Lacrosse Goalie Coaching, Book / CDs, DVDs, Clinics, Camps, Instruction, Stringing, Sticks Equipment and More - Jun 2008
GOALIE COACHES CORNER
We have two Columns -- one for COACHES and the other for PLAYERS

Overnight Goalie CAMP at Towson, July 12-13, 2008 
moved from July 5-6

Sunday Clinics - Resume Sep 08
Call for Reservation - you can bring one or more keepers, one or more sessions -  Coaches can attend for free
Check our clinic/camp page

June 2008 - Spring Recap / Summer Startup

New Goalie Book and New CD-ROM - I haven't written much this spring on this site as I got caught up in coaching at Oakton High School in Virginia and in re-writing the goalie book.  The book is completed and ready for shipping as "Lacrosse Goaltending II" (see our order page) and the CD-ROM is too as Coaching Goalies (see our order page).  I am very excited about the way they both turned out with a full treatment of the "Getting to Blue" goalie evaluation and all the advice and inputs in the book and CD as to how to progress from one evaluation level to another.

Virginia HS Lacrosse Season - We had a down and then up spring season at Oakton.  Half way through we had lost to Georgetown Prep (badly), Landon (almost as badly) and Chantilly (badly) and Madison (tight game and we played poorly).  Then our team really started to play the defense that they are capable of and the offense got going too.  We got to the District final and lost a close game to Chantilly (we played poorly for 3 quarters but almost caught them in the 4th quarter losing 7-9).  We got to the Regional Final after beating a very good Langley team by one goal late in the 4th quarter and lost to Chantilly in a great game where we lead 6-5 and then let in 3 goals for an 6-8 loss - one astute observer said is was much like the Frazier-Ali fight and it was.  We met Western Albemarle in the State Semi-Finals and played great D for the 1st half and a 3-2 lead when the offense outscored them 8-0 in the 3rd quarter on our way to a 14-5 win.  The State finals (which we were not supposed to be good enough to get to) was a war into the fourth quarter when Chantilly (again) extended a 5-6 lead to 5-8 and we started to extend our defense to get the ball back for our offense.  We got the ball more than once but their defense and fast break took over to win it all 12-5.  I know that you have seen teams like this once in a while - teams that get better each game and are fun to watch all the things they do naturally late in the season that didn't work early.  Congratulations to Oakton for being one of those fine teams.  And that said, both Tony Gray, Head Coach and Jon Weston, D coordinator and goalie coach, retired from high school coaching.  Tony is coaching the Iroquois National U-19 team and The Goalieman is enjoying his last summer of active goaltending in the older than dirt age group tournaments and looking forward to whatever next spring brings.

Camps and More Camps - Camp season has begun with an already successful Quint Kessenich Goalie Camp at Boy's Latin featuring Quint and The Goalieman and a fine cast of goalie counselors.  Next is the Goalie Overnight Weekend at Towson July 12-13.  Openings still available.
NCAA Tournament Observations - As I do each season and did again this season, I analyze the statistics of the NCAA tournament games.  Each year seems to show me more about the dynamics of the college game.  This year I saw two things very interesting: Do you think the winning team or the losing team has more assisted goals?  Do you think the winning team or the losing team has more saves?  It's crazy but the losers have a higher percentage of assists and they have more saves.  I guess that goes to show that the winning team's have more powerful offensive players and more of them.  Interesting.  And it says that the winning team's have better defenses giving up fewer shots on goal.  Interesting.  

That's all for this month - KEEP TEACHING, LEARNING, , PRACTICING AND IMPROVING - The Goalieman

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NO REBOUND II POCKET	MO-POWR II Pocket
Rage Cage Portable  Goal	Rage Cage Goal with Shot Blocker

Sep/Oct 2007 - Summer Notes and Fall Outlook

Coaching, Coaching, Coaching - I have a student that is doing very well as the starter in a major Division I program.  She has good concentration, great stance, solid hands and steps to every shot with a three step step that really gets her hands to the ball fast.  Her footwork is probably one of her key strengths, especially for a rather small player.  Her new coach is trying to change her to a one step goalie.  One step can work if your very long legged but otherwise slows down the keeper, for sure.  I wonder how I can help this fine keeper communicate this to her new young coach.  Any ideas, if so, write me an email with your thoughts.

Remembering the Lessons of Summer - The summer has gone by so rapidly that I forgot to write some of the key notes to coaches.  First, the most important goalie notes come from understanding the things a goalie can control;

1) Watch the Ball - the easiest thing to say but hard to do.

