When it comes to lacrosse, there’s no hiding your weak hand. That means that both hands are in play at all times. If you are someone who is not ambidextrous, developing your weak hand can be challenging, especially when it comes to throwing, catching and shooting the lacrosse ball. Fortunately, there are a variety of drills that can help you improve your weak hand as a player while strengthening your dominant one too.
Use Only Your Weak Hand During The Practice Sessions
If you are right-handed, that means your left hand is your offhand. For one lacrosse practice week, make a concerted effort to use only your off hand when throwing, catching and shooting the lacrosse ball. This will be difficult at first, but it’s important to push through the frustration. Not only will this help improve your lacrosse skills with your weak hand, but it will also make you a better lacrosse player overall.
Remember – No Pain, No Gain
I understand that you will find it extremely difficult during this transitional time . Words of encouragement- you will make mistakes, a lot of them. You will drop passes, miss shots and lacrosse balls will go sailing over your head. It’s okay! This is all part of the process and it’s how you learn and get better.
You will be tempted to switch back to your dominant hand when things get tough, but resist the urge! Remember, the whole point of this exercise is to help you improve your lacrosse skills with your weak hand.
Don’t feel disheartened if the catches get dropped, we all have to start somewhere. By strengthening the weak hand, you will not only improve your lacrosse skills, but you will also develop a better sense of hand-eye coordination.
Focus on Those Lacrosse Drills That Focuses On Offhand
The only way to stop yourself from using the dominant hand is to put yourself in lacrosse situations that don’t allow it. That’s why you should try to hop in lacrosse drills that support the use of your offhand as much as possible.
You need to get out of your comfort zone if you want to lacrosse skills with your weak hand.
Some good lacrosse drills to try are:
- One-handed lacrosse passing drills
- One-handed lacrosse shooting drills
- One-handed lacrosse catching drills
These lacrosse drills will force you to use your offhand and help improve your lacrosse skills.
You Can’t Make An Half-Hearted Attempt
You might have already excelled at shooting and passing but that does not mean that you should stop learning how to pick up groundballs with your off hand. It is important that you devote time to practicing all lacrosse skills with your weak hand, not just the ones that come naturally to you.
I cannot stress this enough: in order to improve your lacrosse skills with your weak hand, you need to put in the extra effort. This means attending lacrosse clinics, working with a lacrosse coach and spending extra time practicing at home.
Remember, it takes time and repetition to develop lacrosse skills with your weak hand. So be patient, stay focused and don’t get discouraged. With hard work and dedication, you will see results in no time!
Try Stick Tricks
Stick tricks are one of the best ways to improve your lacrosse skills. They help you develop lacrosse IQ, hand-eye coordination, and lacrosse stick skills.
There are a number of lacrosse stick tricks that you can try to improve your game. Some of the most popular lacrosse stick tricks include –
Hit the Ball with Butt End and catch it Mid Air: Start by holding the lacrosse stick in your weak hand. Now, hit the ball with the butt end of your lacrosse stick and try to catch it mid air. Do it 5 to 10 times. Sometimes, you will miss the ball. It is good for improving hand-eye coordination.
Shaft Over The Ball and Catch: For this lacrosse stick trick, you need to hold the stick in your weak hand and then pop the ball up in the air. Now, quickly shot over the ball and then try to catch it. You can also try to hit the ball with the lacrosse stick and then catch it in your weak hand.
Catch The Ball On The Side Wall: You need to pop the ball up in the air and the use your weak hand to catch and balance the ball on the sidewall. I know this drill is a bit tricky , but it is great for improving lacrosse skills.
Pop The Ball Up And Down: This lacrosse drill is pretty simple. Just pop the ball up in the air and then try to catch it in your weak hand. Try to do it as many times as possible.
Wall Ball Sessions for Weak Hand Development
One of the best ways to develop lacrosse skills with your weak hand is to do daily wall ball sessions. Wall ball is a great way to improve stick skills, lacrosse IQ and lacrosse fundamentals. It’s also an excellent way to develop your off hand.
