Training

Ways to Get Better This Off Season Without Breaking the Bank:

Buying expensive and specialized training equipment does not always make you a better athlete. Being apart of a high-end training facility/ gym is not always needed to see results. The United States Marine Corps have a saying, “I am the gym.” It’s that simple. Whatever sport you play, athletes in general can do so much on their own and see outstanding results with minimal training equipment. It really boils down to are you putting the work in, and is what you are doing making it harder, tougher and slightly more attentive to detail.

Let’s zoom in on the sport of lacrosse. Getting a new stick or equipment is not always the answer to becoming a better lacrosse player. The lacrosse market offers great products that focus on aspects of the game, and don’t get me wrong, some of these products can definitely be utilized, however are they all that necessary? Let’s take you through an optimal training session with as little training equipment as possible. The first thing you are going to need is a back pack or training pack. Your pack is your life preserver. It will have all your essentials needed to become a better lacrosse player. In your pack you’re going to want to include, 20 lacrosse balls, a tennis ball, 5 cones, and a jump rope. Additional items to include are, a shooting rejector, a shooting target, a small hurdle and a speed ladder. If financially you can’t afford some of these items, a shooting target can simply be made by tying a 12 inch string to a soda can, a hurdle can be made out of inexpensive PVC and a speed ladder can substituted with a rope. Now that you have your pack it is time to train.

Put your helmet, gloves and cleats on your stick, put your stick on your shoulder, hop on your bike or your skateboard or your roller blades and ride up to the field. Look at that, you have already started your training and you haven’t even arrived at the field yet. Now find a wall and start your wall ball workout. Talk to your coaches about the right individual wallball/ workout routine for you but for now let’s keep it simple. Make a song playlist on your phone or ipod, 5-7 minutes long and crush 100R, 100L, 50 catches and switches, 25 shovels each hand and 25 BTB’s. If you want to make it a little more tough, add some more specialized passes. Defensive players stand further from the wall and work on overs. Offensive players add some dynamic movement to simulate more game like situations. You can even do the wall ball routine with a tennis ball to develop softer hands or bring a backup stick and fill the shaft with sand to add a little more weight. Once you have completed the wall ball routine, lets get out to the field. Set up your rejector and your target (pick a spot on the cage, tie the can or place the target and work on hitting it over and over again) and put your lacrosse balls dead center 5 yards away from the goal. Work on shooting with lead foot up, back knee down, chest up and chin over your lead shoulder. Torque you body and let it loose, shooting for power dead center of the cage. Start your progression to your feet, crow hopping into the shot and move the balls back until you are top center, bouncing the ball or hitting the target. Move to the right and left wing, adding hitches and rollbacks, resetting your feet, working on time and room shooting. Now lest go back to top center if you are a middie or behind if you are an attackman. Break out the cones and speed ladder or rope. Go through a progression where you are getting the feet going (one foot in and out, ickey shuffle, two feet in etc.) and use the cones to simulate defenders. Work on several doges including but not limited, splits, rolls, S’s, faces and V’s. focus on shooting on the run, angling your body to the goal and staying within the pipes, DON’T FADE. Our goal is to get 100- 150 GREAT shots on cage. Don’t quit until your shots are dialed in. If you are a defenseman it’s a little tougher to train on your own but talk to your coaches. There are several drills one can do using cones, ladders as well as other items that work on your hands, feet, body positioning, agility and throwing checks.

Three quarters down, it’s time for the fourth quarter. Get up to the school yard and find a jungle gym. Our workout is as follows. 200 pushups, 100 pull ups, 100 body squats, 3X 25 of burpees, 30 leg lifts, 3X 25 crunches and 3X 100 on the jump rope. Remember, “YOU ARE THE GYM.” Hard work is not earned, its just something we must do to get better. But remember you don’t have to pull out the wallet to get better. I guarantee you can find most of the stuff outlined here laying around the house. Great job, now its time to finish strong, ride home and enjoy a meal. If you put the work in, you will see results. Be determined and start a regiment. It starts now.

