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FLG Spring Training Week 2

Posted on March 19, 2018 by Corey Winkoff

FLG Families,

Hopefully everyone has thawed out from yesterday! Despite some pretty chilly weather, it was a very productive day for our FLG select teams. I’m really glad we got a chance to get outside to train, compete, and develop.

Below are some drills that we worked on yesterday. Within each drill description you’ll find purpose and objectives for executing those specific drills. We look forward to continuing our development this Spring!

Line-drill Warm-up – Every player gets a ball and moves through different variations. This drill gets players loose, warm, and comfortable with the rock in their stick. In this drill we worked on Ground Balls away, Flips, Two handed Cradles, One handed Cradles, Split Dodges, and Fake-shot Face-dodges.

1v1 Mirror – One player stars with a ball, the other player without. Players line up on opposite sides of the crease. The player without the ball tries to catch the player with the ball. Both players have to stay outside the crease. This drill works on changing direction, recognizing where you are when near the crease line, balance, cradling at full-speed around the crease with your right and left hands.

Two-Ball Break-out – 3 middies and 3 poles break out of their defensive end to our spots in the clear. 2 goalies outlet the ball to the closest players to them. Like a ladder, players work the ball up the field breaking out towards the side-line. The drill ends with our attackmen V-cutting for the ball, getting it through X, and executing a back door cut for a goal. This drills gets our players used to breaking out at full-speed to their spots on the clear, getting the ball up the field quickly and efficiently, players learn to use both hands while breaking out over their shoulder, and attackmen learn to score in transition.

Red vs. Green Fast Breaks – This drill is a full-field continuous 4v3 Fast Break drill. Goalies outlet to our middies who come down on a 4v3 fast break. Middies must read the slide and decide what to do with the ball. Defensively we are working on 2 different calls, “Red” and “Green.” Green is your tradition fast-break (3 Man) rotation where the point defensemen slides to the middies, the low right defenseman slides up to the point attackman, and the low left defensemen slides across the crease. Red is when the point defensemen gives a fire call to the middie, getting the middie to throw the ball to the point attackman, and then the point defensemen immediately goes back to guarding the point attackman. We do this to prevent the two most dangerous attackman from touching the ball and scoring, the low right and low lefty players.

Ride the Bull – Defensive drill to work on turning players at GLE goal line extended. Great for getting players to beat attackmen to good spots by taking a good angle, turning your hips around, and driving players back behind the goal.

Smiley Face Shooting – A drill that works on getting players to finish in front of the goal, move the goalie, fakes the goalie, and finish in tight. Players go from feeding to shooting. The cut is in the smiley shape that allows players to be cutting towards the ball.

Diamond Stick Work – Drill has players breaking out in a diamond shape while working on different pass/catch variations. Some of these variations include: pull passes, shovel passes, catch roll away throw, catch one hand throw with another, and over the shoulder catches.

Shooting on the run – Drill works on shooting down-hill and on the run. Alley dodges, high wing dodges, and top center dodges proceeded players getting a shot off on the run. Great drill to rep shots that simulate game like situations.

Looking forward to continuing our development this Sunday! Hope everyone has a great week.

-Corey

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Wall Ball

Posted on March 9, 2018 by Bob Schmitt

Want to develop skill? All you need: a ball, your stick, a wall.

Below is a basic wall ball routine that works great for girls looking to develop skill on their own.

This weekend we have no team training. That being said, don’t put down your stick. Pick it up. Find a wall. Bring some music. Get better. #LoveTheGame

Wall Ball Routine

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Seek More.

Posted on March 7, 2018 by Corey Winkoff

Checking emails is something I do every day. When you are confronted with daily tasks, you can approach them one of two ways:

Go through the motions
Seek more

When checking email, you are going through the motions if you are seeking emails that are considered ‘junk’ or ‘spam’ so you can quickly and efficiently get your inbox closer and closer to zero. Emails that seem worthy of an immediate response remain unread or get quickly flagged (aka I don’t feel like dealing with this right now, I’ll go back to it later). Ever catch yourself avoiding emails because they seem too long, too unfamiliar, or too new? Well, that’s going through the motions.

