There is nothing worse than having a loose grip on your lacrosse ball. If you don’t cradle carefully and with proper attention, the ball will slip out of your stick and you will lose control of the game. By mastering the art of cradling, you will be able to retain the ball for a longer period of time while on the move or while getting checked by defenders.
Steps to Cradling A Lacrosse Ball
Cradling a lacrosse ball is very much similar to that of catching a lacrosse ball. You dominant hand should be 6 inches down from the top of the head of your lacrosse stick. You non-dominant hand should be placed at the bottom of the stick. You need to grip the shaft tightly with your non-dominant hand
Now, all you have to do is to move the move the head of the lacrosse stick from your shoulder to your nose and back to your shoulder in a quick, fluid motion. The head of the lacrosse stick should not touch your face or your nose for that matter. Make sure that the stick remains 12 inches away from your body at all times. Cradle the ball closer to that and it will be considered as a foul.
Proper grip should be maintained throughout the cradling process to avoid losing control of the ball. Use your non-dominant hand to hold the bottom of the stick tightly but make sure that the palms of your hand should be facing your body and not the other way around.
Stability is another important factor that you should not ignore at any cost. To keep the ball steady throughout the cradling process, you need to maintain an underhand grip.
So, now your hands are in perfect position; all you have to do is to keep the position of the stick in such a way that the ball stays in the pocket. The ball under no circumstance should fly out of the pocket.
Keep the lacrosse stick parallel to your body while maintaining the 45 degree angle from the ground and that should do the trick.
