Hi everyone,

we are happy to have our first guest post on the blog. We hope that many will follow Wolfgang “Wolfie” Grießl (Coach Munich Lacrosse) lead and help us to get more content on this site. Many thanks to Wolfie.

It is a half field passing drill, which can also be used for warmup. To those that attended our coaching camp, this drill is perfect for early work.

Half-Field Passing Drill

Objectives:

•  Throwing and catching (Stickskills)
•  Different throw and catch angles
• Timing for breakouts, V-Cuts and passes
• Accuracy
• High repetition

Skills practiced:

• Midrange passes & long passes
• Timing for breakouts, V-Cuts and passes
• Catching from different angles
• Throwing to moving players in different angles
• Conditioning

Space / Equipment:

• Half Field
• Cones
• Balls

Players needed:

• Min. 12 runners
• 2 Goalies or Longsticks
• Up to 30+

Description:

General:

Every line and every goalie has backup balls at their lines.

The Goalies (G) stay in their positions. You can substitute goalies with longpoles or players that are hurt.

Every body else is called Runners (R). It does not matter whether a runner is a shortstick or a longstick player. They are set up in the following lines as seen in the drawing below.

 

This drill is perfect to implement your goaltenders in your stickwork or warmup drills or if you have 20 or more players at practice and get them all going at one time.

This drill has the following three stages: „Over the shoulder pass“ „V-Cuts“ and „Spike Passes“. Make sure everybody has at least 10 touches per stage with every hand.

Stage 1: „Over the shoulder pass“

The drill starts clockwise. Every runner plays with his left hand only (outside hand).

The drill takes place in the area from the winglines to the sideline. The queue for the lines are to the inside.

Ball starts with R1 in line 1. He runs towards line 2. Meanwhile R2 from line 2 breaks out tot he sideline with his stick up field to receive a „over the shoulder“ or „breakout“ pass. The drill continues with R2 catching the ball, running towards G1 and passing to G1 on the run. When G1 has the ball, R3 from line 3 breaks out to receive the next „over the soulder“ pass. And so on …

The ball goes round clockwise and the drill goes continuously.

Goalies stay on their position. The runners rotate lines clockwise, following their pass and running tot he next line.

After 3-5 min or 10 touches per runner, change direction to counter-clockwise and go right-handed only (right hand becoming outside hand when you switch to counter-clockwise).

Stage 2: „V-Cuts“

Drill starts clockwise again. The drill takes place in the area from the winglines to the sideline. The queue for the lines are to the inside.

Ball starts with R1 in line1, he uses his left hand (outside hand). R2 from line 2 does a hard V-Cut and breaks out with his right hand facing the sideline to receive a pass from R1. R1 passes to R2. R2 turns to the outside, switches hands with his body protecting his stick. Now R2 runs towards G1 and passes to him with his left hand. R3 V-Cuts for G1, receives a pass from G1, turns to the outside, switches hands and goes towards line 4. And so on …

The ball goes round clockwise and the drill goes continuously.

Goalies stay on their position. The runners rotate lines clockwise, following their pass and running to the next line.

After 3-5 min or 10 touches per runner, change direction to counter-clockwise and go V-Cut, left-handed catch, right-handed pass.

Stage 3: „Spike Passes“:

Drill starts clockwise again. The drill takes place in the area from winglines to the inside. The queue for the lines are towards the sideline. You should move the line a little bit more out towards the sideline to have longer passes.

Clockwise is right-handed only.

R1 from line 1 starts with the ball in his stick. He looks in the middle to the coach. He does a little hopstep and does a „spike pass“ (pass across his body) to R2 in line 2. R2 comes one or two steps to the ball, catches it right-handed and immediately looks into the middle. Then hopsteps and passes across his body to G1. G1 to R3 and so on …

Goalies stay on their position. The runner rotate to the next line clockwise after they made their pass.

After 3-5 minutes or 10 touches per runner, change direction to counter-clockwise and go left handed only.

Coaching tips:

Goalies should not have the ball longer than 2 secs that the drill does not get stuck. This is also a good practice for the goalies to work on their quick outlets.

You should run the drill with at least 2 balls at the same time, starting on opposite sides. The more runners you have, the more balls you should put in. If you have 4+ balls, you should support the G1 and G2 position with an additional longstick or goaltender. (2 stationary players on G1 and 2 on G2 spot).

On „over the shoulder“ passes the runners should always have their stick up field. The pass should go to where the breakout man is running.

On „spike passes“ the players should never stand still. Come tot he ball, at least one step and do a hop step when you pass the ball across your body to the next player.

Timing is essential. On „over the shoulder“ and „breakouts“ the timing is very important, that the receiver does not have to stand still and wait for the ball.

Adapt the speed of the drill to the skill level of your team. If you have your best players out make them run the drill at full speed. If there are many rookies out, watch out for good execution rather than speed.

Variations:

Bring in 3-5 balls at the same time, depending on the amount of players you have.

If you have 30+ players, you can also add line 5 and 6, that you have 3 lines on each side. This means more touches for every player.

You can run this drill full field to make passes longer and make the drill more difficult. (Longer passes, more running; conditioning, better timing necessary)

On spike passes, you can have some attackmen (A) in the middle of the drill, one for each line. He can decide to cut to his line, whenever the runner in his line receives a pass. If A1 runs towards line 1 while R1 recieves a pass, R1 does not only look into the middle. He feeds the ball to A1 and immediately gets the ball back from A1 (wallpass). Then R1 does his hopstep and passes across his body to R2. R1 rotates to the next line as usual. A1 goes back into the middle, preparing for his next cut towards line1. This can train the runners awareness.