COACH'S CORNER

Mission Statement

"In a competitive and exciting atmosphere, players will learn the Box game."

Objectives

• Develop "Box Skills" in field lacrosse players
  
• Players to learn the "Two Man Game"
  
• Eliminate "big hits" to encourage skill development
  
• Produce a more skilled player
  
• Box Lacrosse education

Box/Field Hybrid

Playing Box Lacrosse will make you a better player. Period. The evidence for this statement is everywhere: the top 5 goal scorers of all time are box players, the defending world champions are box players, the defending MLL Champions are a team from Toronto and primarily box players;

In 2008 ten of the top twenty goal scorers in Division I Lacrosse were Canadians yet less than 5% of the population was Canadian. There are several reasons that box lacrosse is a great teacher of the game.

Tight Confines

Everyone knows that when space is reduced, it speeds up the game and produces an environment where quicker decisions have to be made and ball handling skills are therefore amplified. Being in such an environment redefines being "open." Box players get used to catching passes routinely that field players would be yelled at for throwing.

Small Nets

Shooting accuracy and finishing ability are clearly a developmental advantage when learning how to finish on small (4x4) nets. But this isn't the most important piece. BY FAR THE MOST IMPORTANT concept taught in the sport of box lacrosse which is a by product of small nets is always striving to position your stick to the inside of the field. In box lacrosse if a right-handed player drives down the right wing, he will almost never score as his shooting angle (and passing angles) are reduced with every step. By positioning (looking at the goal) lefties on the right and righties on the left, players are able to attack from the wings to the middle both with the ball and while cutting.

Another way to look at this is to develop midfielders and defensemen to play like attackmen who usually play on their natural side. Every day in practice the attack get repetitions dodging and cutting to the middle of the field while the midfielders are constantly repeating the same dodge down the ally dodges. The repertoire of an attackman's dodges include inside out moves, split dodges, rollbacks, topside moves, underneath moves, pop outs or Z dodges, rocker moves, question mark moves as well as swim moves. Of course midfielders can do any of these moves, but middies are almost always on the "wrong" side of the field where all they do is run into no angle with little recourse if their weak hand isn't developed yet.

All Short Sticks

In box lacrosse there are no poles. This provides a significant advantage for the development of the offense players because they can work on their moves and ball handling against a defense that doesn't beat them up and take the ball away. Too many times attackman are either over powered by poles or are discouraged by their coach from dodging because of a bad match up.

5v5

Box lacrosse is a simple game that takes skills to their highest level. Box players work on small-sided situations every practice all practice. Everybody gets more touches and more impact on the game.

The 2 Man Game:

One of the staples of box lacrosse is the pick and roll both on and off the ball. It is the repetition of the pick and roll executed on the natural side of the players that teaches an extremely high level of reading the defense. The reason why box lacrosse players move so well off the ball is due to their knowledge of the two man game.

Boards and Glass:

The ball is never out of play. Box lacrosse players get more repetitions in practice. Period.