3 Reasons Why Stick Skills Are SO Important:
There are many reasons why stick skills are drilled so frequently by coaches. If you've ever played for me or worked with TEAM Lacrosse Academy, you know how much time we spend on Stick Skills. ESPECIALLY with our newer players!
These basic fundamentals are NECESSARY in order for athletes to play this game effectively. To most players, this lesson may seem a bit redundant, but repetition is KEY when building the muscle memory needed to throw and catch accurately and consistently.
Stick Skills take time but are necessary if you want to take your game to new levels
Stick Skills Give You The Ability To Keep Up: Throwing and catching with both hands are a necessary skill to play the game of lacrosse. You don’t see any successful basketball players who can’t dribble the ball, so don’t expect to stand out on the lacrosse field if you can’t throw and catch with both hands at full speed. People say that lacrosse is “the fastest game on two feet” which is absolutely the case. It’s difficult to keep up if you can’t handle the ball.
Stick Skills Prevent You From Missing Opportunities: With 11 other players to communicate and work with at even given time, you will miss out on opportunities if you lack the basic stick skills. The complex game strategies and movement patterns are tough to learn even for the best ball handlers; it’s hard to have good field sense and awareness if you are too focused on just catching the ball.
Stick Skills Allow You To Build Trust With Your Teammates: If you are consistently dropping the ball or giving bad passes, you will lose credibility with your teammates over time. This ends up being the most detrimental side effect of poor stick skills. A core component of a team is trust; you have to be able to trust your teammates both on and off the field.
Even the best lacrosse players continually work on their stick skills, always trying to improve and be better with their ball handling. Be sure to get in wall ball daily, or pass around with a friend. Whatever you do, make sure that you are pushing yourself! You should be sweating at the end of a wall ball workout (and your arms should be burning too!)
WALL BALL ROUTINE:
50 completed right hand small/short grip
50 completed left hand small/short grip
50 completed right hand normal grip (on the move)
50 completed left hand normal grip (on the move)
50 completed throw right, catch left
50 completed throw left, catch right
50 completed right hand throw strong side, catch weak side
50 completed left hand throw strong side, catch weak side
50 completed right hand throw weak side, catch strong side
50 completed left hand throw weak side, catch strong side
50 completed right hand side arm
50 completed left hand side arm