Originally Posted by pipermacbean:
Cool... I am an asst. coach for my son's 7th grade rec team . I work primarily with the defense... I didn't play lax but I did play soccer and hockey so I use that to try to teach them about positioning. We are in central NJ so teams can be pretty competitive. As a varsity coach what are the points/skills you would like to see stressed for younger players?
I am also primarily a defensive coach. For my long poles and defensive middies, I look for the ability to play within the defensive unit. That is my numero uno!
What I mean by that is that the player who can strip, throw great checks, etc is not necessarily going to be my biggest asset. Rather, a player who understands when to slide, and how to force his man into an oncoming slide (and have the faith that it will be there) is key. A player who can communicate what the defense is doing, and can dictate where his man can go.
These are important things to me. Stick skills, great checks, and hard hits (though not always hitting) have been a lot easier to teach (in my opinion).
Rather than hockey or soccer, I think a lot can be drawn from basketball...the concept of the trap, help, recover, etc.
On offense, I like to see a kid move on and off ball. Sure, a 90mph shot, 4.4 40 speed, etc are nice, but a fat kid with a weak shot can score some goals if he can move effectively off ball.
For example, if you are running the 2-3-1 on offense, and the defense is in a typical crease slide/opposite second slide package, look to move the offensive player opposite the ball in such a way that he FORCES his man to leave him open (IN SCORING POSITION!) or to bail on the second slide (man on crease is wide open).
I've seen a lot of players who could defy physics with their sticks, but could never play the game because they couldn't/wouldn't grasp proper off ball movement.
As for on ball movement, drawing the slide and dumping to the open man (he has to make himself open...hence good off ball movement) is key. Naturally, in order to do this the player must be able to move with the ball and see the field.
The ability to dodge and create space on a 1 on 1 situation seem to be pretty well covered by youth coaches.
You MAY have noticed, but I could talk about this for hours....so feel free to fire away with questions/comments/general lax BSing.
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