Seeking more is giving a little more information than is actually requested in a response. Seeking more is proactively reaching out via email to get information, knowledge, ideas, or sign-ups. Seeking more is sending more emails so you can collect feedback from a large group of people. More leads to opportunity. More sets you a part. More leads to better. More is what I expect of more (people, companies, schools, parents, and kids).

We need less people going through the motions, we need more people seeking to do more. More good. More better. More quality work that makes a difference.

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FLG Girls Spring Training – Week 1 RECAP

Posted on March 7, 2018 by Bob Schmitt

Youth Girls

Theme of the Day – Defense

V-Shuffle in the Alley – Players shuffle (no hopping, no dragging feet, no crossing feet, no sideways running) on a diagonal, back and forth inside about a 7 yard wide alley that is about 20 yards long. The focus is on good defensive positioning, form and footwork. We are looking for our players to shuffle with their backs flat and butts down, with a good plant, drop step and change of direction. When done with sticks, the players should have their top hand back, so as not to have their stick “across the body” and/or “in the sphere” (both fouls).

The 1 v. 1 Bucket Drill (no sticks) has a defender trying to keep the offensive player from getting past her. The offensive player is trying to “dodge” the defender and drop the ball into the bucket. This is a physical drill that emphasizes, “low, legal contact”. Move your feet, stay in front, apply pressure and keep her from getting to the bucket.

Hawk High and Hawk Low stresses the ABCD’s of Defense (Approach, Breakdown, Contact and Direct). As the coach throws a ball to the offensive player, a defender has to react by closing the distance, then breakdown into a good defensive position while establishing “low, legal contact” and “directing” the offensive player away from the middle, “down the side”.

FLG 2024 Girls not phased by the cold weather at FLG’s 1st Spring Training Practice! Selfy by Coach Robyn P.

Middle School Girls

Triangle Passing in a Box – This drill forces three players to move the ball around the perimeter of a 10 yard by 10 yard box. They must be passing and receiving the ball with their stick to the outside. They have to move to the open cone every time the ball moves (making the triangle). They have to be thinking the whole time, moving their feet all while executing throwing and catching.

Goalkeeper Clearing – The Goalie fields a shot which triggers an outlet to a low defender, who catches the ball moving forward and then passes forward to a teammate who then sends the ball to a third clearing player, who is making a forward diagonal cut. This drill simulates the types of passes that need to be executed in girls lacrosse, as they move into the higher levels of play (High School and beyond).

1 v. 1 Box – Here the Offensive player is trying to get from one side of the box to the other, while the defender is working on “overplaying” and forcing her to one side. Defensive form and footwork is stressed. The defender has to employ all of the ABCD’s in order to be successful in this drill, which is a microcosm of the matchups that are often generated in settled 7 v. 7 situations.

3 v. 2’s with the ball coming from behind. This a variation on the more common 3 v. 2 where the ball begins up top. It creates a different look for the goalie and the two defenders and puts the three attackers in a less familiar position, at least to begin with. The offense must move the ball quickly and accurately while the defense must communicate and work together to defend while at the disadvantage – going from “on ball” to off ball or “I got two”. If the defense makes them throw more than one or two passes, they have done a good job.

Small Group Training – Youth/MS

In SGT we are looking to pack as many reps as possible into 60 minutes. This week we began with Partner Passing on the move, focusing on the proper mechanics for the variety of types of passes that may be required to execute in game play.

The 1 v. 1 Pivot Drill is designed to teach players to protect their stick while under defensive pressure. The offensive player must keep one foot (pivot foot) in place while the defender works to try to get to her stick. The Attacker must change her body position while keeping her stick protected from the defender.

