Lacrosse is a complex sport with many different elements. It can be confusing to figure out what to get better at, so today I'm breaking down 10 things you can do to improve your lacrosse game easily! Before we start:
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1. Use more fakes
Fakes aren't used enough in lacrosse. They help you deceive your defenders and goalies. This means more goals and assists. Use pass fakes to create open lanes or shot fakes to move the goalie before you shoot.
2. Keep your eyes and stick up
If you dodge with your head down, you're missing tons of easy passes that could help your team. Learn to dodge with your head up and sick up. If your stick is up, this means your defender has to respect you as a passer.
3. Focus on your recovery
One area of lacrosse that I know most people don’t pay attention to is recovery. This is the time in between your games and practices where you’re not playing and your body is trying to rest and get ready for the next time you play lacrosse.
4. Jump rope
In lacrosse, there’s not many shortcuts to getting better. But one shortcut I have found is the jumprope. If there’s one exercise you should be doing right now, without a doubt, the jumprope. Jumprope is pretty much magical for your footwork, conditioning and muslce endurance. It pretty much works out every part of your body, and it’s super easy to do.
5. Jump rope
One thing that we don’t do enough of in lacrosse is communicate with each other. There’s plenty of lacrosse games that I go to where it’s dead silent. That needs to change.
It doesn’t matter if you’re an attackman, defender or bench warmer, communication is key in lacrosse. Call out for the ball or tell your teammates if someone’s behind them, whatever it is just talk.
6. Watch more film
There’s much more lacrosse on TV and KZfaq than ever before, which means tons of opportunity for you to watch more film. One of the best ways to become great at lacrosse is by watching great college and pro players. Watch a game and focus on one or two players. See what they do with the ball and without the ball. Take notes and go practice some of their moves.
7. Long runs
I always did plenty of sprints during lacrosse practice, but one thing we always neglected was long runs. Long runs help you build stamina which will help you last the whole game. Pick a day each week where you know you won’t have a lacrosse game. Then commit to running for at least 35 minutes without stopping.
8. Go back to fundamentals
In lacrosse, there’s so many fun moves like behind the backs and between the legs that it’s easy to forget to focus on the fundamentals. Although learning another stick trick is cool, the best thing you could be doing right now is wallball. Or shooting.
9. Master one skill
I’ve noticed in lacrosse how easy it is to try to get a lot of things. You want to be the best outside shooter and really good at dodging and really good at passing. Yeah that’s great, but start by being AMAZING at one thing. Then you can expand.
10. Learn how to play good defense
No matter your position, it’s always a great idea to learn how to play basic defense. If you’re an attackman, you’ll play defense when you ride to try to get the ball back. If you’re a midfielder or defender, you’re playing plenty of defense. Even goalies play defense sometimes.