Lax Lingo: “Play Between the Whistles!”
Turn every change of possession or ball out of bounds into extra scoring opportunities and numbers advantage situations with this simple technique!
Play Fast! This is probably the easiest way to generate extra scoring opportunities. We teach this to ALL our players at EVERY level. One or two steps is all it takes to start 4-on-3 Fast Breaks and 5-on-4 Slow Breaks, every time the whistle blows! With younger and inexperienced players, there are lots of bad passes out of bounds and Loose Ball Push calls. Every single one of these whistles can become scoring chances, if your players are ready to go.
"Quick Restarts" are also "Dangerous Restarts". We read this great article from US Lacrosse the other day: 6 Rules Every Boys' Lacrosse Coach Should Know. #4 is all about Quick Restarts. Any time your players are on the field, stationary, with the ball, the Referees will blow the whistle to restart play quickly. If your players are ready before the other guys, you will have a break to the goal! You can do this 20 times per game!!
Teach your players to Play Between the Whistles in practice! Use Quick Restarts on any loose-ball or change of possession Technical Fouls in all your drills and games. Enforce the rules in practice, just like on game day. Most of use here at Lax Library are Coaches and Officials, so it's easy for us to run all our practices like games.
- Make your practice more fun and competitive by Keeping Score and Keeping Time for all your drills and games!
These numbers-advantage, unsettled-situation goals are easier to score than 6-on-6 settled goals, in our opinion. Always be ready before your opponents, and you can really cash in on these extra scoring chances, and win more games!
HERE'S THE PLAY:
Figure 1.) Here's a very common game situation: Off Sides. This happens at least once every game. Defender Red 3 carries the ball down field over the Midfield line. Midfielder Red 4 doesn't hear the "Middie Back!" call and goes over as well. Immediate whistle, Offsides, Blue ball!
