A Guide To Lacrosse Defense

Hi, my name is Ken from Hillcroft Lacrosse Club. I'm going to talk to you about lacrosse defense. The first thing you're going to notice when you're playing defense is you get hooked up with a six-foot long stick, and this is to give you a bit more reach when you're playing against attackers.

So, which fields do you need to play defense? Well, you don't want to be a goal scorer, you want to be someone who's willing to come up, hit some people, and prevent goals from being scored. So, the basic skills you need are good body positioning in front of the field and knowing how to take on players man to man. Alright, so the first thing I want to talk about when you're playing defense is having a good stance.

So, that means getting nice and low and athletic on the balls of your feet, so you're not flat on your heels, you're up on the balls of your feet like that, almost squatting forward, getting ready for what's coming for you. You don't want to be out of balance, this really helps out when you've got to move, because lacrosse defense involves a lot of shuffling across, back pedalling and coming forward as well, so you've got to make sure that your footwork is good. A good way to practice that is maybe playing some basketball and doing some good drills to that.

The area that you defend is right in front of the goal, in front of there. We'd say six feet by six feet in front of the goal is the dead zone, you don't want anyone to come in there, and if they do, knock them over. The next thing, when you get to knock over other players, it's called the body check.

You've got to hit someone from between the hip and the shoulder so long as it's not from the back, and you've got to have your hands together on the stick. Alright, so when you're playing defense, you kind of don't want to have too much padding on. Your helmet, a box is advisable, and as you can see, I'm wearing really tiny arm pads right here and that basically lets your arms move as much you can let them move, so you can throw all your checks if you need to.

You don't need to worry about getting hit because you're the one who's doing the hitting. Alright, so to be successful when you're playing lacrosse defense, you've got to have some controlled aggression, you've got to get yourself nice and low and athletic, and don't let anyone run past you, that's the most important thing. Thanks. .