Defense Standards for Boys

1. Always stay between your player and the goal

2. Use your feet first, your stick second

3. Always protect the paint

First Standard of Defense: Always stay between your player and the goal.

This is the basic concept of defense whenever the other team has the ball. Often our players play adjacent to, or in front of the player they are covering. Other times they are just plain out of position. The most basic fundamental of defense is that they should be positioned between the player they are covering and their own goal. Drill this into their head! It may seem simple and obvious, but new players don’t always know, and even if they do many have not developed a “field sense” yet and lose track of where they are on the field.

If we can get them to remember the First Standard of Defense, it will help them know where they need to be on the field. This rule is especially helpful in riding situations (so it is important that attackmen know it, too). How many times do you see players positioned in front of a player on the ride, and while they are watching the ball, the opposing player who they are “covering” quietly moves farther behind them into open space, takes a pass, and starts a fastbreak. If our players stay between their player and their goal, this will not happen.

Second Standard of Defense: Feet first, stick second.

They just can’t wait to swing that stick at the other player, but that only leads to bad defense and costly penalties. Defense is played effectively by moving your feet. We must teach young players to play defense with their feet, and prevent them from relying on their stick. Do this in practice by doing one-on-one dodges to the goal—but take the defenders’ sticks away from them. Emphasize athletic stance (knees bent, on your toes, squared up to your opponent, good balance, low center of gravity—just the same way you would defend the dribbler in basketball) and the drop step (take one step back as you move left or right mirroring the offensive player, allowing you to keep your body between your player and the goal and preventing him from blowing by you; the defender gradually gives up ground, but always stays between his player and the goal, again similar to guarding a driving player in basketball).

A nice bonus of this drill is that it gives young offensive players a chance to practice their dodging and carrying techniques more successfully when the defenders don’t have a stick in their face. Emphasize to the offensive players keeping the stick tucked away and protected as they dodge, and having their hands positioned on the stick so that they can pass or shoot quickly. Once you are satisfied with your players’ ability to defend by moving their feet, then you can give them their stick back (they really want to get those sticks back, so this is a good motivator in getting them to work hard at using their feet!)

When we give the sticks back, we must instruct the players how to use them wisely as defensive tools. A lacrosse stick is not a baseball bat and should not be used as one! A slash is defined as “swinging a crosse at an opponent’s crosse or body with deliberate viciousness or reckless abandon... or striking an opponent in an attempt to dislodge the ball from his crosse, unless the player in possession, in an attempt to protect the player’s crosse, uses some part of the player’s body...to ward off the thrust of the defensive player’s crosse.” Any time a player hits another with his stick and it was not legitimately directed at the stick, it should be whistled by the referee as a slash.

Our first priority is to remind players to play with their feet first, stick second. It’s amazing the memory loss that occurs sometimes when they get that stick back in their hand. If this happens, take the stick away from them until they regain their good defensive footwork. Next, the stick should be out in front of the defender’s body, pointed towards the offensive player. Too many times the defender holds the stick close to the body with the head pointing towards the side. The only thing they can do with the stick in this position is earn a cross check penalty. Make sure they keep those sticks out front.

Finally, we teach our players to focus on their opponents’ hands. If they can harass their opponents by poke checking their hands, or lifting the hands and arms with their stick, the offensive player will be stymied. They cannot catch, pass, or shoot if a defender is keeping pressure on their hands. And by poking and lifting, we avoid the potential slashing penalties that could put us in a man-down situation. Don’t forget FEET FIRST, STICK SECOND. It is easy for players to get so focused on poking and lifting that they get off balance and let the player get past them. Then we’re in trouble!

Third Standard of Defense: Always protect the paint.

The paint is the area on the field inside the restraining box roughly within an 8-10 yard radius in front of the goal. Probably over 80 percent of scoring in youth games occurs in that area. Players must understand this, and defend the paint intensely. In an unsettled situation, defenders must get back inside the restraining box, defend the paint, and play defense from inside out. In other words, get back into the paint as quickly as possible first, then “mark up” on defense by finding an uncovered opponent, calling out their number so your teammates know you have them covered, and employ Standards #1 and #2!

Once the ball crosses the midline, the midfielders must sprint back to inside the restraining box to the paint. They will want to contest the ball, throw a check, or cover their player out there in the middle of the field, but it is better to teach them to get back and play solid fundamental defense rather than potentially having a fastbreak goal scored against us because our middies are caught out there behind the play. If the ball is down on the ground and our player is near it, certainly that player should go for the ball. But if the ball is down on the far side of the field, the player is better off getting to the paint and being ready to defend.