 
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An Off-season Reflection – How Champions Train

With the summer lacrosse season ending, it is time to reflect on the past year. All the hard work, blood sweat and tears, the time and effort put into the game we all love. Did you get better? There’s an old saying that “champions are made when no one is watching,” however with the way competitive club lacrosse is going, training is the focus. So, we arrive at the question, are you training the right way? Is what you are doing when no one is watching the right way to do it? Are you fundamentally sound?

FLG as well as other competitive lacrosse clubs offer a variety of training packages, all of which aim to bring out the best player you can possibly be. But not only being a skilled lacrosse player, but rather specializing in your specific position and game like situations pertinent to your position. Repetition, building skills, developing IQ, it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert at something. Clearly you cannot invest 10,000 hours in your club. So, therefore you must train on your own. But training the right way is key.

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Reflecting on and evaluating your skill is a great way to become a better player. Talk to your trainers and coaches. Ask them questions and find out, what areas of your game you are already good at and what areas you can be better at. Then don’t forget to follow up with the question “How do I accomplish or make that skill better.” The focus here is that you are developing a plan. Yes, shooting 100 lacrosse balls is great but are you shooting them the right way? Will shooting 100 lacrosse balls make you a better player? The quality of your reps is key. Before you go up to the field to train, develop your plan. Start off with a quick wall ball warm up. If shooting is the focus for the day, start off with some body mechanic drills that focus on proper hand and foot placement. Then go into shooting half speed where you are really dialing into what your body is doing and where the ball is going. Speed up that process to mimic game speed and begin to add dynamic footwork to work on dodging. A speed ladder is also a great tool to supplement footwork. Adding exercises like push-ups and pull-ups to make you a little more tired is a great way to develop the mentality of playing to your best when you are tired.  Pick a spot on the field. Maybe we focus solely on the wing today and move to up top if we are a middie or down low behind the goal if we are an attackman.

The key here is that you are building skill while working hard and having fun. Take a few days and enjoy some time off. But remember while your hanging out, someone your competing against is getting better. If you have a vision or goal to take your game to the next level, you must train hard to reach that goal. Take advantage of the off season and work hard. Let’s change that old saying to “champions train when no one is watching.”

 
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FLG Scoring Academy RECAP

Scoring Academy Participants,

It was great getting back on the fields with our Scoring Academy participants last night. I do apologize for missing our session last week, something I don’t normally do! I had a baby girl last week and was busy welcoming her to the world. Soon teaching baby Everley the ins and out of the game!

Anyways, last night was a session focused on reps, reps, and more reps. Being our participants are more advanced and have a deeper understanding for the fundamentals of shooting the right way, we can now focus on get more reps, and do more shooting drills.

After our wall ball warm-up, which reinforced proper shooting mechanics and emphasized correct upper/lower body movement, we took to the cages for a series of shooting drills. These drills not only working on shooting on the run. They worked on footwork, setting up your defender, shooting out of a dodge, scoring in tight, re-dodging your defender, and shooting to score.

For examples of the shooting drills please be sure to check out FLG Lacrosse on Instagram @FLGLAX Our latest post from the Scoring Academy will feature Kerrie Heuser working on the Dodge, Bounce, Re-dodge drill. You will also see our two Studletes of the night, Caroline and Mikey, who did an exception job executing concepts taught consistently at full speed.

See everybody next week!

-Corey

 
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Play’s’ Make Players

Ever made a bad move?

Committed a flagrant foul?

Missed the game winning shot?

Dropped the ball?

Tripped over your own two feet?

Those are bad plays, but that doesn’t mean they have to define you as a player.

Your legacy as a player is an accumulation of your play while you train, practice, and compete. Don’t let one bad play define you. Don’t let someone else define you. 

Make your legacy one built around the positive, the tough, the effort plays. Be the player you wish to become. Work towards it each day. Work at it, hard. 

 
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FLG’s Small Group Training

Why training in smaller groups in beneficial:

  1. More repetitions with the ball in your stick
  2. Learn about nuances at each position.
  3. Focus on more advanced concepts
  4. Get more mental repetitions – players listening and absorbing information from the coach
  5. Gives players an opportunity to train while they are tired. Good simulation of playing towards the end of a game or in the 4th quarter.

Learn more about training with FLG by clicking here !

 
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