LacrosseGoalieTips.com Podcast

LacrosseGoalieTips.com Podcast

By Olympian - Jonathan EdwardsSportsEducation
Download on the App Store

LacrosseGoalieTips.com Podcast episodes

  • Tips on the 3 Keys

    Coach Edwards gives lacrosse goalies advice on how to use his 3 Keys to Making Every Save as a platform to improve their performance and turn bad saves into great opportunities. By analyzing whether or not a goalie saw the ball, knew where it was going, and moved properly, they will be able to determine the areas that need more work and bring their game to a whole new level.

    6 min
  • Podcast – Understanding the Concept of Draw and Dump
    In his latest podcast, Coach Jonathan Edwards shares the concept of draw and dump with lacrosse goalies. Goalies with teammates who aren’t in formation and unprepared to protect the ball will benefit from the draw and dump technique. Coach Edwards gives goalies tips on how to draw in their opponent so that they can easily pass the ball to an open teammate.
    0:14 – When a goalie leaves the crease, most people start to get pretty nervous.
    0:37 – Coaches should treat goalies like any other player, and goalies should improve stick skills.
    1:20 – Coach Edwards‘ experience coaching a goalie who always passed to covered defensemen.
    1:52 – The right way and the wrong way for a lacrosse goalie to clear the ball.
    2:43 – Keeping the team in formation during a clear is important. It’s not all the goalie’s fault if things go wrong.
    4:14 – Coaches shouldn’t put goalies as backup after warm up, they should be learning stick skills with skilled offensive players.
    Introduction
    Coach Edwards here with LacrosseGoalieTips.com and LacrosseGoalieUniversity.com with another podcast. I want to talk about understanding the concept of draw and dump.
    The Pucker Factor
    For a lot of goalies, when they get out of the crease with the ball, everybody starts to get full on pucker factor. Everybody’s butt starts to clench up a little bit, especially the coaches. They’re thinking, “Oh my God, ahh, the cage. We’re gonna lose the ball, and then the ball’s going to go back in the cage because there’s nobody who is going to be in the cage.”
    Develop Stick Skills
    Listen. You’ve got to treat your goalie like every other player on the field. As a goalie, if you’re listening to this and you’re a goalie, you’ve got to develop stick skills that allow you to be confident outside of the cage as any other player would on a clear. We’re not talking about you need to roll dodge, bold dodge, split dodge everybody up the field, we just want you to have the confidence to be able to take the ball, draw an opposing team’s player, and then pass to your open teammate. That’s it. A lot of goalies I see, they get out of the cage and they pass the ball to a covered teammate and they let them go one on one and hope. Usually that ends up troublesome.
    Passing to Covered Defensemen
    A couple of years ago, I worked with a goalie in California. I do a lot of online coaching of goalies across North America, and this goalie was pretty decent, a good goalie, but he would make a pass to a defenseman who was covered. And that defenseman, who wasn’t really all that skilled, a lot of his defensemen didn’t have good stick skills – they were good athletes, they just didn’t have good stick skills – they would get doubled or they would get jumped and lose the ball and the goalie would get a pretty high quality shot taken on him. A lot of times they would score so this was really frustrating, obviously.
    The Wrong Way to Pass Versus the Draw and Dump
    What I see, and I see this a lot in the women’s game especially, is that the goalie will stand there. In the women’s game everyone is covered and the goalie will try to pass to somebody once they get open just a little bit and hopefully they make the pass, and then that player will run the ball downfield. That’s not how clears are supposed to work. When we get a goalie out of the cage, we’ve got an advantage. As long as we’re even strength and there’s no penalty, we get out of the cage and we draw an attackman and we pass to the next player. Or we draw a middy and pass to our middy, then down the field it goes. Draw, dump, draw, dump. Draw an opposing player, dump to the open man. Draw the opposing player, dump to the open woman. That’s the gist of it.
    If the Team Isn’t In Formation,
    6 min
  • Understanding the Concept of Draw and Dump

     

    In his latest podcast, Coach Jonathan Edwards shares the concept of draw and dump with lacrosse goalies. Goalies with teammates who aren’t in formation and unprepared to protect the ball will benefit from the draw and dump technique. Coach Edwards gives goalies tips on how to draw in their opponent so that they can easily pass the ball to an open teammate.