2) Ready on every shot - the key to a good save percentage

3) Go to the ball on every shot - waiting really doesn't work

4) Next - no matter what happens get ready for the next shot

Coaches can teach these but keepers have to do them, so as you work with your keeper let him/her know when the shot that goes in is because of one of those 1st 3 and when strings are because of failing to do number 4.  

     Keep things in perspective for you goalie.  The objective of defense and goalies is to get the ball back to the offense, so every defense or goalie ground ball, run-out, pickoff or wide save is equal to even the most spectacular stuff save.  And saves with no rebounds are the best of all because starting a fast break is available immediately.

Off Season Activities and Workouts - If the summer brings learning, the fall and winter need to make that knowledge a part of the keeper's game through effective repetitions (ball toss, walk the line drills and controlled shooting sessions to stabilize improved techniques).  Plan with you keeper when these session are going to happen - have a schedule sheet for him/her to fill out so that they are committed to the activities and can feel good about their activities and progress. There is a truth in basketball and lacrosse - if you are not out shooting hoops, taking shots, working the wall, ... you don't improve enough to be the player the team needs in the spring.

East Coast Tournaments - The Lake Placid Summit was spectacular with good weather every day and lots of great games (men's open, open II, masters, grand masters and super grand masters - over 50 and women's open) - look forward to the 1st weekend in August next year.  Ocean City Classic was improved again this year with 35 great open teams, masters and grand masters men and women's open. Thanks to Bob Musitano for his leadership in improving the tournament again this year.

MLL Congratulations - Philadelphia won the MLL championship behind Doc Dougherty in goal.  It was very exciting to see LA and Philly play back and forth with great play after great play.  A special congratulations to Spencer Ford who made the MLL All-Pro attack while setting new records for assists.

 June 2007 - NCAA Goaltending Stats Teach Us Again

Disappointing Finals - JHU 12 Duke 11 would seem to be a great finish, but Duke gave up 26 shots by JHU in the 1st half (Duke was behind by 10-4 at the half) and Loftus only made 5 1st half saves.  Duke scored 5 unanswered goals in the 3rd period as Jessie looked raged (4 saves in the period- late)  Both gave up too many goals on shots that they normally save.  Even though Jessie Schwartzman had 15 saves total, not a great game for goaltender technique. But, who can forget that Duke-Cornell game.

Overall for Division I, every win in the tournament was won by the team with a positive Shot on Goal (SOG) differential or > 14 saves.  In 2006 it was all about keeping the ball off the goalie (SOG differential) and this year some games were about that and some were about goaltending. 

May 2007 - Get Ready for Camp

Time for Camp - Get registered at The Goalieman's Camp (overnight at Towson University) or  Quint Kessenich's Camp (Evenings at Boys Latin, Baltimore). Start getting ready for summer. (click for info)

Ocean City Tournament - 2nd week in August - free goalie clinics at the tourney - Jon Weston instructing.

BIG POCKET Added - We have added the BIG Pocket for goalies that is three shooting strings across the top, big hole mesh and deep, deep pocket. Now we have two pocket types the NO REBOUND II and the BIG POCKET.

March 2007 - Getting Ready for Spring

Making Goaltending Easy - In teaching goaltending there are a lot of techniques and tips that  help, but goaltending is mostly about being in every shot. So playing and coaching saves involves three things; 
    1) Watching the Ball continuously when it is within 20 yards of the goal 
    2) Being ready in your best stance prior to the shot 
        (even when going cross-crease)
    3) Going to the ball (with your hands, your chest, your hips and feet).  

Do that and you will get your share of saves as you learn the better techniques for additional improvements.  It is the season now so keep focus intense but simple and scrimmage and game day success will improve.

Contenders are Back -Breakage problems solved this innovative goalie shaft is again available.  Big Time is the girls length version. We have them both. More

Catching and Clearing - Over the last years, I developed 10 points about playing offense.  These became the basis of much of the Ultimate Offense DVD that is new this year.  While listening to Greg Cannella, Head Lacrosse Coach at UMASS at the IMLCA Convention, he covered some offensive tactics based upon a catch on the move he called a "SNIVELY".  It is the 11th skill for offensive players.  This catch is really catching the ball over your shoulder (protecting the stick from defenders with your body)..  

     For offense it opens up the back door cut dramatically and makes the defenders play the adjacent or weak side off-ball players much closer - making team defense much harder.  So, for offensive coaches, teach over the shoulder catching and movement of the ball up field or shooting immediately with just a rotation of the stick face to the up field/goal side and a shot/pass (without pulling your hands and stick head back very far where the trailing player can check the stick).  

