[leadplayer_vid id=”5122BDE6E2AE7″]
How Women’s Lacrosse Goalies Can Stop More Shots Down Low
Bullets and Timestamps:
[00:00:28] Coach Edwards Introduction
[00:00:54] Coach Edwards Addresses Women’s Lacrosse Stance
[00:01:12] Coach Edwards on Importance of Posture
[00:01:44] Coach Edwards on the Problem Of Straight Spine
[00:01:58] Coach Edwards Outlines Issues of Spine and Strength
[00:02:30] Coach Edwards Recommendation
[00:03:17] Results of Coach Edwards’ Recommendation
Coach Edwards here. Got an email today from Coach Mike in Connecticut. This is going to be a two-parter. So part one is, his women’s lacrosse goalies are having a tough time getting the low shots. Part two is, his women’s goalies are also having trouble getting to off-stick shots, okay? So we’re going to deal with part one here.
So part one is, how do women’s lacrosse goalies stop more shots down low? And the problem that I see starts with the female goalies. And I don’t know what it is, they’re smarter than boys. We all know that, right? They’re smarter than lacrosse boys. We got it. But when they get in the cage and they get their head wrapped around proper goalie stance, they get really stiff and rigid, okay? It’s almost like in an effort to look like a lacrosse goalie, they lose that basic, fundamental athletic stance that we need in every athlete no matter what the position.
So what I mean by that, and why this is important, is when a female lacrosse goalie gets in the cage, and she’s focused on stance, is that the stick gets really vertical, the arms really stiff, and the key here is the spine angle gets very straight. Which means that the shoulders are not necessarily in front of the hips, they’re almost stacked on top of the hips, so that spine is straight up and down. What that does is, that allows the goalie to catch balls upstairs, however it makes it really difficult to get low shots and explode down to the ball. And getting down to the ball is an explosive movement, so we’ve got to get a couple things in play here.
One, with that vertical spine and that upright stance, it takes more time to get to low shots. And secondarily, female goalies, now, this isn’t rocket science, but female goalies aren’t physically as strong as their male counterparts, okay? So when we look at the three keys to making every save, see the ball, do you know where it’s going, and can you move to it, that moving to it part takes the most amount of time. So if we are in a too vertical stance and we’re already giving up time to get to those low shots, we’re going to give up low balls, okay? It’s just plain and simple.
So my recommendation is this. Have your women’s lacrosse goalies get in the cage and take their stance. Now have them drop their stick to their side but maintain their stance. Now, what you’re going to do is, on the whistle, is you’re going to make them sprint straight ahead. So, they’re in their stance, they’re holding their stick, now keeping that stance you’re going to make them drop their stick and now, on the whistle, have them sprint. What you’ll notice and what they’ll notice is that there’s a split second where they have to get their body down and their torso forward in order to get their momentum and get in that nice explosive position to explode out. I want them to be in that stance in the cage.
What that’s going to do is, it’s going to give them a lower spine angle, more aggressive stance, so that they can attack the ball. Now, they’re going to lower their stick heads slightly, which is going to make them feel like they’re giving more to upstairs, but I guarantee you this – they won’t give up an inordinate amount of balls upstairs than they were, and they’re going to be able to explode down to the ball and really snuff out those shots that are below the hip. That’s critical. So that’s part one. The next video we’ll go on to part 2, Coach Mike’s Answers From Connecticut.
Recent Comments