I got a great question this week from a lacrosse dad. His son plays goalie was having trouble shifting from X to the pipe as the ball passes goal line extended (GLE.) Instead of standing straight, he was squatting down unintentionally.
Have you ever seen how you transition from X to the pipe? It is a really important step for a goalie, as the shooter is just becoming a scoring threat as they pass GLE.
The best place to start is by filming yourself. When you film your movement, you can literally see what you’re doing instead of what you think they’re doing. This doesn’t have to be fancy, just have a friend, coach, or parent use an iPhone or iPad to capture how you make the transition from looking through the net at X to the right and left pipe.
After identifying how you’re stepping, you should walk through some lacrosse goalie drills to make that important step stronger. Jump into the net and have a coach at X. The coach should simply walk toward GLE on both sides and walk through the proper movement. Talk through what you see as the goalie and they can talk through what they see as the shooter
After doing this for a bit, you can switch to a variation of the shot-turn drill. Here you want to have a shooter stand 2-3 yards above GLE. As the goalie, you want to be facing X. When the shooter yells “SHOT”, step and turn from facing X right to the pipe. The step will be a simple pivot.
While he is stepping, the shooter releases a shot. The point is to make the foot movement instinctual. Keep the shots light at first while your son figures out his foot positioning and sealing the side of the pipe with his body.
. If you don’t, buy one now. It will become your best friend and one of the greatest investments you will ever make. Mix jumping rope into your workouts, warm ups, cool downs, and during commercial breaks while you’re watching ESPN. Take it with you in the car, on vacation, and to the grandmas house.
. There are a ton of variations that can be used on a ladder to improve your foot speed. Start with your foot in each square and go through the ladder as fast as you can. Then transition to touching both feet inside each square. To get fancy, touch your right toe to the left side of the ladder, just outside rope, the tap both feet inside, and then touch your right foot to the right side of the ladder square just outside the square. Proceed to the middle of the next square by tapping with each foot and then touching the outside left of the ladder. Repeat.
