Division 3 Player of the Year stops by to give free advice? Yeah, I’d listen.

Written by Tommy Kehoe

I never understood defenseman who reasoned, based on their position; they did not need stellar stick work. There is nothing more disappointing, or frustrating, than watching a defenseman who can play good body position, but can’t effectively participate in the team clear. Beyond clearing the ball, stick work is the basis for take away checks, because the single most important factor is being comfortable with your stick and as trite as it sounds, it really needs to feel like an extension of the body. For an LSM, stick work is one of our staples, and here are some tips on how to improve your game. These are basic drills, to make it more fun, mix in your own flavor.

Standard repetition is 50 each hand; I would recommend doing these with a short stick and long pole. I always go helmet, gloves, Nikes. For beginners, definitely start your routine with a short stick to increase reps, but try it with a pole too so you get a feel for the difference. For advanced players, switch on and off as you see fit.

You want your stick work to be as smooth as possible. I find that a lot of mediocre players have extra cradles, twists, twirls, and pumps ingrained into their throwing/catching motion. You should be able to bring the ball into your stick and release it in the same motion, or as Coach Janczyk put it, the form becomes formless.

Stick Work

1. Quick 5 minute warm up, make sure the mesh is feeling it, I get in a quick toss so my hands are tuned for the fast stuff.

2. Right handed throw

Make sure you are stepping with your opposite foot; you really need to stress the basic fundamentals here, force yourself to step. Repeat lefty.

I’d recommend a short stick for these next parts (3-5):

3. Right handed quick sticks

Get your hands choked up and stand about 4-5ft from the wall. As soon as the ball touches your head, it should be on its way out. I stand with my feet staggered, opposite (left) foot out in front, basically a frozen step, which gives you the necessary balance. Repeat lefty, switch footing.

4. Right handed one handed catch

Throw the ball normally, but catch it one handed, using the top hand to guide the ball into the stick. This is similar to catching an egg, you need a soft, giving catch. This will improve your ability to catch properly, eliminating any snapping motion. Repeat lefty.

5. Right handed one handed throw

Throw the ball with only your right hand on the stick; you may want to lower its positioning on the stick towards the butt end to increase your leverage. These do not have to be rockets. Again, force yourself to step opposite foot. You do not want to do this using your elbow as the fulcrum point, snapping the stick as if you are hammering something. You want to reach back, as if you’re throwing a pitch or casting a fishing line, so you can use your back and shoulders for power come game time. Repeat lefty.

6. Right handed cross handed throw

With the stick in your right hand, you want to bring the stick across your face, and throw the ball from the left side of the body. This is seen a lot in the NLL and from Canadians in general; I used to call it the public school left. This may seem unnecessary, because you rarely throw from this position, especially as a long stick, but this contributes to your ability to handle the ball in your stick in uncomfortable positions. Repeat lefty

7. Split dodge

Throw righty, catch righty, split left, throw left, catch left, and split back to the right. Repeat. I do this in two phases. I work on the speed at which I can switch hands, basically just switching my footing, but not moving anywhere side to side. The element to focus on is how fast you can switch your hands. After a 100 or so of that, Ill re-do the drill, but this time I’ll split 3-4 steps to my left and right, exploding off the switch as if I was going to the cage or avoiding pressure. Sometimes, exaggerating the motions will dramatically improve your technique. You need to do this with some enthusiasm, personally I think it’s A. fun B. badass C. unbelievably useful during the game.

8. Roll Dodge

We are not attackmen and we do not roll the same way they do, we have much more stick to protect. Throw right, catch right, roll to the left, and throw left, that’s the premise, but let’s talk technique.

The roll dodge is extremely important to perfect, we will often have to roll back or away from pressure to clear the ball. A good roll dodge keeps your body between the opponent and your stick. The most common mistake is switch hands to early; if you rolling to your left hand, and switch right to left mid-roll dodge (90 degree turn), you are re-positioning your stick back towards the opponent, and basically negating the dodge. The reason this is different for short sticks is that this isn’t an offensive dodge for us, it’s defensive. Pressure rarely comes straight at you; it’s usually angled towards the hand controlling the stick.

Try and picture this:

Pressure is coming towards your right side; you have the stick in your right hand and you want to roll left. You should keep the stick in your right hand as you turn 180 degrees, basically one giant step with your right foot, using the left as a pivot. In a still frame, your back would now be to the opponent, but your stick, albeit still in your right hand, is now protected by your body. This is when you begin to switch hands, at this point the stick stays on that side of the body, and you do not bring it back towards the opponent. As you continue rolling, you switch hands through the next 180 degrees, keeping the head of stick pointing away from the pressure. Repeat lefty.

9. Ground balls

This is so utterly important. If you are an LSM, you better love groundballs.

A: roll the ball off the wall, standing still, let it roll straight into your stick(100)

B: roll the ball off the wall, attack the ball and scoop it into your stick (100)

C: roll the ball off the wall, positioned as if you are taking a Crosby slap shot, scoop the ball from the side (picture a faceoff guy winning straight forward, you must win the groundball with a much more difficult perpendicular approach) Repeat with a backhanded positioning, as if you were coming from the other wing and the ball was won in same fashion and direction. This should be done at various speeds, from standing still, to full sprint. This is also a great time to use and practice the Indian pickup.

As you do these groundball drills, work on mixing in dodges and quick passes off the scoop.

10. Long passes

I like to end my routine with 30-40 yard passes. I just wail on the wall, throwing it as hard as can, and working on my placement along the wall. Try and hit the same spot everytime. I basically free lance at this point, mixing in dodges and different throwing motions to get comfortable receiving and throwing long passes.

Tommy told me Gettysburg had mandatory wall ball sessions at 7am three days a week in February.

Does that seem like a lot? Probably. Nothing worth having comes easy. Imagine how much extra work went beyond three times a week.

If you can’t throw and catch you might as well be playing in the NHL with a wheelchair.

Is that guy using a wheelchair? Thought so.

Tommy is currently working on branding the 90% of Lax is in the Flow company which you can find on Facebook as well as writing for Brobible and LacrossePlayground.

As one of the founders for the 90% of Lax is in the Flow FB group, he is one of the most influential people in lacrosse today.