Play basketball a lot to help learn to play with your feet. Get your hands up in front of you. Find pick-up games at gyms, playgrounds, schools, etc. Play against people taller and faster than you. The principles are exactly the same, and it's a lot easier to get a pick-up game of basketball going than a pick-up game of lacrosse.
2. Look at your opponents waist. What are you looking at when your opponent starts to dodge at you? (His eyes? His stick?) These are common mistakes. You'll probably get faked out. You should be looking at his waist. Wherever his waist goes, he is going. If you ever played football this is where you are taught to look when trying to tackle someone. You can still see what he wants to do with the ball out of the corner of your eye.
3. The main goal of a midfielder playing defense from up top is to keep his man down the side or going down the alleys. An important concept when playing defense against an offensive midfielder is the position of your stick, more specifically the head of your stick. The proper way to hold your stick as you are covering a dodger from up top is to have the head of your stick in an “UPFIELD” position. Upfield means that you have the head of your stick towards the midfield line and your butt end towards the goalie. For example, if you are covering a dodger going down the field’s left hand side, the head of your stick should be to your right (hence pointing to the midfield line). If the dodger is going down the right hand side of the field your stick should be to your left (hence pointing to the midfield line).
By having the head of your stick in the UPFIELD position you accomplish a major defensive goal – preventing a dodger from rolling back or getting to the middle of the field. The middle of the field is sacred for a defense and needs to be protected at all costs because it is where offensive players have the best angle to shoot and greatest chance to score. When you can keep an offensive player down the sides and not the middle of the field you decrease your opponent’s shooting angle and make the job of your goalie and fellow defensemen easier.
4. You want to dictate where your man goes, not the opposite. Force him to his weak hand or toward a diminishing shooting angle. Do this by slightly turning your hips and shoulders and mostly by actually being on one side of him. The key to good team defense is tricking your opponent into taking poor shots. So play your individual defense accordingly. Once he makes a move, close the distance between you, and take a good angle so you'll meet him at a point where he becomes dangerous.
The d-middie wants to guide his man down the side of the field for three reasons. The first reason is that the further the offensive midfielder goes down the side, the less of an angle that he will have for a shot. Secondly, the further he goes down the side, the fewer options he will have for a feed. Finally, the defender that is sliding to the ball carrier will know exactly where he needs to slide if the d-middie gets beat by a few steps. The defensive midfielder keeps the ball carrier going down the side by using a cross check (which is gently pushing the ball carrier out with the shaft of his stick and his hands about six inches apart on the stick (if his hands are two wide or he jolts the ball carrier with his stick, then a penalty will be called).
If an intermediate level midfielder can learn to keep his man down the side, then he/she is way ahead of the game. This does take some time to learn. When teaching this Coach Bill Tierney always tells his midfielders, “All I want you to do is get beat. Just make sure you get beat down the side of the field and not towards the middle of the field.” As simple as it sounds, it takes a great deal of practice for youth players to grasp. Once they learn though, it makes them a great defensive player as a midfielder.
Never lunge at the offensive player. As you attempt to make a stick check, you need to keep your feet moving the whole time. Active feet are essential when you attempt to throw stick checks. Many defensive players make the mistake of stopping their feet as they throw a check. Doing so allows an offensive player to run right by the defenseman if they miss the check. Keeping your feet moving allows you to recover from a missed check and not give up an easy angle to score. Players should work on developing the ability to time their checks perfectly by going for the stick at the exact moment it may be left open.
After your check is made, it is extremely important to come up with the groundball pickup and keep possession of the ball for your team. If you are going to go for the check, then go for it hard and come up with the ball.
6. Short stick middies job is basically one of containment - you're not there to take the ball away, thats the long stick's job. As has been said, keep him to the channels, don't get beat inside, don't rely on throwing stick checks, and don't go one-handed to throw a check. If you do, you're already beat and 90% of the time the best you can hope for is to not draw a flag. Nothing good ever comes from defending with one hand on your stick.
