Template:Ken Clausen - Applying Pressure on Defense

From Lacrosse Plan Drills

Ken Clausen - Applying Pressure on Defense - 10/18/2021

  • Works for Scorebreak.io
  • Defense is about dictating where the offense is going, controlled aggression
  • Strategy as a player
  • strategy as a coach/team
  • things to consider:
    • What is my strength
    • What is my opponent's weakness? - what can you do to play off it
    • What is the situation (time, location)
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Split the field into quarters this helps to determine what you do next

  • Simplify and strategize, split field in half/quarters
  • Hands cant control feet
  • Get player in 1 hand - this dictates how you control the player. offense can't pass or shoot in one hand
  • Occupy his mind by moving your stick, dictate and control the situation
  • communicate to each other on opportunities. Talk and give eachother tips on the guy your playing, what he does this, you can do this. When you rolls left/right throw the back check. Might take 4 quarters to be able to apply the wisdom
  • applying pressure off ball

Defensive Tidbits

  • Keep your feet moving, lift when the hands go up, back check
  • urgency getting in and out when you are on the backside or your guy passes the ball
  • What is the worst shot I can make him take, stay settled, stay patient
  • When a guy is one handed, get after that hand, get aggressive. Except if he is dodging and can't shoot with that one hand
  • Be in the skip lane, peak at the skip lane, look away, and jam your stick up to get the ball in the skip lane
  • Stealing space as the off-ball defender and occupy skip lanes
  • applying pressure as a team, team defense to exploit 1 players weakness
  • Clogging up the middle
  • Dictate, don't make it easy for the offense to do what they want
  • Tie up his hands to disrupt
  • As a defender, if your adjacent, you see the ball, you see your man, look for the skip lane too

Drill: Offball shuffle, be threating

  • Tucker Durkin - Atlas - show and retract the slide footwork popping back and forth
  • Create illusion that you are sliding


Hardest to offense to defend against, is someone who dodges, draws the double, two passes, and dodge again. He hates this, as it makes the defense move.

Drills they do, is slide and recover drills. 6 v 6 offense gets into a formation 3-3, 2-3-1. Defense talks ball/left/right/hot/2

  • When blow the whistle initiates the dodge, hot slides, recover, second slide
  • The defense doesn't try to take the ball away, and the offense isn't trying to score?