     This seems to be a lost skill that Greg resurrected for offense, but, it has always been very valuable for clearing. It is the best type of catch when clearing especially off the save because it puts the receivers body between the stick head and the riding player.  The banana cut example shows how it is used.     

     Further you can teach your defense and middies when they break out that if they can see the back of the helmet of the riding attackman or middie (because he is watching the keeper's throw) that he/she can back door the riding player and be even more open, still catching the ball over the shoulder (the other shoulder).  

     This is just just like the read a quarterback does in football, throwing the ball depending on what the defender does.  Here the clearing middie or D man breaks depending on whether the riding attack or middie is watching the keeper or not.  Likewise, if the riding attack or middie is watching the breaking D or middie have the keeper throw the ball to the banana cutting player's outside (sideline) shoulder and the break is on.  If the riding player is not watching the ball the pass just needs to be beyond the rider's reach and you have a fast break.  Drill it and practice it and your team can run more often.

Watching the Ball - If anything this year has taught me it is to spend a lot more time on teaching and re-enforcing watching the ball. I use a yellow ball with black tape on it as a training aid especially during Ball Toss drill (teaches watching the ball through the whole flight, hand drive to the ball and stepping at the same time as hand movement) where the coach does the drill with the player and encourages ball watching by asking the player what way the ball is spinning during the toss to the player (see Ball Toss Drill under our FAQ page). Then we move to shooting and use the same striped ball and the same concentration by having the player report the spin on the ball during he shot and into the pocket.  This turns out to be a education for the player of how important it is to watch the ball continually.  

     Our second improvement is in adding more split dodges and sweep shots to our warm-ups and teaching to develop the keepers ability to fight through the distraction caused by the motions of the shooter. 

Shifting Gears  - In  our Player's Column, I have written about how to be ready and proactive to the shot from a player's perspective.  You can teach these "shifting gears" to your keeper too.  Player's column.

January 2007 - Getting Ready for Spring

New DVDs - In the late summer, Leif Elsmo, producer of the Lacrosse Weekly TV show asked me to put together some material for a new lacrosse DVD called "Ultimate Offense".  We filmed sequences on "10 Points to being a great offensive player" (including demonstrations of each), "How to beat the goalie", "What are coaches looking for" and "Unsavable shots".  Don Zimmerman, Head Coach at UMBC provided excellent sequences on 18 aspects of offensive play and Leif built lots of game video of top college teams playing individual offense and extra man offense.  This is a unusual and very well done DVD that should be viewed/used by coaches and players alike.  In stock- See pricing/order page.

Equipment for Spring - We just acquired STX i2 Goalie Gloves in Black and Royal Blue and STX Genesis Chest Protectors Small.  We have special prices on these on our order page.  Also, Contender and Big Time goalie shafts are back.  STX fixed the breakage problem - in stock now. See our pricing/order page.

Less than Two Months To Go - It is off season and for goalies the easiest time to do nothing.  If you are lucky you have some indoor lacrosse still going and that can be good or bad since indoor can lead to some bad habits (blocking shots more with the body than making saves with the stick and stabbing at the ball instead of using a fuller step and drive to every shot).  Likely, you will have to spend some of your earliest practices with extra time with your goalie(s) to work out those kinks.  

     The good teams have aggressive lifting and running programs interlaced with some sort of team activities to have the players get to know each other.  Have a January team session and one in February where you can get your team and your goalies acquainted.  And don't forget, you can't get enough time with high speed catch/throw sessions - do them in the gym - give you captains some drills and let them have at it.  

      For our team, our coaches are working on clarifying our Team Principles (with a written handout - who would think our players would read to learn).  This has been very productive for the coaches and I believe very useful as we try to impress upon our players various on-field behavior as the season begins.  

     For high school coaches, I encourage you to have a parents and players night (with pizza maybe) where you go over the upcoming season, equipment, conditioning and other key topics, especially your expectation of coaches, players and parents.  You can hand out schedules and if you have paperwork, get it done.  Some coaches are very successful using a team contract setting the code of conduct in many areas and I believe in that too.  After all, teamwork and representing (your school, work, church, family, etc.) is not taught in the classroom.  But, it is the centerpiece of what we do as coaches and teammates - teaching accountability is vital so don't miss the opportunity to get started on this early.