7. Never chase after the ball carriers stick to try and take the ball away. Whenever this happens, the defensive midfielder gets beat towards the top side.
It is very important for young midfielders to learn the importance of getting back “in the hole”. This means that when the other team gets the ball, the midfielder’s first objective should be to get back to the defensive side, within the restraining box and let the offense come to them. Too many young lacrosse players consistently slide up field. For example, say the Tigers take the ball away from the Bears. A Tiger player has the ball in the defensive end and starts running up field towards the Bears’ goal. At most beginner levels, the Bears’ midfielders will run at the Tiger player and try to take the ball. This is called sliding up field and is the biggest mistake that an uneducated lacrosse player makes. The Bears’ midfielders should just run back to their goal, break down and get ready to defend. With the way lacrosse is played now, sliding up field rarely gets the ball back from the other team, and usually ends up in transition situations and scoring for the other team. A great lesson for young middies to learn is as soon as the other team gets the ball, get back on defense. It will help your team, and it will give your midfielders a good foundation for playing solid defense.
8. If you're a D-Middie accept your role on the team. You aren't going to score a lot of points, but if you are good at defense you will have a lot of fast break opportunities that offensive middies won't. Most lacrosse players don't get a lot of PT. You have maybe 40 guys on a team and 18 play a lot. That's just the way it is.
If you're middle of the road in stick skills as a middie, you can get more playing time if you're a good groundballer, hustle, play D-Mid, wing on face-offs and man-down defense.
9. Communicate! Communicating with your fellow defensemen is vital to a defense’s success. Creative and effective offenses excel at two things – picking and moving without the ball. It is important to communicate with other defensemen during a pick play so you know whether to switch players or maintain your match-ups. If your man is going to set a pick on your fellow defenseman, let them know that a pick is coming and from what direction, and then tell them to either “SWITCH” or “STAY ON MAN”. YOU CAN NEVER TALK TOO MUCH OR TALK TOO LOUDLY ON THE LACROSSE FIELD. A loud and talkative defense is an effective one.
10. Be the toughest son-of-a-gun you can. Never lose a 50-50 ground ball. Always run as hard as you can when out there. You'll be off soon to rest. Part of your job is to set the tone, pace and volume of the game. You want to instill fear and self-doubt in your opponent. This hurts their confidence and makes them less aggressive, which makes you more effective.
When off the ball:
There are six players on the offense, so your man will only have the ball about 17% of the time. That means 83% of your defensive game is played when your man doesn't have the ball. So you better be good off-ball because that's most of your D game.
2. Use all your senses: FEEL AROUND, LISTEN AND TALK. Your goalie should be telling you where the ball is and what defense you are in and what formation the offense is in. This way you don't have to take your eyes off your man.
3. See the ball 10 percent of the time, just to get more info. Do this with a quick turn of the head, and then see your man again.
4. KEEP YOUR HIPS TURNED TOWARD YOUR MAN AT ALL TIMES! You won't have time to turn and find him if he is receiving a feed. If you think another opponent is behind you, reach your hand out to try to touch him without taking your eyes of your man. Be big in there, push people around.
5. If you're going to look at the ball as it's being passed around the horn, ALWAYS TURN THROUGH YOUR MAN! This means if you are playing defense against the top left middie and he passes the ball to the leftwing attackman, who throws it to the attackman at X, who throws it to the rightwing attackman, you need to move your body in a certain way. DO NOT TURN YOUR BODY COUNTERCLOCKWISE in this situation and follow the ball. You should see the pass to the leftwing attackman and then LOOK OVER YOUR RIGHT SHOULDER to see the ball at X and the right wing, without turning your feet or hips. Thus you have turned THROUGH YOUR MAN to see the ball.
6. Cover the offensive players, not spots, even when in zone. (i.e. adapt the shape of your zone to their formation).
7. As for playing team defense, when in doubt slide early, help and double often.
I would like to thank you for sharing defensive tips for midfielders, it will helpful for people. Also you provided easy and simple defensive tips for midfielders. Keep sharing like this post!
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