Lacrosse Goalie Wants To Know How To Stop Faster Shots

Question: Mark writes, "dear Jonathan,
i am in 8th grade and am playing JV goalie for my high school, i am an okay goalie and stop shots that are either slow or right at me, how do i get better at stopping rally good players who can rocket the ball? cause when an attack man is about to shoot close up it's like i lose sight of the ball, and i am bad at stepping up town the ball, any tips would be TERRIFIC. thanks

Answer: Mark this is a great question. Stopping the lacrosse ball comes down to three things:

1) Seeing the ball leave the stick.
2) Knowing where the ball is going.
3) Moving fast enough to stop the ball.

When you break it down into those three steps it's easy. If you can't see the ball on those upclose shots you need to work on having an attackman shoot on you like that in practice. Have him come in close but have him fake and shoot slowly so you can follow his stick. Of course, as he moves slowly you'll make some saves. As you get better you can have him speed things up a bit.

You have to remember: You can't do fast what you can't do slowly. If you can't follow the shooter and the ball at slow speeds you won't be able to at high speeds and that is what you are running into.

Knowing where the ball is going comes with practice. It comes with having thousands of shots taken at you so you know where the shooter is going. And Mark that is waaay too much info for me to type here. You'll have to check out more on my blog for more insights there. But knowing where the ball is going comes with practice. And it comes with a type of practice that I call "Deliberate Practice" What that means is that you have the shooter shoot to a space. He can do whatever he wants prior to shooting the ball but he has to shoot to that space. This way you can tune out the fakes and stay honest to where the ball is going. It helps you to be patient and to also know that once the ball leaves the stick you can focus on moving properly to the ball.

Don't worry about being bad at stepping up to the ball. To be honest this is a real buzz word with coaches and I think it is pretty overhyped. The reason you aren't good at stepping to the ball is because you've got so many other things on your mind. You're trying to see the ball. You're trying to move to it properly. And you're up against guys who can shoot the thing harder than you've seen it! No wonder you're not stepping all that great! Don't worry about it. It will come.

You are just like me. I was in 8th grade and on the JV at my school. Actually it was our VArsity and it was the first year our school had lacrosse. We played against some awesome teams and the bals came hard and fast. But I managed. My goal every game was to be better than the other goalie on the field. If you do that enough you'll be the best goalie on the planet some day. It helped me become an all-american and I know it will you too. Just stay with it.

Last thing. #3 on my list up there. Moving to the ball. This goes with your stepping issue as well. WHen it comes time to move to the ball that has everything to do with you as an athlete. Are you strong. Quick. You can always improve your strength and by being stronger you will be able to move to the ball faster. It's simple physics really. Get stronger physically and you will move better to the ball.

Kick butt Mark. You email me if you've got any more questions. You can find my email on my blog at www.LacrosseGoaltending.blogspot.com
If you send me your email I'll add you to our goalie newsletter. Let me know where you're from too. I love to know what states and towns my goalies are from.

Good luck.

Jonathan -
www.LacrosseGoaltending.blogspot.com