Lax Lingo: Make “One More!” Pass
Youth coaches everywhere struggle to teach their beginning players how and where to move the ball in unsettled situations. "One more!" is a great call we hear experienced high school and college coaches using from the bench to direct their players on the field in the middle of the action.
Unsettled and transition situations happen dozens of times in every lacrosse game, especially with youth and beginning players. It's easier to score goals in these numbers-advantage scenarios than settled 6-on-6 goals IF your players know how to get the ball to the open man.
We've all seen it happen: your team has players wide open in good shooting positions, and the guy with the ball is dodging with his head down instead of passing. Or he pulls up and takes a bad shot instead of moving the ball to the open man.
Most of the time we call this "selfish play," but it may be more simple than that. Your beginning players probably just can't see their open teammates. They don't know where they should pass the ball to.
Use this Lax Lingo to teach your players what they should do instead. Being clear and concise with your players so that they know exactly what you mean and what you want them to do will get you much better results on the field than yelling uncertain terms like "Move!" or "Hustle!" from the sidelines over and over.
"ONE MORE!"
This is a great way to tell your players to make "One more pass!", to tell them that "One more teammate is open!" It's simple and direct, and it's easy to say when you're out of breath.
You can use it to direct your players from the bench on the sideline. Or you can teach your players to use it themselves with their teammates on the field.
Most of the time the open guy is behind the player with the ball, making him hard to find. Beginning lacrosse players are not usually very experienced with "field vision"- knowing where the other players are on the field around them. Your players can usually see what's in front of them. Hopefully they will make the right decision whenever they have a wide open teammate in front of them where they can see.
Even high school and college players have trouble finding the open man against teams that play good Defense. Defenders are taught to leave the open man as far away from the ball as possible. You may have to help your players move the ball all the way across the field to find the open man.
EXAMPLES:
Related: Ground Balls Win Games.
PRACTICE TIPS:
- Use "One more!" with your players a few times in practice before you can expect them to know what to do in a game. Give them some time to get used to it.
RELATED PRACTICE DRILLS:
- The Numbers Game: Use this great Man-Up/Man-Down game to practice using "One more!" with your players. This is one of our all-time favorite games to play at any practice!
- 4-on-3 Fast Breaks at Both Goals: Practice common game situations from end to end with this fast-paced full-field drill. Twice as much work in the same amount of time!
- 3-on-2 "West Gennies": This is a true lax classic. Work on transition situations, stick skills, shooting and scoring! Tons of reps and tons of fun with this one.
Make sure to let us know if you get some nice assists on some goals in your next game when you use your new Lax Lingo with your team!
