with Mike Pressler,
Bryant University Head Coach;
5x Northeast Conference titles;
4x NCAA Tournament appearances;
2014 NCAA Tournament quarterfinals;
2005 F. Morris Touchstone Award
The beginning of the season is the time to set goals for your team and sketch out how you would like to schedule your practices to achieve those goals. As a coach, you need to have a plan of what your theme for each practice is (offensive play, defensive movement, stickwork, ground balls, etc.), otherwise both you and your players will be frustrated due to a lack of focus.
This video featuring Bryant's Mike Pressler covers how to reiterate your team culture and reestablish the core values that make up that culture. You'll also see how to reinforce that culture through engaging practice sessions full of worthwhile drills.
Practice Drills
A total of 18 drills are included in this video and are laid out in such a way to show the natural progression of a practice; starting small with stick work and then progressing to full field concepts. During the white board sessions, the Bryant coaching staff highlights coaching points, and cover how to incorporate more players into each drill, making sure your entire team is engaged with little down time. The coaches also explain how each drill is beneficial to the overall development of your team.
Coach Pressler and his staff show many variations of skill sets throughout the video. There are several ground ball drills, passing drills and small sided play drills. The small sided drills are especially useful for when your athletes need a fresh atmosphere that still stresses the fundamentals of the game.
Drill Examples
Pressler's Star Drill sets the tone for players by making them stay focused and engaged. It also emphasizes the most basic aspects of the game: accurate passing, being able to catch anything thrown your way, and handling your stick in traffic. If your athletes can't execute those skills, then your team won't be very successful. Adding to its versatility, the Star Drill can also be run against a defense and altered to throw using just one hand or the other.
Another great passing drill is Partner Passing with Footwork. This drill combines two of the most important aspects of lacrosse: stick skills and footwork. Without proper footwork, players are unable to set up for more powerful shots with accurate ball placement and have a tougher time defending because they lack good balance.
Coach Pressler's Spider drill is game-like in nature by preparing simulated man-up and man-down situations. There will be times in games where your team finds itself in both situations, and how your players handle it will determine how often you win. The ball moves quickly in this drill, requiring athletes to make decisions at a faster pace.
Setting up your practices correctly is one of the first steps to training a championship team. This video from Coach Pressler includes many of his preferred drills and viewpoints on practice that will be sure to aid in your effort to win more games.
179 minutes. 2019.
LXD-05520B:
with Travis Harrington,
Bryant University Assistant Coach / Offensive Coordinator;
ranks 9th all-time in goals scored at Bryant University;
2012 USILA/LaxWorld North-South game participant
If you want to build an offense that scores consistently, then you need drills that develop your players' confidence. This video from Bryant University assistant coach Travis Harrington breaks down his approach to offensive execution by starting small and building to larger offensive concepts. Coach Harrington also offers up pointers on his offensive philosophy and how to introduce a new offense to your team.
Building Confidence
Harrington shows how to build an offense through various stages, including stickwork, approaches from in front of and behind the cage, and re-approaching when initially turned away by the defense. He incorporates both attackers and midfielders in his drills to help every athlete who could be involved in an attack become confident in the offensive system. By having players learn movement without defenders, they can learn the offense without the added pressure of having to also beat a defender. Once athletes have gained confidence with their sticks and with where they are supposed to be on the field, then the addition of defense isn't as big of a deal.
By breaking drills up into small stations to start, your players will get a lot of reps in non-pressure situations so they can focus on proper technique. From there, Coach Harrington shows how to grow to larger field concepts, which is a natural progression that helps players comprehend overall motion and movement. Harrington does a great job of observational coaching to make sure athletes use proper technique, footwork, and hand placement.
Drill Work
You'll see Coach Harrington break down various drills using diagrams and discussion. A total of 26 drills are included in this video and are laid out in such a way to show the natural progression and growth of offensive ideas/tactics.
One of the featured drill sections includes a progression of development shooting drills. This series also touches on stick skills and technique, which will help your offense operate on a higher level. You'll also get a box progression for team shooting that reinforces approach technique and shooting from different angles.
This video from Coach Harrington contains many valuable concepts for offense. His drills start with technical work and progress to include movement and larger offensive concepts. This is the perfect answer for any coach who needs building blocks to start or improve their offense.
172 minutes. 2019.
