Motion Offense: Drills

Originally Published in: Lacrosse Essentials

Provided by: Human Kinetics

MOTION OFFENSE

The following drills are geared specifically toward the motion offense. Some of the drills can be run in separate position triangles. You can work the attack triangle without opposition to learn timing and gain repetitions. Work live 3v3 to learn the back door and motion of the triangles. The drill figures show a right-handed setup, but you can perform them both ways.

General Rules

Although this is a high-speed offense, do not force feeds or shots. Be patient. Catch the ball on the run and look to the passer, who is playing a give-and- go 90 percent of the time. If a player dodges, he should do it quickly and to the open area. If it's not there, he should pull out, pass, and cut. If a player wants to dodge and the defense still sags to back up, then start a second rotation. If your man is still backing up, you will be open on the cut. Look for and use the hung defenseman. Finally, apply the backdoor clearing-out principle whenever possible in any offensive situation. Because this is a full-motion offense and requires that your players go both ways, only use it if you enough of your players are able to handle it.

Attack Rules

If a midfielder sweeps toward you, cut and clear across the crease. If an attackman receives the pass on point, unless he has created an opportunity where his defenseman is caught in front of the crease. This is defined as hanging your defenseman. If he forces one side of the cage, the attack player will drive the opposite side. He must drive toward the passer to set up a give-and-go. If an attackman receives a pass from a midfielder, the other attackmen rotate their positions.

Midfield Rules

A midfielder should sweep whenever possible. If a midfielder passes to another midfielder on top, he must cut and clear to the crease for the sweep. He should not roll back on a sweep because the crease midfielder is filling in and bringing his man to him. If the midfielder passes to an attackman, he must cut back door to the crease. If an attackman passes behind to the point, this initiates a give-and-go by the wing attackmen and a rotation by the midfielders. When in doubt, midfielders should cut, clear through, and rotate.

DRIVE RIGHT WING BACKDOOR DRILL

In this drill, the feeder X works on the timing and placement of the feed. The wingman works on his backdoor cut. Although it is a right-handed cut, the player may use his left hand if that makes it easier for him to protect his stick from the top defender if he slides down to cover him. The cutter must hold his stick up precisely where he wants the feeder to pass (see figure 4.1).

MIDFIELDER DUMP INSIDE DRILL

In this drill, the midfielder sweeps across the top and reads his options inside. He feeds the creaseman, who curls and shoots (see figure 4.2).

DRIVE BACKDOOR DRILL

This is similar to the previous drill, except the midfielder feeds to the onside backdoor cutter (see figure 4.3).

GIVE-AND-GO DOWN THE SIDE DRILL

In this drill, a midfielder (M1) initiates his give-and-go down the side. M2 rotates over to back up, and M3 rotates to replace the vacated area on top (see figure 4.4).

GIVE-AND-GO FROM THE WING DRILL

The wing attackman passes behind and immediately cuts to the cage. This is similar to the wing backdoor cut except that it is initiated off of a pass (see figure 4.5).

WING DRIVE FROM THE WING DRILL

This is a companion drill to the give-and-go from the wing. The wingman clears through and the top midfielder drives the lane to the cage. The cut is either directly to the ball carrier or down to the onside pipe, depending on the defensive positioning. These cuts can be initiated either by a pass from the wing or a drive by the attackman at X (see figure 4.6).