Scott Rodgers is a man’s man and an awesome goalie for the Hamilton Nationals. He has a great lacrosse goalie drill to share that will help goalies learn to drive the head of their stick to make low saves and helps to improve foot speed between the pipes. The drill is called “Land Mines” and all you need are eight cones and eight balls.

Start by setting up the cones around the arc of the crease. Then place a ball onto the top of each cone. That is all you need.

Running the Drill

For less experienced goalies, go slow through this drill at first and build your concentration. The end game isn’t to just knock the ball off the cone, it is to train your body to drive the head of your stick low. You’re building up your muscle memory by running this over and over again.

For more experienced goalies, work on your eye work, too. Keep your eye on the ball as you come down and knock it off the cone. As you come back up, get your head and eyes up to identify a shooter. Then repeat. Speed down and speed back up into a ready position are both important components of this drill.

Keep the head of the stick square to the ball as you knock it off the cone. As you’re coming down to the ball, make the connection between the center of the plastic on your stick and the ball. When stepping to make a low save, you always want to lock the head of your stick into the turf.

By forcing your upper hand down, causing the stick to become perpendicular to the ground, you can shut off any chances of the shot scooting under your stick. There is nothing worse than getting low and only getting a piece of the shot because the head of your stick wasn’t completely in the turf.

Don’t get lazy and start knocking the ball off with the side of the head just to move faster. Form matters; speed will come through practice.

Check out the drill in action as Scott talks through each point of focus.