catch and shoot lacrosse time and room lacrosse practice drill

Pass and Shoot Pregame Warm-up Drill

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We saw the USA U-19 Team using this great shooting drill before their scrimmage at Johns Hopkins last weekend to get all their players passing, catching and shooting right before game time!

This is a drill we see tons of college and high school teams using all over the country before games. This rapid-fire shooting drill puts your players in close to the cage so they can pull the trigger as hard as they can. It's so simple and so easy that you can do it with any level of players to give them lots of reps and lots of success putting the ball in the goal!

Related: Watch the USA U-19 Team using this drill before the Blue/White Scrimmage Aug 9, 2015. (Skip to 13:45)

Pregame warm-up drills have evolved a lot in the past few years to imitate game situations more closely. Top college and high school coaches make sure to leave enough time before the game starts to give all their players plenty of touches catching, throwing and scooping ground balls, plus defensive footwork, dodging, shooting and numbers advantage situations.

Related: 8 Ways to Upgrade your Pregame Warm-up Drills.

There are no Goalies in this drill! This is often the last drill many coaches use before the game starts, after Goalie warm ups and 4-on-3 Fast Breaks and 5-on-4 Slow Breaks are done.

Use this drill any day at practice with any number of players to develop the fundamentals and mechanics of shooting with power and speed. Accuracy will come later. Just make sure you have tons of balls to keep the drill going!

HERE'S THE DRILL:

pass shoot pregame warm up shooting lacrosse practice drill

Figure 1.) Put your players in two lines 5-7 yards up from the goal stretching out from each pipe.  Again, there is NO GOALIE in this shooting drill. This is a drill to let all your players catch and shoot as hard as they can.

Every player in line needs a ball to pass before their turn to catch and shoot. Only the first person in line (Blue 1) doesn't need one to start the drill.

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PRACTICE TIPS:

  • "Rapid Fire!" Keep the drill going quickly so your players aren't standing around for very long. Each rep for each player should take 2-3 seconds, then get out of the way.
  • "Hands up!" Get your players to get their hands and elbows high and away from the body to generate as much power and speed as possible on their shots.
  • "Step Down!" Your players should step Up Field, away from the goal to catch the pass, then step or shuffle their feet Down Field, towards the goal to get their body weight and momentum behind their shot.
  • Practice all the other shots too! Use this same drill to work on Quick Sticks, Fake and Shoot, Dip and Dunks, Dunk and Dips, BTB's, everything!

RELATED PRACTICE DRILLS:

  • Dodging & Close-Crease Shooting Drill: One of our favorite shooting drills! Make sure your players cash in on those easy lay-up scoring chances, plus your Goalies see hundreds of shots before game time!

Make sure you let us know if you see improvements in your players shooting in games after using this drill!

Tell us if you have any pregame shooting drills of your own!