Lacrosse is a very nuanced game. Any athlete knows that there are deep tactics and techniques to every role and play. Playing defense is one of the more unappreciated roles, as you are neither scoring nor making saves. Yet it is perhaps one of the most important roles on the field, and is incredibly nuanced. Here are some skills you should master to have any hope of being a great defensive lacrosse player.
Checks The basics of defensive playing in lacrosse revolves around three checks, so make sure you know them. These are the poke, the lift and the slap. These are fairly self explanatory, referring to the movement of your stick against their own or the ball. By combining these, such as by making a false poke immediately followed by a lift, you can get a wide array of defensive skills from these basic techniques. Checks are one of the few things you can practice and master off the field, so practice them! Once you have mastered these basics, move on to more advanced checks to widen your skills.
Footwork You need more than just hockey masks for protection, you need to make sure you don't get hit to begin with. What's more, you need to make sure your opponent barely has space to move, let alone get off a good shot. Make sure to keep your knees bent, your body low, and to be in the opponents grill as much as possible. Try to force him into awkward positions for shooting or passing.
Strategy Strategy can be placed into two fields, static and fluid. Static strategies are strategies that are almost always going to be true, and so you should pound them into your head. For instance, most of the time you should have two blockers parallel to the goalie and one upfield. Fluid strategies are ones that change as the game advances, such as who's open, who's blocking and so forth. Make sure to communicate with your teammates even in the midst of the game so you all stay abreast of the situation.
These are the very basics of what a lacrosse player can do to become better on defense, but it's not all there is. A truly talented player will look into further skills that can be developed and will create their own style of play that works for them.
***Please note this is a sponsored post***
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