Defensive practice drills

[DavidDouglas]

I was always an offensive player in college and I am hoping that we can have a discussion on some defensive oriented drills.

I don't know very many and it certanily hurts my defensive coaching................

Any help?

[Tim Whitehead]

I was always a big fan of having the kids play defense without their sticks, just to work on body defense and positioning....

[bste_lax]

Yeah, one-on-ones with them holding like a 12 inch stick so they have to keep their hands together and learn how to play defense with their feet first then their body. The stick is handy because if you do it without it, people get a little too crazy with their hands when trying to push the defender.

[Chicolaxalum34]

I always liked the poked check drill, have all the d stand about an arm and a half length apart holding their stick out and have the d-man at the end poke check the others sticks till he gets to the end and then another guy starts. Basic but good practice!

[beckner11]

If your team has access to one of those football blocking machines (that the big linemen practice pushing downfield) you can have your defense practice their side to side shuffling, while throwing slap checks going each way (not sure if slap check is the actual term but you know what I mean, the other check besides poke check)

[mholtz]

For stick checking practice, we take 3 colors of tape. Red, green and blue (or any colors)

We tape around the bottom, middle, and top of each d-man's shaft. Each man gets a partner. The checkee holds his stick out. The coach yells out a color "red" or "green" or whatever. The person then has to poke check that specific color of tape on their partners stick.

We then move to slap, and wrap checks.

[Danny Hogan]

do regular one-on-one's from the 4 corners of the box, make the defenseman put their sticks behind their backs, locked between their backs and both elbows. this isolates the lower half of their body and improves footwork.

[CP18]

Set out some cones and create a side to side no cross, back peddle, drop step, side to side again, then have the defender finish on a ground a ball. While they are progressing through the cones, which are five yards a part, the defender has his stick in front of him throughout the drill. The drill works on good, quick footwork, and then the awareness to find a ground ball to pick up and get off to the races.

In the offseason have your guys play a lot of basketball! Best sport to work on one on one defense, cause textbook, real hoops defense is all footwork, no hands, and definitely no stick!

[Kevin Boyle]

Push out of bounds drill.

I used this a lot more when I was coachign High School, than in college. But I thought that it was pretty effective.

Instead of 1 on 1 to the goal, I would have the ball carrier try to run from the top of the box to the midfield line, beginning w/in 2 or 3 yards of the sideline, without getting pushed out of bounds (you can pick your favorite stretch of sideline for this drill). Defense start a little bit inside (farther from the sideline) and downfield (the direction that the ball carrier is running). He's trying to pus the ball carrier out of bounds, or otherwise not let the offensive player roll to the inside of him.

This is good for a couple of reasons. First, it actually comes up in a game. If players have drilled pushing guys out of bounds, then they'll nkow to do it a game time (no more yelling "push him out, push him out... aw $%^*"). More importantly, it emphasizes denying the ball carrier one side (in this case, the roll to the inside of the field), and being physical while you "give up" the other side.

I guess you could add in scorekeeping.
Defense scores 1 for pushing out of bounds.
Offense scores one for running across the midfield line, and scores 2 for rolling to the inside

[Dan Wishengrad]

Kevin we run that drill from a corner with a line of cones about 5 yards paralleling the sidelines. We run it as an inbounds clear, with the defender five yards off the man with the ball to start. It's a 55-yd solo run to to midfield with the defender preventing any inside roll and trying to force the ball carrier out of bounds. Both men have to stay within the 5-yd width marked by the sideline on one side and the line of cones on the other. Everybody except Goalies runs the drill, both carrying and defending.

My favorite drill when I was the Head coach was Tierney's "Survivor" (from the Team Defense instructional video) -- two crease defenders guarding six offensive players in a 1-4-1. Run it first with the defenders without sticks, just trying to front the two offensive crease men who are crossing, setting picks, etc. trying to get open. The four outside offensive players can't shoot or drive -- they just move the ball around and look to feed the crease. You let the defenders go for 30-45 seconds or until they are dead tired. The second phase is defenders with sticks, which they have to keep straight up and down while they are playing, to avoid obstructing each other. When the Goalie yells "Check sticks!" the come down hard on their man's hands or crosse. The third phase involves making the defenders have to guard all six offensive players, with the outside four allowed to shoot and drive. You can then add wrinkles, like a third defender.

The whole key to the drill is the concept of fronting a man on the crease rather than backing him (staying between him and the goal you are defending), to deny him the pass and scoring chance in the first place. It doesn't matter whether you play Princeton D or not, you will have to defend the 1-4-1 against many teams anyway. This is an especially good drill for all your midfielders to run, and you should make all your Attackmen have to run it defensively too, if for no other reason than fairness and some humorous results to lighten a tough practice.

[DavidDouglas]

Thanks everyone for the help and I incorporated a few of these drills into my practice today.

Please keep the ideas rolling.....

Thanks again.

[TrojanLaxman5]

Yeah, one-on-ones with them holding like a 12 inch stick so they have to keep their hands together and learn how to play defense with their feet first then their body. The stick is handy because if you do it without it, people get a little too crazy with their hands when trying to push the defender.

Agreed. The past 2 days our coaches brought out a few cut down short sticks that are about 18-24" long with tape on both ends (for safety). We then did one-on-ones from up top, both wings, and at X. Definitely improved our entire defense's footwork and makes you grateful to have all 6' when you get back your regular stick.

[Kevin OBrien]

Instead of 1 on 1 to the goal, I would have the ball carrier try to run from the top of the box to the midfield line, beginning w/in 2 or 3 yards of the sideline, without getting pushed out of bounds (you can pick your favorite stretch of sideline for this drill). Defense start a little bit inside (farther from the sideline) and downfield (the direction that the ball carrier is running). He's trying to pus the ball carrier out of bounds, or otherwise not let the offensive player roll to the inside of him.

This sounds like a drill the whole team should run, including attackmen. How many coaches have been frustrated by an attackman letting the defense clear right by them, and then throwing a desperation check, and then seeing that pesky yellow flag....

[laxative]

First, start by giving your freshmen little baby goats. Have them feed, nurture, and raise the goats until the beginning of the junior year, this teaches them responsibility. Then deposit the junior defensemen in the wilderness where they have to survive off of their little goat and find their way home. THAT will build a true D-man.