LXD-05520C:
with Casey Brodersen,
Bryant University Associate Head Coach;
has helped lead the Bulldogs to 5 Northeast Conference titles, 4 NCAA Tournament appearances, and the 2014 NCAA Tournament quarterfinals;
2009 team captain and MVP as a player at Keene State College
This video featuring Bryant University associate head coach Casey Brodersen includes 11 drills to improve individual and team defensive skills. Coach Brodersen's drills focus on improving footwork, on-ball defensive technique, communication and anticipation to breakout for faster transitions.
Once you've taken in all of the drills that Brodersen has to offer, he includes a segment at the end that breaks down game film. In this section, you'll see how the practice drills translate directly to game situations - which can be extremely helpful, especially for coaches who don't have much experience making adjustments and training areas of weakness in-season.
Defensive Drills
Coach Brodersen presents multiple drills that will help your team build into transition after a shot. You'll get five drills that work on situation play to read transition breakout opportunities. Additionally, Brodersen shows how to get defenders into position to make a quick outlet pass in order to create odd man rush opportunities.
The "Tennis Ball Over the Top" drill is especially valuable because it teaches how to get your players used to the concept of a breakout after a shot is delivered. Brodersen prefers to use tennis balls in this drill because it reduces the risk of injury to goalies and allows the focus of the drill to be on the breakout as opposed to the save. In all, the drill gives your team:
- Multiple reps for goalies clearing the ball
- Work on all aspects of actions after a shot, including the run out by defenders low and the breakout from the defender covering the shooter
- Great conditioning work
Film Review
Finally, listen to Coach Brodersen break down actual game film on how each of his drills relate directly to transition breakouts in games. This is an excellent teaching technique you can use with your own players during film sessions to help them better understand the "what" and "why" behind each drill.
This is a quality video covering the defensive portion of the game. Coach Brodersen lays out all his drills in a clear, concise manner that's easy to understand so you can immediately take his drills and incorporate them into your practice plans.
112 minutes. 2019.
LXD-05520D:
with Casey Brodersen,
Bryant University Associate Head Coach;
has helped lead the Bulldogs to 5x Northeast Conference titles, 4x NCAA Tournament appearances, and the 2014 NCAA Tournament quarterfinals;
was team captain and MVP at Keene State College (2009)
Under the tutelage of Bryant's Associate Head Coach Casey Brodersen, face-off specialist Kevin Massa finished his college career in 2015 holding seven NCAA records. Among those records: the all-time Division I leader for career ground balls, ground balls per game, and face-off wins.
Possessing a face-off specialist of that caliber can be a massive weapon for any lacrosse team, and in this video, Coach Brodersen provides many of the drills and skills he used to propel Massa to such a high level of achievement. You'll get a variety of exercises that focus on the small details that can win your squad a higher percentage of face-offs.
A total of 10 drills/concepts are included in this video and build from basic techniques to full-fledged game situations. Each drill can be tailored to fit the skill level of your players. Brodersen's drills use common items (folding tables, for example) that wouldn't require spending money on extra items to make the drill work.
The Clamp
Face-offs are very technique-oriented, and Brodersen breaks down the clamp in a way that is easily replicated in practices. He presents each step slowly and gradually works up to game pace. You'll also see how to build on the technique as your athlete increases in ability, strength and speed. Brodersen also details the right and wrong way to perform the associated footwork and stickwork. Game footage is provided and will allow you to relate the practice technique to a live game scenario.
Pop With Cones
Brodersen shows how you can incorporate cones to make technique work more game-like. In this drill, the player must stay fully engaged because as they are rotating, the coach calls out directions and selects a specific colored cone. This corresponds to the cone the athlete must exit to as they also perform the rotation and pop technique.
Bench Press Walks
This segment incorporates many of the techniques that are taught during the clamp section, while also incorporating items to make sure the players stay low to the ground and maintain proper technique. As players move through the tables, the coach calls out a direction for them to pull, making the athletes think and react instead of just going through the motions.
The added utilization of still shots and game film adds another dimension to this video that makes it more relatable to live situations. Coach Brodersen does a great job pointing out things to look for as a coach and how to correct common errors, all while providing you with ideas on how to make sure your players are utilizing proper technique. This all-encompassing video provides the insights, and answers, to the question:"how can I win more face-offs?"
80 minutes. 2019.