Lacrosse Dodging Tips

 As an offensive personnel on the lacrosse field, it's important  to know how to dodge from any position on the field, no matter what offensive position you play. So in this post I demonstrate how to dodge from the main 3 spots on the field 

General: When dodging in general, there are two things you need to do no matter where you're dodging from. If you don't keep these 2 technical thoughts in your head, you're putting yourself at a severe disadvantage, not only could you get stripped and lose the ball for your team, but you can also put yourself into a position where you cannot make a play, or pushed out of your shooting range etc. So what are they? 

1. Square up with your defender: Make sure your shoulders are aligned with his. By doing this, you are not allowing him to "cut the field" which means you are not allowing him to force you one way. This is also important because no matter what dodge you are going to do, when you square up with your defender, when you do make your move you can go either direction, not only where he is forcing you to go 

2. Identify the slide man: You need to know where the slide is coming from, that way you can understand things like 

- where to pass to 

- where the "2" slide is going to go 

- the angle at which you might need to redirect 

But you need to know where the slide is coming from because what happens off the slide determines a goal or not

Down the Alley: So when dodging down the alley, you need to of course square up with your defender and identify the slide man. You then want to make your move and plant off your up field leg (the leg closest to midfield) and start to sprint down towards the cage. When taking a shot you can turn it into a step down (stationary shot) or what I recommend is a shot on the run (mobile shot or shot while you're moving). You want to bring your hands out and back, throw your shoulder and let your hand follow. Also, push off your outside leg and turn your body all the way around to make sure you get the most power possible 

Here's a video of me scoring dodging down the alley 

Wing Dodge: When dodging from the wing, you want to square up your defender and identify the slide man. All you want to do is make your move and go either under your defender or over your defender 

Under- When you dodge under your defender you're getting to the net faster but with less of an angle, and you're able to shoot a roll back, twister shot, behind the back or around the world. Something that's a low angle shot. Dodging under your defender is way easier than trying to get top side or going over, but going over you gain top side and a great shooting angle 

Over- When you dodge over your defender, it may take a little longer to get to the net and there is automatically going to be a slide unlike dodging under. But if you get through that the shooting angle is the best in the game. You are about 8 yards away from the cage  with the face of the cage looking at you. From that spot you can hit all 4 corners on the net. 

Here's a video of me scoring a goal dodging from the wing 

X Dodging: When dodging from X (behind the cage) you want to square up your defender and identify the slide man. But when dodging from X you also want to make sure you "break the middle". Which means when dodging from X, you need to make the defender run or step past the middle of the net. What this does is, it makes the defender have to open his hips and run with you rather than him being able to shuffle and stay in a powerful position. Because if you are on one side, and just dodge to that side you're making it way too easy for the defender to play you. But you need to break the middle at least once when dodging from X. 

Here's a video of me scoring a goal dodging from X