Practice Plans-Full of Fun !

1. Practice Plans-Full ofFun ! Dan Hendrickson Hastings Middle School Upper Arlington, OH dhendric@columbus.rr.com

2. Keys to the Perfect Practice • Loaded with Fun. • Rewards for hard work. • Good pace-moving along. • Organized & coaches in tune with the plan. • Build your “Puzzle”. • Show what you mean (3)-different ways. • “Sticky Messages” at every practice. • Ball to player ratio. • Lots of BALLS.

3. Skills Development • Teaching Methods. • Reinforcement of skills. • Teaching progression. • Teach cues for players to read. • Drill design.

4. Teaching Methods • Part method=break into steps-teach in progression. • Whole method=teach skill in its entirety.

5. Reinforcement of skill • Practice skill repetitively with high number of reps. • Player to ball ratio…low! Keep groups at 6-max.

6. Teaching progression • Teach and practice skills at competitive speed.

7. Teach cues for players to read • Understand cues to allow players to read situation. • Practice cues (2v1, 3v2 etc.). • Visualize cues.

8. Know How Kids Learn • Tell ‘em. • Show ‘em. • Let ‘em do it. • Fix ‘em. • Praise ‘em.

9. Drill design • Drills need exact component of skill situation. • Make drills according to your offense & defense. • Create fun games with drills. • Disguise conditioning.

10. Stick Work Mechanics • Holding stick. • Catching. • Passing. • Over the shoulder (OTS). • Drills.

11. Holding Stick • Bottom hand covering end of stick. • Top hand waist wide. • Very soft hands. • Head of stick always in the “box area”

12. Catching • Head of stick in the box area. • Give with the ball-treat it like an egg-don’t scramble the egg. • Never snap at the ball. • Don’t spin your stick. • Stick never pass your face mask.

13. Passing • Hands as stated above. • Get arms away from the body. • Upper hand-snap wrist. • Lower hand-pull toward elbow-don’t push. • Foot pointed to target.

14. Over the shoulder (OTS). • Upper hand tells you what shoulder to look over. • Half moon cut or banana cut. • Expended the stick.

15. Drills: Passing & catching • Pair. • Give and go. • Half circle w/coach. • Wall. • 3/4-man. • Triangle. • V-cut w/coach or cone. • Back-cut w/coach or cone. • OTS/follow the leader. • OTS post pattern.

16. Cradling • Stick position. Start with low to high. • “Give me the money”-The Big Diehl. • Don’t spin your stick. • Remember that cradling is over rated and shows others that they don’t know what to do with the ball. • What to do with the ball? Give up the ball-it belongs to the “game”.

17. Drills: Cradling • Relay races. • Weave thru players or cones. *changing hands…counting…footwork.

18. Ground balls • Stick position. • Body position. • Key terms or “Sticky Messages” *Be a monkey-get low-be. *Talk to the ball (Hello friend). *Listen to the ball (Put friend in a safe place). *Accelerate thru the ball. *Roll away from pressure. *Share it with a friend.

19. Drills: Ground balls • Monkey. • Booty. • Pair. • Backwards. • 3-man. • Triangle. • Musical Chairs. • Clock. • Turn it over. • Limbo.

20. Dodging • Purpose of dodging? *To free your hands... to Pass or Shoot.

21. Drills: Dodging • Pair sharing. • Bull in the ring (stick protection). • Battling Knights (line drill). • Driving from the top & sides.

22. Drill Me • Full field OTS. • Meatloaf. • 2v1 GB. • Hot Potato (3v2-breakout). • Get open. • Box GB’s

23. Play it up • 3v3. • 4v3. • Chaos. • Musical Balls. • Einstein. • West Genny. • Fast breaks.

24. Homework/Terminology to be taught:Defense-Terms • Break down. • GLE. • Poke check. • Lift check. • 50/50. • Move your feet. • Never turn your back to the ball. • Play the hands. • Stick on Stick. • Stick on his stick side. • Push (V-hold). • Slide. • Help. • Fire. • Time flavors defense. • Don’t know where to go (touch the hat/hole).

25. Homework/Terminology to be taught:Offense Terms • Back up. • Change of speed. • Change of depth. • Change of direction. • Unsettled. • Pick. • Screen. • Dodges. • Cutting. • Clear. • Break. • Space flavors offense. • Give and Go. • Keep it hot. • Ball never gets tried. • Move w/o the ball.

26. “Sticky Messages” • BU-balance up. • Lacrosse is a game of opposites. ` • If your feet are still, your wrong. • The ball belongs to the game-move it. • BUM-Ball…U…Man. • What does a 2 on 1 need? The ball. • “Don’t mistake activity for achievement, practice it the right way”. –John Wooden. • Lacrosse is a game of recognizing, not memorizing.

27. Last Thoughts • Practice should be no longer than one hour and 25-minutes. • If your practice plan is not working… scrap it and move on. • Everyone is involved in practice…not just the starters. Rotate players often. • It’s about having FUN…players feed off you and your staff.

28. Closing Thoughts/Comments • LPABPW-Lacrosse people are the best people in the World. • Sticky messages-add new ones in ever practice. • Don’t coach the players on the field; coach them when they come off. • Share your knowledge/ideas with others in the league. • Whatever bad habits they pick up as a youth, they will have forever. • Be a stickler on the mechanics of all fundamentals. • UAHS tryouts (1-hour & half) all fundamentals-guess what?-they’re very important. • Motor skills are learned at ages 8-12yrs. • UALA spring league is all about the fundamentals-don’t feel you have to add more into every practice, skills, skills and more skills. • Please review and re-review your UALA coach’s manual-its load! • Thank you for all your time and efforts in teaching future UA Bears! • Don’t lose sight on the goals of the game-HAVE FUN! Great Reading • The Sprit in the Stick by Neil Duffy • Season of Life by Jeffery Marx (Your first read!) • Our game: The Character & Culture of Lacrosse by John M. Yeager • Coaching Youth Lacrosse by American Sport Education Program