The main thing thats holding me back at the moment though is whats going on in between my ears..

Cheers.
Ben
Moderator: Moderators
De fen door wrote:whats going on in between my ears
Mr.Stanford wrote:Watch game tapes - Follow a guy in your position, when they do something try to think about why they did that and picture what would happen if you did that in a game.
De fen door wrote: I'v noticed in College lacrosse there defence is very spread out and everybody is doing there own thing with there own man, but there always there to give backup still,
UKLaxfan wrote:Ben
Google & YouTube cover a multiple of sins
Some solid advice from posters above
The one thing I'd add is keep it simple
- know what your role is in defense and do it as well as you can
Some defenders get carried away trying to do too much, either covering everyone elses man or trying to strip the ball away and over committing.
Rule #1 - stop your man from scoring
Guidlines for 1v1 defense = ABCD
A = Approach
B = Breakdown
C = Contact
D = Drive
there are 2 general rules for defense
1) the closer the ball is to your man the closer you must be to him
2) the closer your man is to goal the closer you must be to him
Approach
this covers the most common situation when your man is on the perimeter not close to goal
when the ball is 2 passes away you can step in toward the goal/crease area to help your team mates
when the ball is one pass away from your man you should be halfway between crease & your man
when the ball is in the air being passed to your man - you must step out to him quickly but under control
Breakdown
this is a defensive stance or posture where you are stationary but on alert ready to move left, right or backwards defending your man wherever he goes.
- you should be on the balls of your feet
- knees bent and your head lower than opponents so you are in an athletic stance (similar to basketball)
- your stick should be in front of your creating a cushion area between you & opponent
- you should be positioned a little bit more than a sticks length away from your man
The location is very important and depends on your relative athletic ability, if you are quicker than your man you can be closer if he is quicker than you you need to be closer to goal with a bigger space between you and him.
Contact
remember rule #1, if your man is going to dodge he will initiate the movement (left, right or to goal)
when he has done this you must react
1) Left or Right, you move with him staying between him and the goal
he speeds up you speed up
he changes direction you change direction (never get ahead of him just match him)
2) if he runs toward you (aka dodging North-South or to goal)
you must initiate Contact with you glove either top or bottom hand depending which direction he is running.
if you are right handed
- he dodges you to your right side your Left hand should contact his right hip or just above
- he dodges you to you left side your Right hand should contact him just underneath armpit on side (Not on Back)
The purpose of this contact is NOT to stop them in their tracks or knock them backwards, it is to provide you with an ability to influence the direction they run in.
As part of the Contact phase, you should "Drop Step" and be ready to run with your man Hip-to-Hip
Drive
This is Final and key stage to determine who wins the 1v1 battle between you and your man.
Having established Contact you maintain pressure on your opponent and steer them (Drive them) away from goal.
- you look to keep them moving away from goal reducing their angle for a shot on goal
- You Do NOT Cross Check them
- You Do NOT Push them backwards or try to knock them over
if you attempt above your momentum will be going in opposite direction to them which if you are not successful will lead to them getting by you for an open shot or to draw another Defender as you have been beaten
This is important to recognise that your Role is to not get beat
If your opponent gets a step ahead of you and is preparing to shoot/feed you still have ability to impact his shot pass by either One final extra pressure Drive on hip or under armpit, or if not in reach to use your stick to Lift the bottom elbow or hand as your man is in the process of shooting. This is the Lift Check
If you have been cleanly beaten in the dodge and can not reach your opponent - DO NOT GIVE UP!
Keep chasing him as fast as you can, as he may slow down to wind up for a Power shot or to change hands so he can shoot with his stronger hand. In this situation you can stretch out and over commit to make a desperation check again to interfere with the shot. This is called a Trail Check
I attended a Coaching Camp once at Syracuse University and watched Pat McCabe (Hall of Fame Defender) speak to about 200+ kids.
His one Key message for the group was... Never, Never, Never Give Up!
He explained that you never know what will happen, attacker could slip, fall, he could decide to fake the goalie, anything but if you give up before a goal you can no longer impact the play. Whereas if you never give up, sometimes you will be able to get back and make the check or the play to stop a goal.
Pat McCabe got beat lots of times as he was a very aggressive defender, throwing checks but he also recovered lots of times making amazing trail checks and stops which he had no right to. So I guess he did what he said.
Approach
Breakdown
Contact
Drive
Never Give Up
Hope this helps
if you have time check out 1989 Final Syracuse #29 Pat McCabe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgPYLMN92pI