How To: Play Attack

An attacker in lacrosse has many roles, but the most important: get the ball in the back of the net.

It takes a lot of dedication and practice to fine-tune your attacking skills. And as late-Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi once said, "Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect."

There are so many drills that are designed for attackers: shooting, agilities, and ground balls are some of them. These drills may seem tedious at times, but they are very important when it comes to improving your skills. These skills can and are used in practices and more importantly games.

Three drills for attack players that stood the test of time are as follows:

1. A Warm-up: Ladders. Although ladders seem insipid, they are the best way to work on your footwork. If you don't want to do it with anyone, do it yourself! Even if you do not have a ladder, you can use tape to draw one out and use tape!
Some ways to go through the boxes are as follows:
-One foot in
-Two in
-Two-in, One-out
-Two-in, Two-out
-Single-leg bunny hops
-Both legs bunny hop

Below is a video of what the footwork should look like:

If you really want to challenge yourself, time yourself the first time you do it, and then try to beat your record EVERY TIME!

2. One-on-One Drills: For the best results, you need a defender to go up against you. Charging to the cage alone will do nothing for you, but when you have someone that is supposed to be pushing you one way, your brain will adjust and figure out how to beat them. Whether it is with speed, or with shiftiness, practice makes perfect. 

3. Accuracy: To work on your shooting accuracy, place cones in the top, middle, and bottom sections of the net. Standing in between the crease and the eight-meter line, get a teammate or friend to feed you the ball, turn, and shoot. To challenge yourself, let the feeder call out a number, and shoot where they tell you! 
Here is an example of where the spots are when you're shooting. You can even add a 7 and 8 spot in-between 1 and 4 and 3 and 6 respectively. 

All drills and hard work make you become that better of a player, so do not slack! Push yourself to the fullest and the results will come.