    6 min
  • Podcast – Using Tennis Balls in Practice
    Coach Jonathan Edwards uses his latest podcast as an opportunity to explain to why using tennis balls in practice is a great idea for the whole team. Lacrosse goalies can regain lost confidence and avoid needless injuries, while attackmen can work on staying sensitive to the ball. Coach Edwards gives tips on how to implement tennis balls in practice and bring your team’s performance to the next level.
    0:13 – Using tennis balls in practice can help lacrosse goalies increase confidence and focus on the ball.
    0:34 – A Maryland Division 1 goalie in the ’90s lost his confidence during playoffs. Coaches were smart and helped him recover it using tennis balls.
    1:12 – Coach Edwards explains how tennis balls are great for the whole team and how to incorporate them.
    2:00 – Teams should be trying to preserve their goalies’ pain threshold and avoid painful shots that ruin confidence.
    2:55 – Tennis balls aren’t perfect for every shot. They are lightweight and affected more by the air.
    4:48 – All ages of goalies can benefit from using tennis balls, and coaches will love the results.
    Introduction
    Coach Edwards here with LacrosseGoalieTips.com and LacrosseGoalieUniversity.com, and today we’re going to talk about using tennis balls in practice.
    Using Tennis Balls
    Using tennis balls in practice is a really good tip, if I do say so myself. This is not new. This is something that goes back generations. It’s a way to help goalies increase their confidence and be able to focus on the ball and not getting hurt.
    Getting Your Confidence Back
    Back in the ’90s there was a goalie from Maryland, Division 1 school, and he developed a fear of the ball going into the playoffs. The smart coaches didn’t man up and say, “Oh, we’re just going to use lacrosse balls.” They broke out the tennis balls so this goalie could get his confidence back. It’s amazing. You can lose your confidence at any level of the game. You can lose it from peewee all the way to major league lacrosse, so using tennis balls is a really cool tactic. It’s something that I use pretty much all the time.
    How to Incorporate Tennis Balls in Practice
    The place to use them is in 1-on-1 drills or 1-on-0 drills. Like when you’re dodging from behind with your team, if you’re an athlete looking at this or reading this, you might want to pass this on to your coach, or if you’re a coach listening to this, do this. We want our attackmen to have soft hands and we want them to have really sensitive hands so they can feel the ball. The best way to do that is to put a tennis ball in their hand. What that does then is it gets them to focus on that lightness of the ball in their stick. How many times have you seen your attackman drive to the cage, lose the ball, and not know that they lost the ball? It’s like, really?
    Preserving the Goalie
    From a goalie’s perspective though, we want to basically preserve our goalies. We want to preserve our pain threshold. It’s one thing to take a shot in a game when the adrenaline is flowing and that pain has a purpose. In practice though, when you get hit with the ball and it’s really not worth it right? And all it does is ruin your confidence a little bit.
    Tennis Balls are Great for the Whole Team
    By putting a tennis ball in the hands of the attackman, then they can work on their dodging and you can focus on proper positioning and moving to the ball correctly and getting your hands on the ball without worrying about getting hurt. You can have guys or girls shoot on you from far out with a tennis ball. It works better with women than with men because of the lip in the stick.
    The Cons of Using Tennis Balls
    But getting shot on with time and room shots, shots outside, it doesn’t always work that well.
    6 min
  • Using Tennis Balls in Practice

     

    Coach Jonathan Edwards uses his latest podcast as an opportunity to explain to why using tennis balls in practice is a great idea for the whole team. Lacrosse goalies can regain lost confidence and avoid needless injuries, while attackmen can work on staying sensitive to the ball. Coach Edwards gives tips on how to implement tennis balls in practice and bring your team's performance to the next level.

