I recently realized that most of the training guides I have written are mostly for male players. And if you look across the internet, there’s a lack of training guides and tutorials that are specifically for women and girls. Therefore, in this post, I wanted to use this opportunity to talk about some of the best lacrosse drills girls should start utilizing to take their game to the next level.
In order to make this guide as helpful as possible, I sought help from a couple of my lacrosse girl friends who were nice enough to share with me the drills they think are best for women’s players. So without further ado, let’s begin.
The best ten lacrosse drills for girls are the following:
- Change of Direction Drill
- Cross Crease Finishing Drill – Offense
- Mirror Shooting Drill
- Amped Up Star Drill
- Funnel Drill
- Cross Crease Finishing Drill – Defense
- Flock of Geese Drill
- Goal Keeper Reaction Drill
- Ten Drill
- Hammer Drill
Read also: Best Women’s Lacrosse Sticks in 2022
No.1 Change of Direction Drill
This is a common and popular drill adapted by many lacrosse coaches. It’s an effective drill that targets players’ footwork, dodging ability and transition movements. This drill is done individually without help from other players.
How to perform the drill:
This drill is very great for attackmen who have to dodge and change directions frequently to get past the opposing players. First you want to divide the players into two teams that are up at the top. Players run to the middle and then sprint down to hit the cones near the goal. After going around the two cones, players face the goal and shoot for the top corners.
Skills Practiced:
- Dodging
- Footwork
- Transition movement
- Shooting
Live Demonstration:
Watch this clip done by USA Lacrosse that goes through this drill in a practice.
No.2 Cross Crease Finishing Drill – Offense
This drill is very great for offensive players to practice passing from the crease, timing their shots and shooting from the crease. The style of this drill is done in a rapid-fire fashion, where each player passes to the player on the opposite side without a pause. It’s a very effective drill to let offensive players work on their shooting in a single setting.
How to perform the drill:
Just like the change of direction drill, divide the players into two teams on each side of the goal. Every player gets a ball beside the player who starts the shooting. Then one player runs to the middle at the top of the crease. She will receive the ball from the player on the other side and then shoot.
Then the player who just passed the ball runs the same drill by cutting in and getting a pass from the next player on the other side. The drill continues until the last player finishes shooting.
Skills Practiced:
- Passing
- Shooting
- Cutting
Live Demonstration:
Watch this clip done by USA Lacrosse that goes through this drill in a practice.
No.3 Mirror Shooting Drill
Mirror shooting is a great offensive drill that targets players’ off-ball movements and the ability to get open for shooting positions. This drill emulates a real game offensive situation without an opposing defense. It’s a typical practice women’s coaches utilize to develop rapport among offensive players.
How to perform the drill:
Completing one set of mirror shooting drills involves three offensive players and a goalie. To start, the coach will roll the ball out from one side of the field. One player picks up the ball and starts running behind the goal. At the same time, two players run to the top of the crease. They will get open and wait for the player behind the goal to feed them the ball.
Whether they choose to move the ball across or shoot directly, the drill needs to be as fast as they can.
Skills Practiced:
- Offensive positioning
- Feeding
- Shooting
Live Demonstration:
Watch this clip done by USA Lacrosse that goes through this drill in a practice.
No.4 Amped Up Start Drill
Amped up star drill is a more advanced version of the traditional star drill. It involves patterned ball movement in a more game-like drill environment. This drill allows players to train under more pressure so that they can be prepared for game-like situations.
How to perform the drill:
As the name suggests, before the drill starts, you need to set up five cones around the 12-meter arch. Each cone will have three players behind it. The ball is thrown to every other line by skipping the player adjacent to you. Once all five players have passed the ball, the final player shoots the ball.
In addition, in front of every cone, there will be a defender who tries to block the pass which gives the players pressure to pass quickly.
Skills Practiced:
- Communication
- Feeding
- Shooting
Live Demonstration:
Watch this clip done by USA Lacrosse that goes through this drill in a practice.
No.5 Funnel Drill
The funnel drill trains defensive players’ positioning that forces the ball carrier down the alley or to the backline. It works on defensive players’ ability to stay with the target and push her out to the alley. This is an important defensive skill in a real game situation by not giving offensive players an opportunity to front face the goal.
How to perform the drill:
On the whistle, the offensive player drives the ball toward the goal while the defensive player works on using their sticks to push the opponent out to the alley. The defensive player needs to keep their arms up the whole time during the drill. The offensive player doesn’t put any force on the defensive player but goes to where they are pushed to.