Cone Dodges to a Shot – Players have to navigate a series of cones, while maintaining stick protection before ultimately ending with a shot on the run. The player has to focus on footwork while having their head up in order to acquire the target, in order to be a more accurate shooter.

Long Pass, Short Pass, Ground Ball Shuttle – Here the players are getting multiple reps of 3 distinct skills. The lines are 20 to 30 yards apart (depending on age and ability). The drill begins with a long pass (which requires torso rotation and a crow hop to generate the necessary power) to the first player in the opposite line. The ball is returned to the original passer (who has closed the distance by running toward), who then throws a shorter pass (on the move, also requiring the torso turn) to the same player. Finally, a Ground Ball is rolled out for the player to scoop and return it with a third pass.

High School Girls

With High School Tryouts either already under way or beginning the next day, we wanted to create as many ‘game speed” reps with no real contact, as possible. We wanted to help them be ready for their tryouts without making them sore. We opened with 2 Ball Line Drills, which doubles the number of touches, that players get in regular line drills. We then split the girls into two groups and went into “Stations”.

Offense – The Girls did a variety of Dodging and Shooting Drills. Cutting and catching a same side feed, before shooting on the run. Then it was an opposite side feed. The focus was on changing direction on the cuts, and the proper mechanics of catching and shooting on the run.

Defense – First it was the V-Shuffle in the Alley. With the older girls there is more focus on speed and “economy of movement”. We also work in the variation, by alternating between a shuffle and a sprint into a breakdown, with each change of direction. We then moved to a variety of ladder drills. First into Ground Balls then into angled breakdowns, to simulate the ABCD’s. I am pretty sure I heard one HS Junior say “yes, I love ladders!”

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FLG Spring Training – Session I Recap

Posted on March 6, 2018 by Corey Winkoff

FLG Families,

It was exciting to take the fields this past Sunday. The Spring is time for our FLG Select Teams to ramp up our team training, develop team chemistry, review team concepts from the Fall, learn team concepts to prepare for the Summer Tournaments, and continue developing as individual lacrosse players.

As a Program Director, it’s important our families understand why we do what we do at practice. Below is a detailed description of what we worked on this past weekend. As you can see, a lot of time and attention goes into our practice planning. It’s important that you understand everything we do is for a reason. Our reasoning is centered around developing smarter lacrosse players, learning what to do in situations, and understanding team concepts.

At practice, our teams worked on a variety of things. Below are some of the drills we worked on, with a description of the drill and an explanation of why we worked on the drill. Are you a PAL Coach? If yes, feel free to reach out if you see a drill you like. If not, hopefully this recap gives you a better understanding for what we are trying to teach and accomplish at FLG’s Spring Training.

Practice Drills

3 to 6 Person Break-outs: This drill gets our players used to breaking out towards the side-lines. These break-out patterns resemble our clear and gets our players in the habit of throwing lead passes to the side-lines, not the middle of the field. Clearing up the side is a safer, more effective option for our teams so we an successfully clear the ball.

Motion Offense Review: skeleton offense, meaning you have your offense run thru situations without a defense, is a great way to get down different patterns/motions and create organization on the offensive end of the field. Motion Offense teaches players spacing, timing, reads, and ways to create great opportunities to score goals in settled situations.

Ride / Clear Scrimmage: This is a full-field scrimmage drill that doesn’t include face-offs. Instead, it’s controlled by the coaches on the field, whose job is to set-up riding and clearing situations. Athletes play out of these situations to show they know where to go and what to do with the ball during a ride or clear.

Harvard Clearing Drill: This is a 3v3 clearing drill that results in transition offense and defense. 3 short sticks compete against 3 defenders to see who can clear the ball quicker and without dropping the rock. When the offensive players clear the ball up the field, they immediately come back down to their defensive end and try to score a goal. Defensemen do the same, they must clear the ball up the field and immediately get back in the hole and defense once they do so. The defense in handicapped in this drill in that they can only put 2 players (maximum) in the hole to defend. The purpose of this drill is to clear the ball quickly, accurately, and under pressure. Also, it works on transition offense and defense (especially if you botch a clear and have to get back in the hole to defend).