    6 min
  • Podcast – When Should You Leave the Cage?
    Coach Jonathan Edwards answers a question he receives frequently. Should lacrosse goalies leave the cage? He cites some examples of times it is beneficial to leave the cage and gives tips on how to make ventures away from the cage successful. While the rule of thumb is that it is generally unwise, Coach Edwards encourages coaches to empower their goalies rather than fearing the times when a goalie leaves the cage.
    0:18 – Coach Edwards explains how lacrosse goalies can recognize goal line extended.
    0:54 – Young goalies can get away with leaving the cage, but it doesn’t work as well as players advance.
    1:29 – If there’s a loose ball, a goalie can leave the cage if they can control the loose ball.
    2:20 – Don’t just take off when the defensemen gets there to help with the ball or you lose your advantage.
    3:29 – Sometimes a goalie can leave the cage to double the ball or if you’ve called a slide.
    5:34 – It’s usually best not to leave the cage, but coaches shouldn’t be afraid if their goalies do. Empower them instead.
    Introduction
    Coach Edwards here at LacrosseGoalieTips.com and LacrosseGoalieUniversity.com, and I want to talk about a question I get fairly frequently. If you’re in the cage and your defensemen have missed a guy and the guy’s running up the goal, should you run out of the cage to stop that player?
    Goal Line Extended
    There are two scenarios. One is if the player is in front of goal line extended. Goal line extended is if you took a line from post to post and you extended that line to the sideline on either side, that’s called goal line extended. If the player is above goal line extended and they’re coming straight down on you, you want to stay in the cage. Pretty much for both scenarios, you want to stay in the cage. I’m going to share with you a couple of things.
    Leaving the Cage Doesn’t Stay Easy
    The number one rule of thumb is that you really want to stay in the cage. Here’s what happens. At a young age, if you’re in junior high school and elementary school, if you’re a coach or parent listening to this, your little goalie can probably get away with running out of the cage and surprising the guy and defensively doing a good job. But that’s a habit that’s not going to work as they get with better players. I remember this when I was in high school and junior high school and elementary school. There are times I could get away with it, but as you get towards better and better players, it doesn’t work as easy.
    Controlling the Loose Ball
    Here’s the rule of thumb though. Let’s say there’s a loose ball and an offensive player is going to get it and none of your teammates are around, but you can get at it, get it at the same time that that player can, then I would recommend going. As long as you can control the loose ball. What I would do is I would run out of the cage if there was a loose ball and that attackman was getting the ball. I would fight for that loose ball until my defensemen got there. But here’s the thing. When my defensemen got there I didn’t just turn around and run to the cage, I kept fighting for the ball.
    Fight for the Ball
    When you do loose ball, ground ball drills with the team, what’s usually the call? Man, ball. One guy takes the man, the other guy takes the ball. In the women’s game I know you can’t do that. If you’ve got two teammates going to a ball, and there’s one player from the opposing team, one of your teammates doesn’t just all of a sudden take off. Both of you fight for the ball.
    Don’t Leave and Lose the Advantage
    This is the mistake a lot of goalies make. They go off, they fight for the ball and then their defensemen shows up and they leave. But now there’s no advantage,
    7 min
  • Podcast – Why Young Goalies Shouldn’t Be Goalies
    Coach Jonathan Edwards describes the dangers of putting young goalies in the cage full-time. He elaborates the difficulty children have due to underdeveloped eyes, especially when it comes to playing tough sports like lacrosse. Coach Edwards advises children aged 10 and under to stay away from the cage full time and work on developing stick skills and becoming better athletes instead.
    0:16 – When we’re young our eyes are undeveloped, which affects depth perception.
    1:00 – Playing with balloons with young kids is easier for them because their eyes can focus on the movement.
    1:40 – It’s important for young lacrosse goalies to develop as athletes before staying in the cage.
    2:30 – Lacrosse is probably the hardest sport, especially for a young kid to learn.
    3:00 – Coach Edwards advises rotating young goalies because they become targets and should learn respect for the position.
    4:53 – Putting kids 10 and under becomes a waste of time and can ruin their confidence.
    5:32 – Help young athletes develop their skills and avoid being passed by by a sport they love.
    Introduction
    Coach Edwards here with LacrosseGoalieTips.com and LacrosseGoalieUniversity.com and I want to talk today about why young goalies shouldn’t be goalies.
    The Development of the Human Body
    There’s a thing that a lot of people don’t understand about the development of the human body, and that’s that our eyes, when we are very young, so up until about 8 years old to almost 10, our eyes are not round. They’re oval. What that does is that really affects depth perception.
    Kids Can’t Catch
    If you’ve ever thrown a ball to a young child, odds are you worry about hitting them in the head, right? Even if it’s a small ball, you don’t want to hit them in the face because they can’t catch it. The natural tendency is to think, “Well, they can’t catch it because they’re just young, so we’ll just keep playing and eventually they’ll get it.”
    Playing With Balloons
    One of the things that you can do with a young child, just for fun by the way, is use balloons. Because a balloon doesn’t move that fast, and the balloon they can focus on because it’s moving very slowly. A young athlete can focus on a ball that’s coming at them quickly, so in a straight line. But if there’s any sort of arc in that, if you watch a young kid, it’s funny. They get really kind of freaked out by it and they end up throwing their hands up to protect their head and it’s kind of humorous…if you think seeing a young kid getting hit in the head is funny…which I do sometimes.
    8 Year Olds Should Be Athletes First, Goalies Second
    I’ll get emails every once in a while from parents going, “Hey, my daughter is 8 and she just loves goaltending!” and I read that and I just cringe because I don’t want an 8 year old to love goaltending. I want an 8 year old to love becoming an athlete and I want them out on the field, and I want them with lots and lots of touches with the ball. I don’t want them standing in the crease.
    Why Some Kids are Better
    I see young games and they’re cute and all, and you see some of the club teams that have the U8 groups and they’re good, you know, you think, “Wow, it’s great!” And people go, “Wow, isn’t that cool? Look at how talented those 8 year olds are!” Basically their eyes are developed and they can catch and throw. That makes sense for that group, but for the majority of kids whose eyes aren’t developed, that’s why learning how to play lacrosse is hard.
    Lacrosse is the Hardest Sport
    Learning how to play lacrosse is the hardest sport, I think pretty much, next to hockey on those skates. But even that, you can put a kid out on skates who can barely skate but can just stand up a...
    7 min
  • Why Young Goalies Shouldn't Be Goalies

