Drill Progressions for Developing Team Defense

A three-time national champion as a player and coach, Ann Elliott was Northwestern's first-ever Associate Head Women's Lacrosse Coach. In 2013, she was hired to start the University of Colorado's first-ever Women's Lacrosse program.

As an assistant coach at Northwestern University, Ann Elliott built a top-ranked defense that helped lead her team to three national titles. In this presentation, Coach Elliot shows you how to train your defense to take away space and to force attackers to go where you want them to go!

Starting with 1v1 play and working up to 7v7, Coach Elliott shares a series of progressive drills for building a successful team defense.

The presentation is divided into five sections:

• 1v1 Drill: Forces the defender in right direction and teaches them to step up to take away the gap, minimizing the slide
• 2v2 Drill: Forces the defender to recognize the slide and the recover for another slide
• 3v3 Drill: Sliding and recovering. First slide works on being aggressive and the second slide (backside) works on seeing the middle
• 3v3 to 4v3 Drill: Creates game-like chaos to work on communication and mental focus and force the defenders to react in a man-down situation
• 7v7 Drill: Demonstrates how off-ball defenders need to be plugged-in so they can help the defense be successful and anticipate how to stop the offense from getting to the scoring area

Coach Elliott breaks down the drills on the whiteboard, showing the details you need to set-up and run the drill effectively. The action moves to the field where she runs her players through the drills, making corrections and giving coaching tips throughout the live practice.

These competitive practice drills not only build defensive principles, they also help attackers with passing and dodging skills. Take your defense to the championship level with the drills and coaching tips included in this dynamic presentation!

67 minutes. 2014.