Drills to Do to Help You Become a Better Lacrosse Player

Like all other sports, lacrosse requires that players practice, practice, practice in order to become the best lacrosse player they can be. Lacrosse is different because it incorporates techniques from several different sports all rolled into one.

Lacrosse players need not only skill, but they also must possess strength, endurance, and size as well. Lacrosse is somewhat of a contact sport and players on the field are almost constantly moving, just like those who play soccer or basketball.

Speed & Agility Drills

• Bounding. This drill is basically an exaggerated running motion. You start out by jogging to get your body warmed up a bit and then you start to run. When you run you want to push off with your left foot and bring your right arm out in front of you and then repeat with the opposite leg and arm. You want to push off with your feet as hard as you can for each running step that you take. Repeat for 5 sets of 10 repetitions.
• Sprinting Strides. This drill will help to increase your coordination and your foot speed as well. Before you begin you will need to set up 15 to 20 cones in a straight line with the first 8 to 10 cones being about 1 yard apart and the remaining cones being placed about 2 yards apart. When you begin sprinting, your goal is to sprint the entire length between two cones and taking one step before sprinting to the next cone.
• Weaving Through Cones. This weaving drill will help to improve your lateral agility, which is very important if you are hoping to become a better lacrosse player. To set up this drill you will need 7 cones, or any odd number will do, then you’ll set up the first 4 cones in a straight line approximately 2 to 3 yards apart. You will place the remaining cones in between the first line of cones you made, but place them either 3 yards to left or 3 yards to the right of the first line of cones you made. You will then sprint from cone to cone in a diagonal fashion as quickly as you can.

Wall Ball Drills - Improve Accuracy, Shooting, Catching and Passing

Wall Ball will help to improve skills such as shooting, catching, dodging, hand-eye coordination, passing and accuracy. For wall ball drills you just need a strong wall, your stick and your ball. It’s also a good idea to practice with your lacrosse gear on to get the full benefit.

• Throwing, Catching, Shooting. To help improve your accuracy, start by placing a few pieces of tape on the wall. These are going to be your targets. Start at one end of the wall standing several yards from it, bring your stick up to your ear and throw the ball and try to hit each piece of tape and then catch it. You will continue to run along the wall until you run out of room and then you can just turn around and run back along the wall. Practice catching the ball, both in front of you and behind you and from several different angles.
• Switch Hands. This drill will help you improve your hand-eye coordination and allow you to practice several lacrosse skills with both hands. You should never practice using only one hand. To begin, stand about 3 to 4 yards away from the wall and throw the ball hard to a specific spot on the wall and then catch it on the same side. Then bring the ball up by your ear and then switch hands by bringing the ball across your face and then repeat on the other side.

For best results you should be practicing these drills for a minimum of 30 minutes, 3 to 5 times per week during lacrosse season.

Strength & Interval Training

While there are many effective drills to do to become a better lacrosse player, it’s also important to strength train regularly to keep you bones and muscles strong. A good weight training program should be completed at least 2 or 3 times per week and you should make sure to hit all of your major muscle groups including your back, chest, legs, arms and core.

Interval training will help to increase your endurance but lacrosse players don’t need to run long steady bouts of cardio exercise like distance runners do because lacrosse involves moving in various directions repeatedly. Interval training involves short bouts of intense exercise followed by a recovery period. An example of a good interval training workout is doing 30 second sprints followed by 60 seconds of walking.

If you want to become a better lacrosse player you can do so by regularly practicing speed and agility drills and participating in strength training and interval training activities regularly.

Resources

Sport-Fitness-Advisor.com: Speed Training Drills https://www.sport-fitness-advisor.com/speed-training-drills.html

Sport-Fitness-Advisor.com: Speed & Agility Drills https://www.sport-fitness-advisor.com/agilitydrills.html

SimplyLacrosse.com: Lacrosse https://www.simplylacrosse.com/