Skills Practiced:
- 1v1 defense
- Defensive footwork
- Defensive positioning
Live Demonstration:
Watch this clip done by USA Lacrosse that goes through this drill in a practice.
No.6 Cross Crease Finishing Drill – Defense
This drill is in contrast with the cross crease offense finishing drill. It focuses on helping defensive players improve on ball and off ball defensive positioning. This drill allows the defenders to practice marking up the ball carrier and communicating with other defenders to recover to hold in good help position.
How to perform the drill:
There will be 3 offensive players and 2 defensive players on the field in each drill. Offensive player 1 and 2 run down the field with the ball while defensive player 1 and 2 stay close to them.
As the offensive players are inside the offensive zone, they could choose to feed the ball to the 3rd offensive player. Defensive player 2 needs to sprint to offensive player 3 to recover defense.
Skills Practiced:
- Defensive positioning
- Defensive footwork
- Communication
Read also: Crease Rules In Lacrosse Player Needs To Know
No.7 Flock of Geese Drill
Whoever came up with this name is a genius! This is a very fun lacrosse drill for players to practice important defensive skills such as sliding, movement and communication. At the same time incredibly effective at helping the defensive team to build rapport and get familiar with how to slide during the games.
How to perform the drill:
There are a couple of different versions of this specific drill. In this version we have 4 defenders huddled around the goal circle. 4 opposing attackers start outside of the 12-meter arc. They can pass the ball around the outside and get ready to attack. As soon as the coach shots or whistles, attackers can attack the goal and move inside the offensive zone. Defensive players also quickly break out and mark up individual players.
The goalie also needs to quickly get to the goal and be ready to block any quick shots. To get the best out of this practice, defensive players must communicate with each other, especially in the beginning.
Skills Practiced:
- Defensive play
- 1v1 defense
- Defensive positioning
- Communication
No.8 Goal Keeper Reaction Drill
Now we have a couple of offensive and defensive drills for field players, but what about goalies? The goalkeeper reaction drill focuses on helping the goalkeeper strengthen her saving ability. It trains the goalie to save as quickly as she can by lowering her reaction time.
How to perform the drill:
Again there are different variations to this drill. In the video I included below is a different form of reaction drill players can utilize. A more common version of the drill goes like this: one player should be standing 7-meter apart from the goal and shoot.
The goalie tries to save the shot. After that, she will sprint to the 8-meter mark and back peddle back to the goal circle. As she is getting near the position, the other player shoots again. She will have to try to make a save.
Skills Practiced:
- Goalie saves
- Footwork
- Goalie positioning
- Reaction time
Live Demonstration:
Watch this clip done by USA Lacrosse that goes through a different version of this drill in practice.
No.9 Ten Drill
This is one of the most common and popular drills players must work on during practice, which is a 1v1 drill. Since during a game, you will have a lot of 1v1 situations, this drill allows players to learn how to get good at 1v1 and get away from opponents.
How to perform the drill:
This drill will typically be done in the attacking zone. And here’s how the drill goes: there will be two teams. One player from each team will play 1v1 against each other. The first team to score 10 goals wins the drill. Therefore, this is a drill that allows everyone to work on 1v1 offense and defense.
Skills Practiced:
- Offensive shooting
- Defensive positioning
- 1v1 skill
Live Demonstration:
Watch this clip that goes through how your team can do a 1v1 drill in practice.
No.10 Hammer Drill
This last drill will pump up your heart rate and build up your stamina. It’s also a very effective drill in helping each individual player to work on their 1v1 offensive and defensive skills. This is also a more advanced drill that coaches could utilize in a high school or college varsity team.
How to perform the drill:
You will put 5 or 6 balls at different locations on the 8-meter mark. One defender and one offensive player are inside the offensive zone ready to start. On the whistle, the attacker runs to the first ball and picks it up. Then quickly go back into the offensive zone and go 1v1 to try to score.
After the attacker shoots the ball, she needs to go pick up the next ground ball until she has picked up all the loose balls on the mark. Throughout the entire drill, the defensive player needs to put pressure on the attacker just like in a real game situation. It’s also a great cardio practice.
Skills practiced:
- Offensive shooting
- Defensive positioning
- 1v1 skill
- Groundball
Live Demonstration:
Watch this clip that goes through how your team can do a 1v1 drill in practice.
Conclusion
To wrap up the discussion here, I hope this guide has provided you with the knowledge you need to get started on playing women’s lacrosse. As you probably noticed, most of these drills are done in a team setting. If you want to spend more time outside of regular team practice, check out this post where I highlight many great practices you can do by yourself.
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