1v1 Buckets – This drill starts with the offensive and defensive players head-to-head and on their backs. The offensive player has a ball in their hand. On the coaches whistles, players get up and go 1v1 against one another. The object for the offense is dunk the ball in the bucket, for the defense, the object is to defend the bucket (which is located in the middle of the hole). The purpose of this drill is to learn how to approach, break-down, drop step, use hands to defend, and understand where to defend. Offensively, it’s about setting up your defender, dragging, attacking, and getting underneath to a dangerous position on the field.

Small Group Training Drills – All Positions

Defensive Drills

ND Three Man Handle – Check out a video of it here!

Umbrella Approach By Number – This drill has 3 cones, which represent dodging locations, set-up behind goal line extended. Coach calls out a number and the defensemen have to approach that numbered cone, break down, and then quickly recover back to their starting position. This drill is great to work on body positioning, knowing where the ball is and where your man is, approaching with a good angle, breaking down, and keeping your stick out when you break down.

1v1 Approach Drill – Similar to approach by number, 3 dodging locations are set-up. Defender start with a ball, throw to who they want to defend, and then they play out of a 1v1 situation. Offense has 5 seconds to score.

Attack Drills

Diamond Break-out Drill – Start in a tight diamond, the adjacent players must be ready in that they are next to break-out and receive a pass. Work the ball around clock-wise or counter clock focusing on different catching and passing varaitions. This drill works on throwing lead passes, catching while breaking away from a defender, catching and throwing with both hands, catching over the shoulder, throwing shovel passes, and throwing pull passes (passes across your body)

Kamikazee Dodging – Set-up like a line drill. Everyone has a ball. On the coaches whistle, players must run full speed at each other and make the same move last minute. This drill is great to work on understanding when to make your move against a defenseman. This past Sunday we worked on split dodges, studder steps, hockey stops, and fake-shot face-dodges.

1v1 Approach Drill – 3 dodging locations are set-up. Defender start with a ball, throw to who they want to defend, and then they play out of a 1v1 situation. Offense has 5 seconds to score. Working on reading the defenders approach, making 1 or two hard moves, attacking the cage to score, protecting our stick, and finishing around the crease.

Midfield Drills

Kick the Can Shooting – Drill focuses on shooting to the far pipe, shooting off the the outside foot, shooting on the run, and finishing with your hips on cage

Three-man skeleton offense – Ball starts on wing and is thrown top center. Player dodges as both wings cut under and follow the motion offense pattern. (Make dodgers go in different directions). Player dodging will throw back using either pull pass or turning to the outside. Ball will then be relayed to the player on the back side who will relay it back to the middle restarting pattern. Great drill to simulate 6v6 team offense, just using your middies.

Goalies

Blind Eye Positioning – Have the goalies close their eyes and start top center. From that position, rapidly call out positions in the net they would have to step to without looking. Great drill to work on knowing where you are in cage, understand positioning and seeing ball, visualizing being in the right spot and making a save.

Explosive Bucket – Have the goalies drop their sticks. Stand close to one pipe and put a bucket placed near the opposite pipe. Toss the ball over the bucket and the goalies take an explosive step towards the opposite pipe. Catch the rock and drop it in the bucket. Slide back to the opposite pipe and go again.

Approach Drill – Goalies then got involved in the 1v1 approach drill with the attack/defense and 3-man shooting drills with the middies. Great time to get reps in live situations.

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FLG Box Training Session 7 RECAP

Posted on February 5, 2018 by Corey Winkoff

FLG Box Training Participants,

Moving into our final week of box lacrosse training, I couldn’t be happier with the development that I’m seeing within the box lacrosse rinks. From our youngest group to our High School division, the improvement is tremendous.

