

This drill will emphasize spacing, ball movement, and transition principles when clearing the ball. 

Tags

AdvancedAnticipation & RecognitionClearingCollegeCommunicationGame - Live PlayHigh SchoolLacrosse IQMen’s LacrosseRidingTeam PassingTransition

Set Up

Put 3 players of each team in every quarter part of the field. This is a 12v12 + goalies game. Start the ball with the goalie, and they play 4v3 keep away. After the 3rd completed pass, the last player with the ball carries it to the next quarter. They play 4v3 until 3 passes are made. Continue this until the team with the ball, advances to their offensive end, and they play 4v3 to the goal, and try to score. If there is a turnover or interception during the clearing, start a new ball with the opposite team. Coach can award 1 point for a team that successfully clears the ball, and award 1 point extra if they score. 

Principles and Coaching Points

  • Open field spacing in transition. 
  • Communication, call for the ball
  • Riding, disrupt player with the ball. 
  • Clearing!!

Tags

AdvancedAnticipation & RecognitionClearingCollegeCommunicationGame - Live PlayHigh SchoolLacrosse IQMen’s LacrosseRidingTeam PassingTransition

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12 Minutes

Activity 2: 4v3 New School Game

Summary

An uptempo game that emphasizes quick unsettled situations!

Tags

4v35v4AdvancedClearingCollegeDecision MakingFundamental Team Offense & DefenseGame - Live PlayHigh SchoolIntermediateLacrosse IQMen’s LacrosseSmall Area GamesSmall Area GamesTransitionU14

Set Up

Bring the goals up to each restraining box creating a small sided game and split your group into two teams. On both ends, place 4 Offensive Players and 3 Defensive Players. IMPORTANT RULE – Players on both teams are NOT ALLOWED to cross midfield. The game will start with a defending team clearing the ball, starting with the goalie. The players on opposite side of field, must get open for a clean outlet/clear since their clearing teammates cannot cross midfield. The game plays as a 4v3 and the offensive must find the advantage opportunity to create offense. The defense must play player down, and stick to their principles as noted below, to protect the goal. Play for 2-3 minutes, and then sub everyone.

Coaching Points and Principles

  • Clearing Principles – Work to get open, spread the field out
  • Defensive Principles – Protect the house/crease area, keep sticks in passing lanes, disrupt the offensive play
  • Offensively – Find the advantage whether its a 2v1 down the wing or up top

Progressions

  • Add a 5th offensive and 4the defensive player to create a 5v4 game
  • Make playing space smaller for younger players

Tags

4v35v4AdvancedClearingCollegeDecision MakingFundamental Team Offense & DefenseGame - Live PlayHigh SchoolIntermediateLacrosse IQMen’s LacrosseSmall Area GamesSmall Area GamesTransitionU14

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25 Minutes

Activity 3: 6v6 2 Sides

Set Up

If you have enough players, break your team into 2 offense and defense groups. On each end, work on your offensive and defensive strategy. This will give players more reps, and allow for less subbing while giving every player more in depth practice on both ends of the field

Offensive End

  • Play out of our 2-player game working on both on ball and off ball movement and spacing. Emphasize for the ball carrier and teammate to read the coverage and off ball players to move and react based off of those solutions.

Defensive End

  • We are working on our 2-player game coverages. We want to make sure we are pressuring the ball, communicating, and supporting backside in the house. Our rotations will help get the offense back to neutral
15 Minutes

Activity 6: The Rabbit Game

A great game to finish with and add in some of the 2-player elements we just worked on during 6v6

Summary

Both teams will be on their toes, where the situation is constant changing in this fun filled game!

Tags

AdvancedAnticipation & RecognitionCommunicationExtra Man / Power PlayFundamental Team Offense & DefenseGame - Live PlayHigh SchoolLacrosse IQMan DownMen’s LacrosseTransitionU12U14

Set Up

Set this up in either a full field 10v10 game or a small sided 5v5. There will be an equal amount of players on each team on the field. There will be 1 additional player, as the rabbit. Use a 3 color tank for visual. The rabbit is always on offense, if a team is in transition and the rabbit has the ball, for example, they can turn back the other direction and change the situation on the field. Its important to give the rabbit some guidelines. We want the rabbit to play offense with both groups, but in certain times change teams. As a coach you can control this by blowing the whistle as the trigger to switch.

Principles & Coaching Points

  • Awareness on the field
  • Man down and Man Up principles
  • Transition play
  • Quick Ball Movement

Progressions

  • Add in constraints to make it harder for offense, like scoring off a pass, can’t score off dodges, etc… to get players to focus on ball movement in uneven situations
  • For younger and less experienced players, make field smaller and play 5v5

Tags

AdvancedAnticipation & RecognitionCommunicationExtra Man / Power PlayFundamental Team Offense & DefenseGame - Live PlayHigh SchoolLacrosse IQMan DownMen’s LacrosseTransitionU12U14

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15 Minutes

Activity 7: Powerplay/Shorthanded

Use this block to work on power play and penalty kill scenarios. Like the 6v6 2 sides, you can put your 1st line power play on one end of the field with the backup penalty kills, and the other end put your 1st line penalty kill playing against 2nd line power play. For the last 5 minutes, have both 1’s compete on one end