Breaking Down a Women’s Lacrosse Defensive Drill: The OverDrive Drill

 

Defense wins championships. Let’s break down a great defensive women’s lacrosse drill that targets crucial points like Proper Defensive Positioning, Communication, Recovery, Forcing, Dodges, and Decision Making.


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Intro

Is This Drill for College Lacrosse?

Yes and no! The beauty of lacrosse is that all the drills can be used for all levels. As coaches, we must choose our Key Coaching Points to adjust whom we coach. Each player, no matter what level, can learn in the OverDrive Drill.

Choosing Key Coaching Points

It is recommended that no matter what the level, you ease players into new drills. Keep the chosen Key Coaching Points to something they’re familiar with so they can focus on getting used to the drill. Next, you can change up the Key Coaching Points or add more, depending on your coaching level and their playing level.

How to Re-Use this Drill

Build on this drill by focusing on different coaching points. As for every drill, you can reuse them with other Key Coaching Points! Changing the focal point keeps it fresh for the lacrosse players and the staff. Below you’ll find the Drill Description with 6 Key Coaching Points. Pick and choose which you'll focus on.

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THE DRILL

Description: 

  • Place 6 attackers evenly around the center draw circle.  Two defenders start in the middle of the circle at the center hash.  

  • One player on the outside starts with the ball.  Her goal is to run toward the center hash with the ball.  

  • The first defender approaches the attacker with the ball, forcing her where the second defender communicates to her.  

  • The attacker can dodge and re-dodge, but when she feels unsuccessful, she has to pass the ball to her adjacent.  

  • The second defensive player in the middle approaches the new ball handler, and the same actions occur.

  • The other defender drops back into the middle of the circle (communicating that she is back in the middle), acting as the communicator and waiting for the attacker to pass to the next adjacent to signal her turn.

  • The defenders stay in the middle until they have defended each attacker twice.  Add two new defenders inside and start again.

Equipment: 

1 ball, 8+ players

Key Coaching Points: 

  • Proper Defensive Positioning

  • Communication

  • Recovery

  • Forcing

  • Dodges

  • Decision Making

Defensively, focus on the ABCD basics of defense.  Use Defensive Vocabulary to incorporate key terms before starting the drill so the players know exactly what they are working on.  



If you want to add in a focus of attack, ensure that the attackers know what dodge they want to try before they start.  Please make sure the attackers protect their sticks and make good decisions without forcing them.

Diagram of Drill:

break it down

Breaking it Down: Proper Defensive Positioning

Check out this short clip from Louisville’s Allison Daley. She walks us through how to approach correctly, how to force, and the footwork needed for proper defensive positioning.

Watch the Full Training: Building a Woman-to-Woman Defense [here]

Breaking it Down: Recovery

Emily Boissoneault, the head coach of Pitt, teaches us philosophy on Recovery and Crashing and drills to teach it. Emily’s philosophy on ‘finding success on defense’ is infused in her teachings.

Here is a great crashing drill to spark inspiration for running the Overdrive Drill:

Watch the Full Training: Building Confidence on Defense with Emily Boissonneault [here]

Breaking it Down: Forcing

Forcing is an essential aspect of lacrosse defensive skills. Emily Boissonneault, Pitt’s Head Coach, shows us how to teach it while finding success for our defenders. She talks philosophy on where and when to force as well!

Watch the Full Training: Skills and Drill to Develop a Great Defensive Unit with Emily Boissonneault [here]

Breaking it Down: Dodging

Though this is a defensive drill, we can also touch on the attack side of it. Shannon Brinson came into WLD this year and taught us dodging mechanics. He excels in reverse engineering mechanics to rebuild a great dodger. Here is an intro to his lesson:

You can watch Shannon's Full Training Bridging the Gap Between Performance Training & Skill Acquisition [here]


continued discussion

 
 

We’re currently discussing this exact drill in our Community, Circle Up. You can join the discussion for free or join the WLD Membership for all of the extra learning opportunities like Drills, Practice Plans, Live trainings (like these!), Strategy and Skill lessons, Mindset training, Networking Groups, Book Club, and more!

Head to the Circle Up post [here].

 
 

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Blog, CommunityKara Sanford