This past Saturday, our focus was still on development. Despite league play being in full swing, it’s important that our players not lose focus on what’s most important, getter better, getting touches, and getting smarter.

Our youngest groups spent a large portion of the box training on learning how to shoot with time and space vs. shooting in tight. We taught our players the difference between those two types of shots, when to use one shot vs. the other, and developing at both shot types through reps, reps, and more reps.

Time and Space Shooting – this shot type is used when you have time to get your hands set, eyes on cage, and body weight moving 100% towards the goal. This shot requires players to get their hands up and away from the body, hips torqued using a crow hop, and getting the front foot to step towards the target. A time and space shot requires players to snap there top hand on the follow through to ensure power and velocity as the ball releases from the stick.

Between the Shoulders Shooting aka BTS Shooting – this shot type is used when you are in tight proximity to the crease and are surrounded by one or multiple defenders. This shot requires players to get their hands close to the body, choke up on the shaft, and get the head of the stick between the shoulders. This allows players to increase control, finesse, and protection as they shoot on cage. We taught players a few moves around the crease to increase shot angle and shot percentage. The crease roll is a great example of that. It teaches players to get defenders on their back as they gain positioning for a BTS shot.

3v2 Continuous – this game is set-up with a 3v2 at either end of the floor. Players work out of 3v2 to score as many goals as they can in 1 minute. Defenders who steal the ball or earn ground balls are instructed to clear the ball to their 3 offensive players on the opposite end of the floor. Make the game even harder by installing a 10 second shot clock. As soon as a team gains possession of the ball, they must execute a shot on goal within 10 seconds.

Quads – this is FLG’s favorite box training game. We love it because its a composition of all the things we’ve taught in the box rinks. Quads requires players to: work in pairs, execute passes and picks, pick off ball, include pick variations, play in tight spaces, clear, defend the middle, look for give and goes, play with both hands, finish with time and space, finish in tight, work in groups of 4, and more. Overall, this game is a fun, creative, and competitive opportunity for players to show how much they’ve learned over the last 6 sessions in the box.

Finally, each session finished with a scrimmage for points. Next week will be our final box training session for the year. Expect game play to be for more than points. Expect game play to be for the coveted FLG Box Lacrosse Training Winter Cap. This year, they are pretty fresh. My question, who has what it takes to become Box Lacrosse Champ?!

Best,

Corey, Program Director, FLG Lacrosse

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FLG Box Training – Week 5 RECAP

Posted on January 22, 2018 by Corey Winkoff

FLG Box Lacrosse Participants,

This weekend was the first round of games for our FLG Box Lacrosse program. We’ve tallied the scores and inserted them into this post below. What gets me most excited about League Play is when our athletes institute the box lacrosse concepts taught during the training portion of our program. For example, when we see a goal scored off a pass-down pick-down during league play or if we see a player execute a shovel pass in the heat of competition.

Figure 8 1v1s – Each week, we will continue to teach new concepts and reinforce the fundamentals of box lacrosse. In our stations this past week we competed in a drill called Figure 8 1v1s to start. This drill is great for both defenders and offensive players. The drill starts with two players standing shoulder to shoulder facing opposite directions. When the coach say go, both players run in a figure 8 motion around the cone in front of them before they initiate a 1v1. Offensive players must catch a pass or pick up a ground ball, square up to the goal, and attack. Offensive players are working on setting up their defender so they can get an advantage. Offensive players have to dodge to the goal without switching hands and keeping two hands on their stick. We teach this so players are always in a position to get a shot off and are always keeping that stick to the inside. Defenders must keep a good approach and make contact throughout the entire 1v1. The goal of defenders isn’t to take the ball, but maintain contact, drive players away from the middle of the field, and force low percentage shots.

