Team uses practice to focus on fundamentals, strategy

By Tanner Nypen ’15
THE ROUNDUP

During the lacrosse season the public usually only hears about the games.

But there are many hours behind the scences that lead up to those games.

During the lacrosse season, players and coaches meet for their daily practices for about two hours.

Being a member of the team takes a lot of time.

They practice Monday to Saturday and get the day off on Sunday.

“Typically it would be structured as 15 minute warm up and stretch, goalies will get warmed up during that time,” said lacrosse coach Mr. Zach Widbin. “Then we go to stick work of some kind or other drill for another 15 minutes, and typically some sort of positional instruction and a drill that reinforces that instruction.”

Players will usually finish practices with a simulated match of six on six or other simulation of an actual game.

The practice schedule can also change depending on an upcoming game.

“What you usually do is have a real heavy practice three days before the game, two days before the game we have a heavy practice but have it focused on our opponent, and the last day before a game we have a real light practice,” Mr. Widbin said.

The team also puts this practice mind set up in to the post season games.

“Hopefully if we make the state championship game this year we will have a full week just to prepare for that game,” Mr. Widbin said.

Coaches might also change the practices after a game as well.

“The day after a game, depending on how hard we were pushed, if it was a tough game we might even give practice off,” Mr. Widbin said. “If not we would typically be a little bit lighter on the legs.”

Austin Berry ’15, who plays lacrosse for the junior varsity team, also said his practice after a game depends on that game’s outcome.

“Whether we win or lose our practices after a game are usually focused on what we did wrong in our game,” Berry said. “The hardest thing about my practices is when defensive coach Scott Heideman runs us at the end.”