Coach Edwards gives tips on how goalies can stop more shots down low. He explains the importance of staying safe and protected, and offers strategies on improving their game. Coach covers probability of a shot, adjusting your stance, staying protected, and prioritizing shots during practice.

1:12 – Coaching every position on the field can be a challenge without the right experience.
2:00 – Getting video of goalies in action to improve their performance.
2:32 – How to figure out the probability of where a goalie will take the most shots.
3:08 – Using your knowledge to adjust your stance and stay safe.
4:07 – Prioritizing low shots in practice.

Introduction

Hey, it’s Coach Edwards here with LacrosseGoalieTips.com and LacrosseGoalieUniversity.com. I hope you’re having a great season, and if you’re not, shoot me a note and maybe we can get you straightened out. Congratulations to all my Lacrosse Goalie University members who had a great week. I love the feedback, I love hearing from you guys, and all the goalie critiques that I did for you this week, I hope those really helped. If you’re not a member of Lacrosse Goalie University, you want to be. Click on the Coaching tab at the top of this page and head to Tier 1. You should at least be a Tier 1 member of Lacrosse Goalie University. Check it out. It’s the best thing available for goalie coaches around. I try to make it better all the time.

This question comes from Lucy, and she says:

My daughter was playing goalie and is developing as a pretty good goalie, but she’s having trouble with the shots down low. What are some good drills to get her stopping the ball down low more consistently? Her coach treats the goalie position as more of a hassle, which is sadly a huge departure from her coaches last season and on her club team.

The Challenge Of Coaching Every Position

Lucy, I’m sorry to hear that you’ve got that to deal with, but I hate to say that it’s not uncommon. A lot of well-meaning coaches out there, and I can speak as having been a coach and coaching every position on the field is a challenge.  I think it’s easier to be a goalie coaching other positions, maybe having played or dabbled in them at certain times in your career than to just maybe be an attackman or a middy trying to coach the D and the goalies.

It’s a big challenge. That’s why I started Lacrosse Goalie University. I’ve got a lot of coaches in there who finally have a resource for everything they need to know about incorporating a lacrosse goalie into their practice and their team, their communication, all sorts of stuff like that. Check that out and definitely pass that on to your coach. I’m willing to help where I can.

Get Video Of Your Goalie In Action

This is a great question. In terms of stopping the ball down low, there are a couple things. First is stance. One of the things I find is that a lot of goalies, when they’re playing the shooter, they think that the ball can go everywhere equally. Meaning they can get a shot up here just as much as they can get a shot down low. What I encourage you to do with your daughter is to get some video and to watch and see just where are the shots going on her. Are most of them down low or are most of them upstairs?

Figure Out Your Probability

What happens is, as a goalie, other teams want to shoot on you in certain spots. Let’s say “That goalie’s good down low, or that goalie’s good upstairs.” Well, if she’s getting a lot of shots down low, she can actually adjust her stance down a little bit, almost in anticipation of those low shots. The example I use is when you watch poker on ESPN, which is the most boring thing ever, I know, but what they’ll say is, “This guy has the hand, and he’s got an 80% chance of winning, and this guy’s got a hand and he’s got a 20% chance of winning.” Whereas as a goalie, it’s kind of the same thing.

Adjusting Your Stance And Staying Safe

If I’m in the cage and I’m being shot on, if I look big upstairs, I’m covering a lot of the net upstairs, then people are going to shoot on me low. I know there’s maybe a 60% chance of the shot going down low and a 40% shot  going up high. So I may adjust my stance where I’m more ready to go down than up. It’s easier to go up than it is to go down.

The other thing I’ll mention is, make sure that she is protected in her shins. For the women’s games, it’s a rule. You’ve got to have shinguards on. Maybe she’s got to step it up a little bit. I recommend wearing baseball shin guards. In the women’s game, goalies aren’t running a ton. Wearing baseball shin guards protects the leg from the middle of the thigh to the top of the foot. If she feels more comfortable down low, she’s probably going to want to get there to stop more balls. So keep that in mind.

Prioritize The Low Shots

I’ve been a big proponent of more protection for goalies. While we’ve got a rule on the women’s game, we don’t necessarily have that in the men’s game yet. In terms of getting those shots down low, added protection will help, and also getting her stance, getting her ready to explode it down, is going to really help her. Have her prioritize this in practice. Get out to practice and get out there and once she gets a little basic warm up, prioritize those low shots first in the warm up. Then she’s got more and more of an opportunity to work on those saves with a fresh body. She’s fresh, she’s coming to practice, and now she can be really explosive and make more stops.

Conclusion

Lucy, thanks for the question. If you’ve got a question for me, email me at CoachEdwards@LacrosseGoalieTips.com, and by all means, I’d appreciate it if you would share this post, like it, pin it, tweet it, google plus it, and by all means, if you’re not a member of Lacrosse Goalie University, why not? Check out the coaching tab at the top. Click through. Join Tier 1. It’s my entry level tier for Lacrosse Goalie University with tons of hours of coaching footage in there to help you become a better goalie fast. It’s the best resource on the internet. Cheers, talk to you soon. See you next week.

Are You A Member Of Lacrosse Goalie University? If not. Why not?

I created Lacrosse Goalie University to help parents, coaches and lacrosse goalies become better lacrosse goalies fast. And to have access to a qualified lacrosse goalie coach (me) 24/7. I’ve always found DVD’s and CD’s to be really restrictive. I mean how am I supposed to condense 30+ years of lacrosse goalie coaching knowledge and experience into a 60 minute DVD? That is why, I have hours…HOURS…of coaching footage inside lacrosse goalie University and I want you to join me…now. To get started and to receive your free goalie critique, head on over to our Tier 1 Silver Coaching page by clicking here. What are you waiting for? Click here to learn more.

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