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Box-Field-Box Hybrid

Cruising around YouTube results in viewing some pretty awful videos sometimes. That’s just the way of the beast. The actual lacrosse in this video featuring the Dusty Pandas “Box” Lacrosse team out of the Top Gun League in Massachusetts is actually pretty good, in that the kids can catch, pass, dodge and shoot pretty well.  My only question: WHY ARE THERE LONGPOLES ON THE FIELD!?!?!?!

[fvplayer src=”https://youtube.com/watch?v=-QyYamWJP7g?fs=1″ splash=”https://i.ytimg.com/vi/-QyYamWJP7g/hqdefault.jpg” caption=”Dusty Pandas Lacrosse”]

If you want your defenders to have good stick skills, make them play with a shortstick and make them go over the half field line to play some O.  From some of the clips in the video, it is clear that the LPs on this team can throw the wood around just fine, but they clearly need to work on their foot positioning and playing body defense.  Just another reason they should be playing with shortsticks!

This guy probably started out with a shorty.

Finally, we get to the goals.  Please stop using field goals indoors.  The point of training like this is to confine the space and limit the shooting target.  That’s how you get better.  When you get back on the field, the 6’x6′ looks huge.  Sure, the goalies get a little less of a true field workout but the fact is that they are working on stopping a ball, playing angles and baiting shooters.  It transfers just fine TYVM.

There was a box tourney in Louisiana this fall and they had field goals and longsticks on the field.  I had no problem with that because box is SO new down there and the game is still in pretty early growth stages.  The Boston area is a lax hotbed and I even played in a Top Gun League when I was back at Weston High School. We didn’t use longsticks inside back then and played on small goals.  What the heck happened?