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WANNA BE A BETTER SHOOTER?

by Weddington Head Coach Kevin Iwanusa

Shooting a lacrosse ball is a lot like anything else in life, if you don’t put the time and effort into it, you won’t see the results, because nothing worth having comes without hard work. On any lacrosse team there are guys who can shoot well and there are guys who don’t. While it may seem like it just comes natural to those players who do it well, what you’re not seeing is the hours upon endless hours just shooting and practicing different types of shots with constant repetition. Rarely is a player going to become a great shooter in practice or through instinct. In practice, we as coaches have so many things that we need to work on as a team there just isn’t enough time to focus on any one aspect of an individual’s game as intensely as it takes, with the repetition it requires in order to make marked improvement. That’s what the off-season and work outside of practice is for. It’s when good players become great and any player can become a better shooter.

As a coach, I try to keep the basics to becoming a better shooter pretty simple. I suggest overhand for most everyone, especially those just learning. It’s the most effective way to score, and the odds are with you. When I say effective, I mean everywhere I watch quality lacrosse, Division III through Professionals, I see the same thing. The shooters who score the most have a quick release, overhand, high to low or very accurate shot. Watch some film of last years Championship and UVA. They were loaded with fantastic shooters, and they consistently scored on picture perfect, deadly accurate overhand shots. Now of course there are plenty of good shooters who shoot sidearm or ¾ sidearm(I would be a hypocrite to say otherwise), because there can be a time and place for every type of shot, but even they will tell you, they score a lot of goals plain Jane overhand, just because it works.

              Every player has different shots particular to their position, but the basics don’t change, and the fundamentals of shooting will always be the building blocks for each type of shot. First, you want to get your momentum going towards the target. Meaning step into your shot towards the goal. So many players try to shoot going away from the goal or falling off balance, and they never get any momentum or accuracy. The biggest problem I see with young shooters is shooting off the wrong foot. When shooting right handed the foot you step with is the left foot, meaning it is the lead foot which should be in front of you. When shooting left handed, your right foot in front. If your feet are backwards, you cannot get any momentum behind your shot and the ball goes places you don’t want because your hips and shoulders are out of order. In aiming your shot, this foot also becomes important as you should be pointing that toe, between the pipes at your target. Get your hands away from your body, so not to short arm your shots, which gives you more leverage. Do this by reaching back, before starting to come forward with the shooting motion, and almost showing the goaltender the numbers on the back of your jersey. This does two things, one it hides the ball from the goalie until you actually let it loose. All goalies will admit the later they see the ball out of your release, the harder it is to save because their reaction time is reduced. The other thing it does is begin to coil your body up like a spring before it releases eventually creating velocity. Put your eyes on the target. Probably the single thing that improved my shooting the most over the years was when I was taught to look at the net and not the goalie. Seems so simple, but it really is important for accuracy and focus. A lot of players look at the goalie when deciding where to shoot, which invariably will result in them hitting that goalie when they take the shot.  What you really want to look for is the net, take the goalie out of focus, and look at the piece of net you want to shoot at. I can’t count how many times I instinctively took a shot, and the only aiming I did was catch and see a piece of net and fire it, and the ball just went to that spot, that comes from continuous repetition creating a habit. After you find that piece of net, you want to turn your shoulders and hips into the shot as you release and square them up with the goal, uncoiling your body, like the spring, in order to release the shot with the most power. You know you didn’t use proper form when you finish a shot and your shoulders and hips are facing the sideline. Lastly follow through almost violently, assuring you get your body and momentum behind the shot still focusing on that piece of net you picked out, and enjoy as you watch the ball sting the net.  

The different skill level of players should really determine the location of shots and types of elements to work into the shooting regimen. For beginners, I coach High to Low bounce shots or at the goalies feet. It’s the easiest and most successful form while learning the shooting motion and technique. Working on getting the shot right at the goalies feet is the objective. As a player learns to step into his shot and follow through, he will increase the velocity and start to realize more success as a scorer. While learning though, as I said before the odds are with you, and a lot of shots will hit the ground that weren’t meant to. Those still have a great chance of going in and reinforcing the proper style of shooting to a beginner.  

A more intermediate player can learn to place their shots in some of the harder locations for a goalie to save, translating also into harder shots to accomplish. The top and low corners or the off-stick side hip are all ideal locations to place the ball.  Also intermediate players can start to work with fakes as part of their shots. A fake is very effective in moving the goalie out of position to improve your shot. The key to faking a shot is to fake opposite of where you want to shoot. For example fake high left, shoot low right. Also at this level, a player can work on different moves to improve their shooting angles, also a fake of sorts. The step over is a favorite of mine. The player sets his feet and begins to start the shooting motion, the goalie tenses up preparing for a shot, and the defenseman will reach for one last check, opening the perfect chance to fake the shot with the head and shoulders, protecting the stick, step over the check towards the front of the goal and get closer and a better angle to score. Also at this level, shooting on the run becomes very important. Beginners get good at setting their feet and shooting, but as the level you play increases, you need to be able to shoot on the run almost all the time. The same fundamentals apply with getting your momentum going towards the goal and everything referred to above, but doing it all at full speed now and never stopping your feet to do it. This is the difference I see between the lower and higher lever players in this area, the better players are shooting and playing at full speed.

The advanced player can focus on different types of shots. Anything that changes planes, and can beat a talented goaltender, meaning low to high or high to low, behind the back or a series of fakes. Sidearm and three quarters side arm shots become effective ways to get goals. There are different ways to direct your shot that an advanced player can start to work on as the basics of shooting become second nature. On a direct overhand shot, the simple twisting of the face of the stick to the right can direct the ball deceptively to the right, while the stick head ends up looking like the shot goes left. This even works with a sidearm shot, directing the shots high and low without giving away where the ball is going with your shooting motion.  Very effective in tight shooting with not much room to wind up or aim, or particularly when running out of angle.

              To wrap up, there are fundamentals to shooting and there are techniques, but none of them are worth anything without repetition, and consistency. If you want to be a better shooter, you have to make time and do the work. Some advice a great shooter once told me, and I still think about every shot I take, and never had anything to do with fundamentals or talent, but it may appeal to players or coaches who take the more primal approach to our great sport. He said that when you are shooting, the only way he knew he was doing it right, was by listening to the sound of the wind through the stick as he shot and the stick cut through the air. He claimed that the good shots always had a different sound than the bad ones. Hokey? Maybe, but when you’re listening to a four time All American, I am in no place to argue. Happy shooting!!