The Anatomy Of A Save

In order to make more saves it's important to understand the parts involved to make a great save and how you can improve them.

Here are the four parts to a great save:

1) See the ball.
2) Recognize where it's going.
3) Move to the ball.
4) Catch the ball or block/deflect the ball away from the cage.

So here is a breakdown of each of those steps.

1) Seeing the ball. You can't make a save if you can't see the ball.

It is important to focus on the ball at all times. Even when the ball is on the other end of the field. Not only does that keep you in the game mentally it creates really good habits for when the ball is in your end of the field. By focusing in on the ball and seeing it at all times you won't lose track of it. You also can't be tricked and will know who the shooter is before he shoots the ball.

2) Once the ball is shot you need to know where it's going. The lacrosse goalie has one of the largest nets to protect, and the ball travels so fast, so it's important to know where the shot is going once it has left the stick.

What the shooter does before the ball leaves the stick will effect where the ball goes. And you can only learn how that effects the ball once you have a fair bit of experience. Shots. Shots from different shooters. And more shots from different shooters will help you recognize where the ball can go even before it has left the stick.

3) Moving to the ball. This is the one we can spend the most time on because this is the part of the save that we can work on even without a shooter. This is where the "wiring of the goalie" comes in to play.

You see the ball. You see the ball leave the stick. Now all of your save responses come in to play.

Ball is going off stick hip...Respond with, off-stick hip save.

At this point your body takes over and moves accordingly. And how fast you move will depend on if you make the save or not.

4 Catching. Blocking. And deflecting the ball. As your body moves to make the save one of these three things will happen depending on how quickly you move to the ball.

If you have enough time and you can move fast enough you will catch the ball. It will look pretty. The crowd will cheer. And you will get your four seconds of fame while everyone busts up field.

If you don't have enough time to catch the ball but you can get something in front of it you will block or deflect the ball. It's important to understand that in some situations even before the ball leaves the stick that you won't have enough time to catch the ball. You're just trying to get something in front of the ball whether that's a leg or an elbow or even your head. This is where increased equipment can help you feel protected.

All of these things need to happen within the amount of time the ball leaves the stick to when it crosses the goal line.

You have to see the ball. That takes time.

You have to recognize where the ball is going. That takes more time.

You have to move in front of the ball. This step takes the most time out of any of the four.

You have to catch, block or deflect the ball. This is the final piece of concentration. The save isn't done until this step happens.

The goal of everything you do in practice is to make each one of these steps better. Beware of bad habits creeping in because they can undo a lot of the great technique you are wiring in. Anything you do to any of these steps that adds time to the save is bad.