Practice Plan: Station Work – Spatial & Field Awareness

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Activity 1: Chaos Keep Away
Activity 2: Trucks and Trailers
Activity 3: 3 Team Relay
Activity 4: Diamond Keep Away Game
Activity 5: Zombie Tag

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 & Objected: Spatial & Field Awareness

Spatial & Field Awareness is designed to help players understand where they are on the field, how to move with purpose, and how to work effectively with teammates. The objective of this plan is to introduce young athletes to simple concepts like spacing, open areas, support positions, and moving to the ball. Through fun, small-sided activities, players learn to recognize where pressure is, where space is, and how to use that information to make better decisions. This approach builds early game sense, boosts confidence, and teaches players how to play smarter—not just faster—on the field.

10 Minutes

Activity 1: Chaos Keep Away

Set Up

Create a small area playing field and split players into 2 teams. Both teams at opposite end of the fields, and lacrosse balls to the middle of the field. I usually like to you 1/2 balls to players.. so if there are 20 total players, use 10 balls. On the whistle, the players will run in trying to get a ball. Once they gain possession, they must run away and escape the defenders staying in the playing area. The team with the most balls at the end of 1 minute wins that round

Rules

Players can pass to teammates to escape pressure and maintain possession
If they go out of bounds with a ball, turnover to defending player
Players without the ball, can pressure to take away and flip a possession
The team who possesses the most balls after 1 minute, wins

Coaching Points & Principles

Groundballs! Winn the ground ball battles
Stick control & cradling with the ball vs pressure
Teamwork, don’t be afraid to pass to open teammates to maintain possessions

Tags

Ball Control (with the ball)Beginner Game - Live Play Ground Ball Battles Ground Balls Intermediate Men’s Lacrosse Small Area Games Small Area Games U10 U12 U14 U8

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10 Minutes

Activity 2: Trucks and Trailers

Set Up

Put players in lines of 4 or 5, with the lead player with NO ball, they are the TRUCK. The 4 players behind them ar the Trailers and they all will be carrying a ball. The Truck will run in random patterns for 15-20 seconds, and the Trailers must run, and stay in line following the Truck! After the time is up, switch the roles until everyone has been a TRUCK!

Coaching Points and Principles

Truck – Try to make quick moves, change direction, create a pattern
Trailers – Keep your heads UP! cradling the ball under control. If you drop it, pick it up and continue

Progressions

Add less players so it goes quicker
Use Cones to make it easier to navigate for less experienced players

Tags

Anticipation & Recognition Attack Ball Control (with the ball)Beginner Block - On Air (no opponent)Box Lacrosse Defense Intermediate Men’s Lacrosse Midfield U10 U8

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10 Minutes

Activity 3: 3 Team Relay

Set Up

Put your players into 3 teams, smaller group drills so 2-4 players per team. You can use goals or cones as your scoring point. Coach will put a bag of balls In the middle of the playing area, and on the whistle, 1 player from each team must go get a ball, and bring it back to their scoring area. They can shoot on a goal or carry through a gate using cones as shown in this video. The next teammate in line can go get a ball, once they get back to line, acting like a relay race. The team with the most balls after a 1 minute session wins

Coach Points and Principles

Ground balls – finding a loose ball and accelerating through
Ball Control – carry the ball confidently back to your scoring area
Shooting – if using Goals, add in shooting constraints (must finish on a bounce shot, as an example)
Teamwork! Make sure players are rooting each other on

Progressions

Make field larger so they have to run more / smaller for less experienced players
add more teams (4,5,6)

Tags

All Ball Control (with the ball)Beginner Block - On Air (no opponent)Ground Balls Intermediate Small Area Games Small Area Games U10 U8

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10 Minutes

Activity 4: Diamond Keep Away Game

Set Up

Set up cones in the shape of a diamond in the playing area. You can make it larger to force longer passes but the stand length should be about 8-10 yards away from each other. On the sideline, set up 3 lines of each team, depending on your group size. They should be alternating (dark, light, dark, light, etc..). Coach rolls a ball into the field (doesn’t have to be inside the diamond), and the team that picks up the ball is on offense. Another teammate from the winning team will join, giving them an advantage (4v3). At this point the game-play will move to the cones, and the defense has to stay inside the diamond while the offense needs to stay out. Play keep away for 30 seconds or until coach blows the whistle for a new group!

Coaching Points and Principles

Ground Balls
Offense – Make good passes, a teammate should be at an adjacent cone. If the player with the ball carries, the offense should move like a carousel maintaining their spacing.
Defense – Communicate, who has ball! Need no play the ball, and have backside zone since we are playing with 1 less player. One the ball is passed, a new defender should slid to the ball, and the previous defender on ball needs to get back inside for backside supper and help. Keep stick UP to try and knockdown passing

Progressions

Make the groups smaller (2 lines of each color) so it turns into a 3v2 for more spacing at younger ages
if you have more than 4 players (5v4) we can put an offensive players on the crease who can rotate in and out during the keep away play
Add go to the goal

Tags

3v2 4v3 5v4 Beginner Disruptive - Light Physical Opponent Ground Balls Intermediate Men’s Lacrosse Offense Spacing Principles Small Area Games Small Area Games Team Passing U10 U12 U14

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10 Minutes

Activity 5: Zombie Tag

Set Up

Create a small area using cones or lines on the field for boundaries. Every player will have a ball and there will be a coach(s) inside the play area as the zombies. On the whistle, the players will start running with their ball in the play are and coaches will walk around like zombies. if a player gets tagged by a coach or runs outside the playing area, they will freeze in place. Their teammates can unfreeze them, but rolling a ball through their legs, and scooping a ground ball. Continue for 5-10 minutes, and the kids will have a great run!

Coaching Points and Principles

Ball Control and Awareness – Keep your head up, stay away from zombies, and don’t run out of bounds!
Communicate – Help unfreeze your teammates

Progressions

Make field smaller so its more challenging or larges for less experienced players

Tags

Anticipation & Recognition Ball Control (with the ball)Beginner Box Lacrosse Dodging & Escapes Game - Live Play Intermediate Men’s Lacrosse Small Area Games Small Area Games U10 U8

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