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Drill of the Week: Defensive Lacrosse Drill for Kids

  • By CoachUp.com

Welcome to Drill of the Week, a series on ACTIVEkids.com that explains individual and team drills for parents and coaches to help kids improve at the sports they love.

This week's drill is playing on-ball defense, a lacrosse drill brought to you by CoachUp.com.

After a few weeks off, we’re back with a new lacrosse drill that will guide you towards success! Last time out, we chatted about catching the ball, an essential ability to the sport as a whole on the offensive side of things. To even it up, we’ve got an awesome video for you that discusses on-ball defense.

If you’ve played any sports before, you’ll know that playing defense sounds simple in concept but is incredibly difficult in execution. If you’d like to take your game to another level, consider the tips that Mike Stone, midfielder for the Boston Cannons and CoachUp coach, discusses in the video above.

More from Coachup: Becoming a Two-Way Midfielder

Ultimately, there are a couple main ideas and tips that an aspiring lacrosse player should take from this exercise. First and foremost, on-ball defenders must do their best to keep offensive opponents out of the middle of the field, attempting to push them out wide in the process. By doing so, your opposition is steered away from goal, towards the sideline, and gives them less space and positive opportunities down the field.

With that in mind, Coach Mike runs through suggestions on physical steps you can take to deter advancement -- including getting in a good athletic position, putting your stick horizontally across their hip, and and moving with their body down the field. When you play defense like this, you’re able to influence their movement, react quickly to a change in direction, and get your stick in the way of any shooting opportunities.

More from Coachup: The Face-Off

For visual reference, check out the video above as Coach Mike does a great job of walking through the entire process. If you follow these guidelines, you’ll be locking down your opponent in absolutely no time.

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