Girls Lacrosse Drills

By Ross Bainbridge
Lacrosse is a fun and exciting sport that is gaining popularity amongst girls across the country. When it comes to girls lacrosse, there are a series of skills that players must learn and master in order to become successful players on the field, including pick-ups and shooting skills. The following girls drills focus on those two problem areas. By singling out these skills, girls will be able to perfect them on their own before attempting to apply them to a game time situation. James Jurcic The first set of girls drills features the skill of picking up the ball from the field. Since there are no foul balls in lacrosse, anything goes when the ball hits the ground, and as such players must be able to quickly scoop the ball into the pocket of their stick to gain possession. For the first pick-up drill, divide your team into two lines that stand side by side at the 50-yard line. One player stands between the lines with all the balls. To begin, the player with the balls rolls one out ahead of the lines. Both players must sprint towards the ball in an attempt to retrieve it. The player who emerges with the ball continues running towards the goal. After taking a shot, both



players return to the back of their respective lines. For the next pick-up drill, divide the team into groups of four. For each group of four, set up four balls approximately 20 yards apart. The groups of four arrange themselves in a line facing a set of balls. At the sound of the coach’s whistle, the first player from the line sprints for the first ball, picks it up, and brings it back to her line. Once she’s crossed the line, the next player sprints for the next ball, and so on until all four balls have been successfully retrieved. The group of four that crosses the finish line first with their fourth ball is the winner. She Shoots, She Scores! The next series of girls drills will help your girls with their shooting skills, since shooting is arguably the game’s most important skill since it is one that scores goals, and in turn wins games. For the first shooting drill, line up between 10 and 20 balls on the top of the arc. At the sound of the coach’s whistle, a player starts at the left end of the arc and picks up the balls one by one, shooting each at the goal before moving to the next. When executing this girls drill, make sure players bend low to get good ball control and cradle the ball a few times before shooting. You can try adding a goalie in the goal if you’d like your goalies to get stopping practice as well. Finally, we have a shooting drill that rewards players with quick stick-handling skills and excellent timing. To begin, players line up at the top of the fan with a coach in the goal with all the balls. One at a time, players sprint towards the goal while the coach lobs a ball towards the player just as they enter the arc. The player lets the ball sink into their pocket but instead of cradling the ball, they just whip it back towards the goal.


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