Developing Your Dodging

Article from Inside Lacrosse featuring Brendan Mundorf

Brendan Mundorf #2

Brendan Mundorf is one of the most feared dodgers in the world. He's scored with incredible consistency over his six years with the MLL's Denver Outlaws, and without ever canning a two-point shot, he's approaching 250 career points — so you know he can get to the cage. The STX athlete is also getting his camp company Mundorf Lacrosse rolling, and here he is perfecting his method of teaching players how to dodge.

01: When to Dodge
I always want to start a dodge off of ball movement or when my defender is approaching me; the faster or more out of control he's running at me, the more comfortable I am to start my dodge. By the same measure,  I like to always have my feet moving when I catch the ball or any other time pre-dodge — essentially, I don't want to go to the cage if I'm standing still and my defender has his body into me.

Typically, the best time to attack from X is after a middie has made a strong dodge down the alley and worked it behind because my defender' going to be coming down from his help position on goal line extended and the rest of the defense is recovering off of a slide. As a result, it's usually best to go for the backside pipe because the frontside is crowded by the dodger and the defenders who stepped up to turn him back.

02: How to Dodge
At my first step, I picture a straight line between my feet and where on the field I want to release the shot. Then I attack my defender, going straight at him, and take one hard step to the front side pipe causing the defender to drop step turning his hips and shoulders in one direction. Once he does that, I make my move, like a split dodge here, and I aim for his back shoulder and run through it.

The benefit of dodging a moving defenseman is that it's easier to get him to choose one direction. After the move, keep running at the defenseman to take away his checking ability.

03: Stick Protection and Hand Placement

Mundorf dodging

One thing that separates the best players like Ned Crotty is an ability to get their shot off even when they're covered. Two things that are important in being able to do that are stick protection and hand placement in releasing your shot. Protecting your stick is something that develops, and the best way to do it is to practice dodging over and over until you have confidence in knowing how to hold your stick.  I focus on keeping my hands totally across my body and my stickside elbow tight to my chest so the defender can't get a lift.

This plays perfectly into getting a well-disguised shot off.  Keeping my hands low, I work on turning the corner, rotating my body and releasing around my defender. A great way to practice this is by putting a trashcan at five-and-five, dodging at full speed to the edge of it then shooting around it.