New Book Started - I've started on a new book, tentatively called, "Why We Don't Call Plays - Old School Lacrosse". It is mostly about a dozen principles and strategies of the game that when taught, coached, learned and applied coupled with good team tactics and player lacrosse skills makes the game fluid and exciting. So, get on the email and tell me what you think should be covered and I'll include the best of those too. Email us from here

September/October 2006 - Making Off-Side Saves

Off stick side saves come in two flavors 1) hi to knee and 2) knee to ground.  I believe that you get the high ones over the top and out front. Coach Glen Theil (Head Coach at Penn State) teaches that your hands and elbows need to be in front of your chest for all saves. His advise really works. Add to that that your wrists are to the back of the shaft and your wrists can rotate the stick over the top all the way to the off-side corner and down to knee level.  Be sure to keep the stick face flat to the shooter and drive your hands up field toward the shot so that you bottom hand can go in front of your top hand forearm and you will get great off-side high range and speed.  

      One thing is nearly universal, if the bottom hand goes around the side toward the back of the keeper during any save (off-stick side hip or off-stick side low/bounce) then that keeper is very vulnerable to rebounds and generally will be much slower to that side than a keeper that uses a propeller rotation. To do his (high or bounce), there are three fundamentals; 1) your stance, 2) your hands and 3) your concentration:

Stance - In the stance area, the most important part is to bend your knees, a lot.  The effective stance is the "linebacker" stance with knees bent, feet more than shoulder width apart and pointing at the shooter, on the balls of your feet and chest in front of the hips and top hand at eye level just to the side of the line of vision to the ball.

Hands - Your hands need to be out from your body with the bottom hand out a bit farther than the top hand (this helps in rotating the stick head down to the ground). The hands need to be about a foot apart. This is true for all shots, since we do not want to change grip or hand position on the stick during the save (too slow). 

Save - When the shot comes lead with your hands and take a step (always) directly at the ball by lifting your ball side foot and pushing your hips toward the shot to get your hands to the ball faster.  For high shots rotate the stick so the stick head goes across your face to the ball (keep your top hand forearm more vertical so that it does not go in front of your eyes).  Drive your hands and your body up field keeping your chest pointing at the shooter at all times. (If you point your foot to the sidelines you will turn your chest and make it difficult to keep the stick face flat to the shot).

       If the shot is low/bounce follow the same approach pushing your bottom hand forward so that your top hand can go under it into the corner off-side. The picture at the right shows the correct body and hand position for a bounce shot that comes directly at you and bounces just outside the crease line. Since your hands started up high, you can see that this rotation of the stick was caused by both moving the top hand (closest to the head) down and the bottom hand in front of the facemask. Once learned this is a very quick and effective move.  

     Don't worry about catching the shot, first stop it. If the stick head is closer to your body than the shaft, the ball will stop just in front of your stick on the ground where you can pick it up (if not you will give up rebounds galore).  Having the stick head closer to your body, just a little closer, helps on high saves too since the ball will bounce up a little instead of bouncing out (back to the other team, boo!).

Concentration - Your concentration has to be good. If you blink during the shot or when the ball bounces you will miss it. So watch (only) the ball until after the save is made - continuously until it hits the pocket.  This means don't look at the shooter, his/her eyes, his/her hands, his/her fake, nothing but the ball. If you draw a line between your eyes, the side of your top hand and the ball and they are in line then, with this concentration, your body will follow your eyes and hand to the ball for the save.

      Likewise, if the shot is on either hip just rotate the stick (like a propeller) and take a step toward the shooter and you can save shots that are off each hip, too.  

Drills - Put the keeper on his/her stick side of the goal (inside the pipes - stick side foot close to that pipe) and shoot to off-side high, then hip, then low/bounce working with the keeper to a) drive their hands to the ball - rotating the stick, b) driving their body up field toward the ball and c) keeping their chest pointed at the shooter throughout.  This will force the step, drive and rotate combination and prove to the keeper that he/she can get to those wide off-side shots as easily as to stick side.

July/August 2006 - Summer Notes

Sad Day - Towson Alumni Frank Atwood died of a sudden and unexpected heart attack the 1st week in August.  He was expecting to play with the Towson Alumni team in Ocean City this month in the Grand Masters Division (over 45).  An effervescent, delightful friend for over 25 year, Frank will be missed by those who knew him. 

Eclipse is Back - The STX Eclipse goalie head is back and better than ever.  With some minor retooling, the head is better and we have them in stock with the No Rebound II pocket and our NEW No Rebound - Traditional pocket that provides a traditional looking string layout with the No Rebound characteristics. See our order page on how to order.

Kannon is a Cannon - The STX Kannon head combined with the STX Crankshaft shaft (that is the only way they come - for attack and middies) was good when I got it, but I put in the MO-POWR pocket (high pocket stick with no whip from Weston Lacrosse) and the combination is unbelievable.  It makes accurate shooting easier and the pop on the ball when shooting overhand is hard to describe.  This is a innovative combination - STX