NLL Insider

As the game moves forward and technology become cheaper and more accessible video has become a huge part of the game preparation for teams in all sports. There are a few obvious things that it is used for but we are going to try and look at the most overlooked and possible most important.

Let’s start this ‘lesson’ off with a hypothetical scenario. Here is how it goes….

-You are watching your favourite team in the fourth quarter of a tie game.

-The other team has a fast break situation where a left handed defender is flying up the floor with the ball, on his wrong side of center, and has spotted a left handed sniper come off the bench, on his proper side, speeding towards the goal creating a 2 on 1 with your defender.

This scenario is one that has appeared in countless practice drills since most players have picked up a stick. As a coach you assume that your defender will quickly asses the situation and determine the following:

1. The defender with the ball not only is not as dangerous a shooter but as he has also crossed to his off side of center he has taken away his best angle for a shot.
2. The sniper coming off the bench is flying in at his best angle and is extremely dangerous one on one with a goalie.

The ideal situation here would be to play the pass and try to keep the defender at a bad angle and force a bad shot that hopefully your ‘tender will have no problem with.

In this situation, however, your defender is feeling lucky so he charges at the attacking defender with the intent of forcing a bad pass that he will pick off and get the ball back up the floor before they knew what hit them.

Not only does your defender not pick off the pass but when the sniper catches it he dances your ‘tender so bad that as the eventual game winner is going by him he tries to adjust and blows his ACL ending his season, and to top it off you are now all but eliminated from the playoffs!!

Within minutes the web boards heat up chastising the player for the bonehead play and blaming him for not only the loss but the injury to the goalie, as well as the potential early end to the season. Fans will demand the player be benched or killed the debate will be on.

As a coach what do you do?

When reviewing the video it would not matter if you watched in in BluRay HiDef, beta, black and white, or even at twenty different angles. There is no possible way to make that play look good. It was a stupid defensive play and that stupidity cost you the game and possibly more.

Or did it?

Lets now rewind the film another 15 seconds or so.

Here we see a decent offensive set resulting in a close range open shot. Your creaseman steps around fakes outside and quickly shoots near corner, but the ‘tender makes a highlight reel save and scoops up the ball.

Unable to believe how badly he had just been robbed your shooter slumps his shoulders and looks to the sky hoping that possibly god will explain how that just happened. When no response in given he shakes his head and jogs to the bench disgusted.

At the same time two more offensive players crash the crease hoping for a rebound. When they see the ‘tender has the ball in his stick they jump up and down in front of him hoping to pick off or force a bad pass. When the pass gets thru to the breaking defender they turn back and head to the bench.

By now the other two O players have made it to the bench and into the O door. First out the D door is your bonehead defender who sees the rush coming and cuts off the angle forcing the opposing player to his wrong side of the floor before he catches the sniper sneaking off the bench aThe second defender off the bench simply runs to a spot and is unaware of what’s going on.

We all know what happens next. But now we can also see that as the ball is going in the remaining three defenders are just getting on the floor.

Suddenly once we see the whole picture it appears that your bonehead, up until he tried to be a hero, was the only one that actually did something right within the team concept.

Sure he still made a terrible play but had your offence made an actual effort to get off the floor after the turnover and your other defender had been paying attention you don’t have a fast break situation for your player to screw up anyway.

Had you not reviewed this you simply correct the poor decision and think the problem is fixed, when in actuality it was only the final error in a long series.

This is obviously an extreme example but the theory holds true for most situations. If you really study it you can find that most goals for and against start to happen 10 seconds or so before they are scored.

Obviously there are other uses for video such as learning sets, power play and man short plays and tendencies, and of course goaltenders. These are the most common uses for video and all make game prep easier and more efficient.

Even at the minor level of lacrosse try having your games, and practices taped. Try and not just watch the games, study them and see what you can learn.

I promise you that if you aren’t your opponent is.

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