Practice Plan: Playing with & vs Pressure

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Gettysburg Clearing
Tight 2v2 to the Goal
5v5 Apache Ground Ball Game
5v5 Double Trouble Game
Play 6v6

Phase 3: Create Under Pressure: Introduce Train to Compete elements while staying developmentally appropriate. This is where players begin learning how to create advantages intentionally, not just recognize them.

Week 9 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

Gettysburg Clearing

Set Up

You can do this on a shortened field for tighter passing (as shown) or on a full field. Put 2 goals on one end withbthe attack, 1 attacker at each goal. 2 Midfield lines in the middle center and 2 more lines on each center wing. There will be 2 goalies in net with the defenders on both sides. The drill stars with a ground ball for the middle center midfielders. They will get possessions and pass quick to the goalie on their side. The goalie will yell “break” and a defenders will break out to the low wing to receive a pass. They pass back to the midfielder who passed to the goalie. In transition, the midfielder will look upfield to their teammate on the sideline breaking upfield. They will carry and make a pass to the attacker for a shot on goal

Coaching Points & Principles

Clearing Principles – Spacing and motion concepts
Team Passing & Stickwork – Quick passes to move the ball fast in transition
Communicate!

Tight 2v2 to the Goal

Set Up

Put the group into 2 teams are the restraining box, alternating lines so you start in a 2v2 scenario. Coach rolls a ball in, the winning team is on offense and must go to the goal quick! Use a shot clock to speed up play

Coaching Points & Principles

Win the Groundball Battle! use body positions and accelerate through
Play quick in tight space
Offense focus on spacing and 2-player game
Defense work on physical on ball play!

5v5 Apache Ground Ball Game

A fun game that works on defensive pressure, communication, and offensive ball movement

Set Up

Put 5 defenders inside the crease and 5 offensive players outside the crease. On coaches first whistle, the offense will jog around the cage clockwise, and the defense will jog around the cage (inside the crease) counter clockwise. On coaches 2nd whistle, they will roll a ball out on the perimeter. The play is live, and the rule is we always want the defense to double team the player going for the ball. The offense must break out to space and support the teammate who’s going for the ball and will be double teamed.

The objective is for the offense to move the ball quickly to backside, to get a good high quality shot. The defense wants to pressure the offense enough to now allow the ball to get backside, and eventually get them back to neutral. Play until the offense scores, or the defense successfully clears the ball to midfield.

Coaching Points and Principles

Offense – Get the ground ball, run away from pressure and find a teammate quickly! Adjacent teammates must support
Defense – Pressure, pressure, pressure. Keep on the offense as much as possible, and communicate through the sliding/rotations.

Progressions

Have the defense try to shut off the adjacent first pass after the GB

5v5 Advanced Anticipation & Recognition Communication Decision Making Game - Live Play High School Intermediate Men’s Lacrosse Off Ball Defensive Play Off Ball Offensive Play Small Area Games Small Area Games Team Systems & Conceptual Play Transition U10 U12 U14

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5v5 Double Trouble Game

Play this game 5v5 or 4v4 for less advanced teams.

Set Up

On one end of the field, put 6 offensive player and defensive player in the play. Give every defender a number, and tell the team which player is the designated “slide” player for each rep. The game starts with the offense passing the ball around in ball control motion. You can put your offense up in any set depending on what you play and/or an upcoming opponent may play. On coaches double whistle, the designated slide player will go double team the ball. The offense must find space to help their teammates double teamed, moving the ball quick to find backside scoring opportunities.

Coaching Points and Principles

Defense Principles
- Protect the house, Communicate, keep sticks in passing lanes to prevent skip passes
- Slide and double team with pressure
Offensive principles
- Move the ball towards pressure (direction slide is come from from), have zero second decision making (shoot, pass, or attack space), and stay spread to make the slides longer

Progressions

Play 5v5
Youth levels, you can start with 3v3 and 4v4 to get them to start seeing the slides and moving the ball correctly,

Gettysburg Clearing

Set Up

Coaching Points & Principles

Tight 2v2 to the Goal

Set Up

Coaching Points & Principles

5v5 Apache Ground Ball Game

Set Up

Coaching Points and Principles

Progressions

5v5 Double Trouble Game

Play this game 5v5 or 4v4 for less advanced teams.

Set Up

Coaching Points and Principles

Progressions

Play 6v6

Play a Live 6v6 Scrimmage