Lacrosse Cradling & Stick Skills Practice Plan for 11 and 12 Year Olds

The stick lives where pressure isn't: switching on the move, the first dodges with exits, and ground balls scooped through company. Geometry grows teeth.

Sprint carries each hand, one weave each hand, five through-scoops. The base machine certifies before pressure joins.

The hinge skill: jogging carries with hand-switches mid-stride (the stick swinging across during a cradle beat, hands swapping, the rock resuming on the new side), six switches per length, three lengths. Smoothness graded over speed: the ball never feeling the transaction is the standard.

The question drilled: jogging past the parent who REACHES from one side; the answer is the switch AWAY (stick swapping to the far hand, body turning slightly), continuing without slowing. Eight passes, alternating reach sides. Pressure asks; the switch answers; the legs never stop to think about it.

The quick lie: jogging at the cone, the stick swinging ACROSS the face (as if switching) while the feet burst past on the original side, the fake selling the switch, the exit collecting. Six each direction, walked then brisk. The face dodge is deception's starter kit: cheap, safe, and effective all the way up.

The contact escape: approaching the cone, planting the inside foot, ROLLING the back to the pressure (a full spin off the plant, stick protected against the chest through the turn), emerging on the far side with the cradle alive and an exit burst. Six each direction, slow-motion first. The roll turns pressure's aggression into the escape's door.

Ground balls with honest company: parent jogging alongside (shoulder contact gentle and legal), the scoop still THROUGH mid-stride, the first cradle beat protected against the body, then away. Eight contested scoops, alternating sides. The through-habit meets its purpose: contested grounders belong to shovelers with walls.

The full sequence twice: contested scoop, pressure-called switch, face dodge at the first cone, roll dodge at the second, sprint home. Log: switch smoothness, dodge exits, contested wins. End on a clean roll-and-burst, roared.

What to watch today: the eyes during dodges and switches. Every new move bribes the eyes down to the stick, and downfield vision is what the moves exist to buy. The graded question after each rep: what was ahead of you? (Invent answers to look for: the gate, the tree, a number flashed.) Moves with blind exits are rehearsals for turnovers.