Oh you fancy, huh?

Stick tricks are a fun way to keep playing with your lacrosse stick, but they can also help you improve your ball control, your hand-eye coordination, and make you more comfortable with both hands. There is no one thing that I can tell you that will help you perfect your ball tricks, its all about practice. Like everything in this game, repetition is the key. Pick up a ball and your stick and just be creative, start by balancing the ball on your sidewall and see what you can do with it, roll the ball down the shaft or just spin around... Check out the Mikey Powell video for some ideas on where to start. Just make sure you aren't messing while your coach is speaking during practice!

If you have any ideas or created any cool tricks on your own feel free  to share them with us all. Either post a description or a video as a comment on the post, or email them to me and I ll be sure to include them on the blog.

Practice makes perfect

The more you work on your stick skills the better they get and lacrosse is a sport where continual practice is essential. While having a catch with your buddy is great he can't give you the repetition and consistency of a wall. Playing wall ball is the best way to improve your skills. You can use a cinderblock wall in the gym, a brick wall behind your house or a bounce back. What ever you use make sure that you don't have your mom chasing after you for breaking a window.  

Aggressive Athletic Stance

The most important thing while working the wall is to practice like you play. Make all your movements realistic and at game speed because otherwise it's pointless. Start with an aggressive athletic stance, your opposite foot forward, knees bent, chest up and out and elbows up and back. This is how you should always throw and catch the ball. Stand a good 8 to 10 feet away to give your self room to move, throw and catch. No matter what type of wall you are using pick a spot, a crack, a brick, and piece of tape and aim for that spot continuously. Work on your aim and consistency. Remember to keep your hands away from your body and to always move your feet, step towards your target and follow through.

Keeps hands up and away
from your body

This is your opportunity to work on your off hand. Every time you throw against the ball try to get in at least 50 concise, quick, clean, precision passes with each hand. Once you get comfortable practice catching with one split dodging and then throwing with other. Hopefully after enough practice this motion will be fluid.

To continue to be successful you must be comfortable and efficent using both of your hands, so practicing on the wall is incredibly important. Try to 'play wall ball' at least twice a week. No matter what level you get too, you must continue to practice the fundamentals.

Spring Rain brings Stick Pain!

The worst thing as a lacrosse player is having your favorite stick ruined by using it in the rain! The water stretches out the mesh or leathers and makes it act different; the pocket sags, the ball throws different, and sometimes the whole thing becomes illegal. But don't be afraid to still use your stick despite the weather. The worst thing you could do is use another stick, one that you aren't and 100% comfortable using. Its better to us your number one stick and take care of it afterwards. So here are some tips on how keep you stick well maintained and keep it from being ruined by the rain.

- Before you play in bad weather make sure that it wont become illegal once it is exposed to the elements. Tighten the sidewalls and the shooters so even if the water stretches everything, your pocket will remain tight and unchanged. Sometimes you may even need to do this while playing in the rain, and even do so afterwards too.
- When you are finished playing in the rain, make sure to dry your mesh. Take a hand towel or even paper towel and dab dry the moisture and water off the mesh. Leave your stick in a dry and cool spot to air dry completely. Avoid leaving it in the garage which tends to remain damps during rain, bringing it in the house will make all the difference.
- The slick conditions may make it hard to hold on too you stick, so you may want to put on some tape before you play. Remember not to go over board because too much tap will weigh down your stick. Also, re apply your tape after you play in the rain, the wet tape will lose all its grip. You must dry the shaft before re taping it.

Follow Lil' Laxers

Starting next week new articles will be posted every Monday and Thursday for the rest of the season into summer. So in order to stay updated, look on the left side menu to either follow Lil' Laxers or give us your email address so you can be notified when there is a new post.

Also I would love ideas for new posts, suggestions or question, just let me know. Please feel free to email me at 

Doubleashavel@msn.com

Or simply comment on this post.

Thank you.

Be a Student of the Game

Lacrosse is an incredibly fast paced game no matter what level or age you play at. There are so many moving parts which makes it is hard to get a grasp for lots of little details; like where everyone is supposed to be on the field, understanding off sides or visualizing a pick and roll. That is why it is extremely important to watch lacrosse. This makes it easier to understand and visualize anything your coach may teach you. Luckily, Princeton is a lacrosse hot bed, with one of the best Division 1 college teams in the nation and numerous extremely competitive high school and club teams with in 30 seconds from downtown Nassau street there is plenty of lacrosse to watch. So get out there, watch a game, have fun and be a student of the game. Princeton University tickets are usually $8 and their games are always on the weekends.

Princeton University Game Schedule

Things to look for while watching the game...
- Take note on how quickly and comfortable every player can transition between their right and left hands.
- "If you want to walk, play baseball." there is never a moment where a player is not running their absolute hardest.
- Learn the positions, understand the responsibilities for every individual, defense, middy and attack
- Even the guys on the sideline are paying attention listening to their coach and ready to jump in the game.

The Equipment

As a beginner lacrosse player all the equipment can be overwhelming, especially coming from a sport like soccer or basketball. All the equipment have a purpose and are meant to protect you, if taken care of and worn correctly you wont even notice them on and will be able to run freely.

The Helmet

Remember to never un button the top buckles,
only the lower ones. This will make it easier to keep
putting the helmet on and off and will assure that
you keep the chin strap at the right length and size.

A helmet is obviously one of the most important pieces of equipment, It protects your your head, your face and part of your neck from a crazy stick, a stray ball or a flying teammate. In order for the helmet to work its best it needs to be snug on your head, but be careful not to make it too tight. Most helmets now are one size fits all so depending on the model you can adjust the helmet itself. More importantly is the chin strap, this will keep the helmet on tight. When putting on the chin strap make sure that the cup part is right around the chin itself, not under or even over the mouth. Be sure to snap the top straps through the cage like on the right. When putting the helmet on off never undo the top straps, simply do the bottom ones, pull the cup away from your face and pull the helmet off.

Shoulder Pads

Shoulder pads become more important as you start playing higher and higher level lacrosse because of the increase in contact. At the young age simple make sure that the pads protect your chest to protect from a ball. Also make sure that it covers the whole shoulder to avoid stick on bone contact.

Elbow Pads

You always know which pad goes on which arm because
you should always put the Velcro away from your body

Most importantly the elbow pads should protect your elbow cap which is the most sensitive part of your arm. Depending on preference you could also purchase longer elbow pads that will cover a lot of your fore arm as well. Remember always to strap the elbow pads outwards so that the end of the Velcro is never on the inside of you arm, this way you can never accidentally undo it yourself.





Gloves
Make sure that your gloves feel comfortable and that you are able to move freely in them. If they are too big you may not have control and if they are too small they may be hard to move it. Unlike Hockey gloves do not come in all lengths and sizes. Instead there is simply Jr, for the really little guys and 12" and 13".

The stick is a whole post on its own, look for everything you need to know about your Lacrosse stick, from all the parts to how to maintain it.