Stickwork – Scoop and Throw

This drill is a basic introduction into throwing a lacrosse ball.  Here is are simply having the players scoop a lacrosse ball off of the ground, get themselves into a good throwing position and throw the ball into a net or a goal.  Without the distraction of having to “throw it to a player”, the player gets the opportunity to concentrate on the combined motion of picking up the ground ball, getting the stick into a threat position and throwing the ball.

This drill can be run with just a few or multiple players.  If there are just a few players, they can be in a line and the coach can place the ball down and attend to each player.  If there are more than 3-4 players they can line up about 3-4 yards apart in a line or an arc in front of the net or goal  and all go in a sequence one right after the other.  That way the coach can quickly attend to each player and the players can get multiple reps in a short period of time.

As the player bends and scoops up the ball, he then should get his feet turned so that his foot on the side of his bottom hand is forward and he is turned slightly so that his top hand side hip is away from his target.  His Bottom hand should be at the bottom of the stick and this top hand should be slightly lower than half way down the stick.  He should get his hands up near his shoulder, drop the head of the stick to just above parallel and then turn his shoulders, torso and arms simultaneously to throw the ball at his target.

Stress Points:

• Stick should be in players fingers not in his palms
• Arms, torso and wrists should all work in unison
• Player should follow through so stick head at least points at target, if not further
• Weight should transfer from back foot to front foot through the motion

You should have as many balls as possible so that you can get multiple repetitions from each player before you have to “reload”.   Close attention should be paid to proper form here as this is critical to the foundation of fundamental we are building.