Practice Plan: Offense and Defense Off Ball Play

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Inside Out Passing
Defensive Skill Work: Y Drill
Offensive Skill Station: Backside Jam Shooting
Read the Movement of the Defense 5v5
4v4 Plus X

Phase 2: Sustain & Re-Attack: Players will emphasizes on Maintaining advantages and extend possessions. This is the heart of the Train to Train phase. Players must learn how to continue attacking once the first action doesn’t immediately score.

Week 5 Practice / 75 Minute Session

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.

Theme Description

Inside Out Passing

This drill works on team passing, communication, and finding passing lanes

Set Up

Put your players into 2 teams, create a circle using cones and have the players line up, alternating at each cone. have a minimum of 4 lines. Add 1 player from each team, to the middle. The ball starts on the perimeter, and makes a pass to inside teammate. That player catches and finds a new teammate on the perimeter to throw to. Players will follow their passes to the line they throw to. Try not to pass in a circular clockwork pattern. Have player create a more random variation to their teammates. Both teams will play at the same time, so there are 2 balls in at all times.

Coaching Points & Principles

Passing & Catching – we want to make good passes that our teammates can catch
Communication – players should call for the ball
Finding passing lanes – players with and without the ball must find lanes to make good passes

Progressions

Pass Inside, Pass Perimeter, Pass Perimeter, Pass Inside
Pass Inside, Pass Perimeter, Pass Perimeter, Pass Perimeter, Pass Inside

Defensive Skill Work: Y Drill

Set Up

We will have 4 offensive and defensive players in this drill. They will be set up in the shape of a Y with 1 Group a X, another on the crease, and 2 up top. This is a 1v1 drill, so the off ball offensive teammates can only be an outlet, they cannot go set picks. The focus is for the defender to play tough 1v1, with the backside help on the crease. We want the off balls defenders learning to support the crease off ball when a slide is necessary, and continue to slide/recover out of it

Coaching Points & Principles

1v1 Defense, use angles to force players away from the middle of the field.
Slide and Support – Crease defender will be the slide help if their teammate gets beat. We need the backside defender to fill in and cover the crease
Communication – Everyone should talk and know who is the 1 (slide) and the 2 (Backside help)

Offensive Skill Station: Backside Jam Shooting

This is a good drill weather you work out of a 1-3-2 or not about team passing, spacing and offense above the goal

Read the Movement of the Defense 5v5

Execute this same drill but in a 5v5 Format

Set Up

Put player on field in a 4v4. The offense will start with their backs turned to coach, and coach will tell which defender is the slide/help. Offense can turn back and get set, on whistle, the defender guarding the ball leaves the field and the directed help player slides to the ball. The offense must read where the slides are coming from and move the ball to find the best shot. The defense must slide, rotate, and recover to try and get the offense back to neutral by the time their 4th player gets back into play!

Coaching Points & Principles

Offense – read the slides, move the ball to pressure
Defense – Slide, Recover, Communicate

Progressions

Play 3v3 with the youngest players
Build to 5v5 and 6v6 for youth, high school, and college levels

4v4 Plus X

Play this game 5v5 or 4v4

A great unsettled small area game that emphasizes changing sides of the field and re-attacking

Set Up

Play 4v4 above GLE, and add a player at X on offense. The X player can only transfer the ball, they cannot dodge or shoot, but the defense must play them when they receive the ball. That will create an unsettle situation above GLE as the players move the ball through X

Coaching Point and Principles

Offense – Get them to dominos and find the advantage. Work the 2-3 player game above GLE
Defense – Communicate, protect the house, and slide/recover efficiently.

2-Player Game 3-Player Game Advanced Anticipation & Recognition College Communication Decision Making Defense Slide & Recovery Game - Live Play High School Intermediate Lacrosse IQ Off Ball Defensive Play Off Ball Offensive Play Offense & Defense Principles Offense Spacing Principles Small Area Games Small Area Games Team Systems & Conceptual Play U10 U12 U14 Women’s Lacrosse

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