    Coach Jonathan Edwards describes the dangers of putting young goalies in the cage full-time. He elaborates the difficulty children have due to underdeveloped eyes, especially when it comes to playing tough sports like lacrosse. Coach Edwards advises children aged 10 and under to stay away from the cage full time and work on developing stick skills and becoming better athletes instead.

     

     

    7 min
  • Podcast – Your Team Sucks. So What?
    Coach Jonathan Edwards encourages lacrosse goalies who are on bad teams by explaining how it’s a great opportunity. He explains how you should take advantage of the opportunity you are given to see as many shots as possible and bring your game to the next level by adapting to your team’s weaknesses
    0:21 – Coach Edwards addresses a common question – is playing on a bad team bad for you?
    1:08 – Playing on a bad team allows a goalie to see the most shots possible.
    1:23 – Bad teams can be an advantage for any goalie and help you get better.
    2:16 – Defensemen with bad stick skills can force a goalie to improve in new ways.
    3:44 – Get excited if you’re on a team that gives you the opportunity to get better as a lacrosse goalie.
    Introduction
    Coach Edwards here at LacrosseGoalieTips.com and LacrosseGoalieUniversity.com and today’s question is: Your team sucks. So what? One of the things I want to talk about is, should you be playing on a bad team? If you’re on a bad team, is it bad for you?
    Coach Edward’s First Sports Camp
    The best advice I ever got was when I was in high school. I was also a hockey goalie. I went to my first ever sports camp, which was a camp for lacrosse goalies and it was amazing. It was run by a guy named Joe Brittania, who was the goalie coach for the Boston Bruins and he was one of the first guys I ever heard of who ran these camps.
    Playing on a Bad Team
    I asked Joe a question about hockey. I was looking for a team to play for that coming winter and I had the opportunity next winter for the Hobomock Chiefs. They weren’t going to be very good at all. I think, as a matter of fact, we had six players on the hockey team. Six players and me, so seven total. And I was like, “Joe, should I even be playing on the team?”
    Coach Joe’s Advice
    He goes, “The best thing you can do as a goalie is get the most shots possible, right? The more shots you see, the better you’ll be. The more opportunity you’ll have to improve.” The more shots, the more opportunities to learn and improve.
    Bad Teams Can Be an Advantage
    Every once in a while a goalie will write me a question or a parent, and go, “Oh, my son or daughter they’re on this team and they’re just horrible. They see all these shots during the day. Oh man.” To be honest I look at that as an advantage.
    Rising Stars Out of Nowhere
    The lacrosse goaltending position, actually any goalie position in any sport, is one of those positions where you can get a kid from a small town in nowhere who has an incredible work ethic, getting shot on day in, day out, seeing really high quality shots from in close-range and all sorts of those types of things, and they get really, really good. And all of a sudden you hear about them popping up at an amazing school with a huge program because they’re a great goalie. Playing on a bad team isn’t necessarily a bad deal.
    Teams With Bad Stick Skills
    When I played in high school, I didn’t have defensemen who were the best stick handling guys. They didn’t have the best stick skills. They were great athletically, they were great guys, but they didn’t have great stick skills. I had one buddy on my high school team, Steve. Steve was a football lineman, so much fun to be around, just amazing. I would never pass him the ball on a clear. Ever. And he’d be like, “Why didn’t you pass to me?” and I’d be like, “Steve.”
    A New Opportunity to Improve
    Every once in a while we would try in the game, and I would pass him the ball, and he would drop it, and the ball would come back and hopefully I’d make the save. But the next time I would pass it to the middy, and I got really good at rifling the ball down the field. I was like a Tom Brady quarterback. I was getting the ball, I was in the crease,
    5 min
  • Your Team Sucks. So What?

    Coach Jonathan Edwards encourages lacrosse goalies who are on bad teams by explaining how it's a great opportunity. He explains how you should take advantage of the opportunity you are given to see as many shots as possible and bring your game to the next level by adapting to your team's weaknesses.

     

    5 min

About LacrosseGoalieTips.com Podcast

From the publisher's feed

Follow Coach Jonathan Edwards as he provides tips and advice on how to improve your skills in the world of lacrosse.