Stickwork – Toss, Catch and Throw

This drill is a progression out of the Scoop and Throw drill.  It allows the coach to lightly toss a ball to the player and gives the player the opportunity to get used to the idea of having the ball come to them “up in the box” and having them “Give” with the ball and ending in a Threat position.

Drill Set Up: Lines should be formed in an arc at an appropriate distance form the goal, about 8-10 yards away.  There should be as many lines as there are coaches.  The coach should get on one knee at the front of the line.  He will be tossing the balls to the players. Left handed players will have to be on the opposites side of the coach than the right handed players.  Therefore put all of the lefties together in one line, and if need be add some righties to that line to even out the numbers.  This coach will have to turn around to feed the lefties. Balls should placed in the front of every line and replaced often if possible.

Drill Execution: Each player will step out, get into a good sideways threat position, receive the pass “up in the box” and shoot with good form and follow through.  When receiving the ball the player should be sideways and have his knees bent and his stick “up in the box”.  The bottom hand should be on the bottom of the stick and the top hand should be at the middle or below the middle of the stick.  Putting the top hand at the throat of the stick is detrimental to the proper development of fundamentals.  The coach should lightly toss the ball right into the players stick.  The player should “give” with the pass and end up with their hands in a good threat position. The player should then get into the same throwing position as in scoop and throw and proceed to throw the ball at his target.

Drill Focal Points:

• Stick “up in the box”
• Top hand no higher than halfway up the stick
• “Give” during the catch
• End the catch in the “Threat” postion
• Good throwing motion towards the target