4v4 Scramble – In this drill we break the groups into two teams, one team will play offense first until every player has gone and then we will switch. Offensive players will start in the four corners and each player will have the ball in their stick. The defensive players will be in a line behind the goal. The drill starts with a 1v1. As soon as there is a shot or turnover the coach blow the whistle. The coach will then point at another offensive player who will attack immediately. As soon as the coach points, a defensive player enters the drill from X but cannot stop the new offensive player from going to the goal, hence the scramble. The drills is great for our offensive players to compete in a 1v1 situation, as well as, 2v2, 3v3, & 4v4 situations. These are common match-ups in box, as well as field lacrosse. This drill focuses not only on how well you play with the ball, but off ball too. Defensively, this drill is great for teaching communication, improvisation, sliding, and matching up in a scrambled situation. Below are a few wrinkles we add to the drill to make it more challenging for offensive players.

Blue Ball- No Rules

White Ball- Pick/ Shallow cut

Orange/ Yellow- BTB/ Shovel

Here are the Box League scores after our first week of league play:

2022/23 Boys

Matchup

Score

Albany vs Yale

4-5

Loyola vs Towson

1-0

2025/24 Boys

Matchup

Score

Cuse vs Duke

4-10

Denver vs Duke

3-4

2027/28 Boys

Matchup

Score

Ohio St vs Maryland

8-22

2022/23 Girls

Matchup

Score

UMass vs Cuse

4-3

UVA vs Princeton

4-4

2025/24 Girls

Matchup

Score

Florida vs. Carolina

8-3

USC vs Stony Brook

1-1

2026/27 Girls

Matchup

Score

Penn St vs Boston

10-7

Maryland vs Navy

6-4

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Team Oriented

Posted on January 11, 2018 by Corey Winkoff

means…

Picking up the slack when your teammate just can’t do it.

Offering to help even when your feeling 100%

Admitting when you were wrong.

Recognizing you can make things right and do better next time.

Expressing a willingness to improve your strengths and weaknesses.

Recognizing your strengths and weaknesses.

Demonstrating patience and discipline, not frustration and anger.

Doing your job with enthusiasm and energy.

Committing to working really hard consistently and tirelessly.

Having a definition of winning that stretches beyond having more points than the other team.

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FLG Scoring Academy RECAP

Posted on January 11, 2018 by Corey Winkoff

Scoring Academy Participants,

It was great getting back on the fields with our Scoring Academy participants last night. I do apologize for missing our session last week, something I don’t normally do! I had a baby girl last week and was busy welcoming her to the world. Soon teaching baby Everley the ins and out of the game!

Anyways, last night was a session focused on reps, reps, and more reps. Being our participants are more advanced and have a deeper understanding for the fundamentals of shooting the right way, we can now focus on get more reps, and do more shooting drills.

After our wall ball warm-up, which reinforced proper shooting mechanics and emphasized correct upper/lower body movement, we took to the cages for a series of shooting drills. These drills not only working on shooting on the run. They worked on footwork, setting up your defender, shooting out of a dodge, scoring in tight, re-dodging your defender, and shooting to score.

For examples of the shooting drills please be sure to check out FLG Lacrosse on Instagram @FLGLAX Our latest post from the Scoring Academy will feature Kerrie Heuser working on the Dodge, Bounce, Re-dodge drill. You will also see our two Studletes of the night, Caroline and Mikey, who did an exception job executing concepts taught consistently at full speed.

See everybody next week!

-Corey

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Patience v. Urgency

Posted on January 3, 2018 by Corey Winkoff

They say good things comes to those who wait, but only what is left by those who hustle.

This can apply to picking up ground balls on the field or getting that promotion at work. However, not everything good comes through hustle. Some of the best things in life come through patience.

The process of becoming a parent is a shining example of this. A pregnancy can’t be rushed. You can’t pick up the pace through the 10 month process. You can’t race to the finish line. Nearing the end? Not so quick. First the doctors must see ‘this’ before we move towards the goal of ‘that.’

Having relentless hustle can bring what you want, but having the ability to understand what you want and how to get there is paramount. Know when to ‘go go go’ and when to ‘lay low’ and you will continue to ‘grow.’

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