No Need to Hasten, Keep It Slow and Steady
It will just need 15 minutes of your daily routine to play wall ball. I know it’s tempting to just go all out and lacrosse as hard as you can, but that’s not what this is about. The goal is to take your time and focus on using your off hand.
So how do you do that?
- Use Your Off Hand for All lacrosse Skills: When you’re doing lacrosse wall ball, make sure to use your off hand for all lacrosse skills. This includes throwing, catching and shooting.
- Focus on Accuracy: It’s not about how hard you can lacrosse the ball, it’s about accuracy. So take your time and focus on shooting the ball at your target.
- Repetition is Key: The more you practice lacrosse skills with your weak hand, the better you will become. So make sure to do a lot of repetitions.
- Challenge Yourself: As you start to get better, challenge yourself by shooting the ball at a higher target or shooting the ball from further away.
Wall Ball Tips to Get Better Outcome
Just because you have decided to play wall ball with your weak hand, it does not mean that you have own the battle. Nope, you will have to work hard to see some improvements.
Hit The Ball with a purpose: You need to hit the ball with a purpose. This means that you should not just lacrosse the ball as hard as you can. Instead, focus on hitting the ball at a specific target.
Target A Specific Spot on The Wall: lacrosse the ball at a specific spot on the wall. This will help you develop lacrosse skills such as accuracy and lacrosse IQ.
Do A Lot of Repetitions: The key to success is repetition. So make sure to lacrosse the ball as many times as possible.
Focus on Your Form: As you are practicing lacrosse skills with your weak hand, make sure to focus on your form. This will help you develop proper lacrosse technique and prevent injuries.
Get Feedback: One of the best ways to improve your lacrosse skills is to get feedback from a lacrosse coach or experienced player. They will be able to point out any flaws in your lacrosse technique and help you correct them.
Use Your Weak hand to Scoop Up Ground Balls
One of the best ways to improve your lacrosse skills is to scoop up ground balls with your weak hand. It is not as easy as it sounds. You need to have good lacrosse stick skills and hand-eye coordination to do it.
Here are some tips that will help you scoop up ground balls with your weak hand –
- Get in a low lacrosse stance.
- Keep your lacrosse stick in your weak hand and place the head of the lacrosse stick on the ground.
- Now, use your strong hand to push the ball towards the lacrosse stick head.
- As soon as the ball hits the lacrosse stick head, quickly lift it up and then try to cradle it in your weak hand.
You need to train your subconscious mind to trust your weak hand. The best way to do it is to use your weak hand as much as possible. By doing ground ball pickup with your weak hand, you will gain valuable muscle memory that will help you in the long run.
You need to train your mind to trust the weak hand as it trusts the strong hand. The best way to do it is by using the weak hand for lacrosse as much as possible.
Point of Release Drill
Point of release drill is one of the best known drills to improve your weak hand. The point of release lacrosse drill is designed to help lacrosse players develop proper lacrosse shooting technique with their off hand.
The objective of this drill is to identify the release point and then work on it to make improvements. Here are some of the most crucial aspects of your point of release drill –
- Take an athletic shooting stance.
- Keep a distance of at least 3 to 5 yards from the goal post that you are facing.
- Now, you should face the opposite goal post.
- Aim for the far top corner of the goal.
- Now, it is time for you to move your body sideways.
- You need to move your hands away from the body while keeping that athletic pose.
- Throw the ball at the top corner of the opposite goal post.
Once you are done with it, you will have to access the throw and then try to make as much improvement in it as possible.
- If the ball missed the target, you will have to make adjustments in your shootings to improve the accuracy .
- If the ball lands below the target, it means that you will have to snap the wrist a bit earlier next time. More often that not, this is caused by releasing the ball late.
If the ball goes over the top corner, it means, you will have to snap the wrist a little bit later. Early release of the ball usually leads to this problem.
Remember, practice makes perfect. So, the more you lacrosse, the better you will become.
Use A Wall To Improve Your Shooting Accuracy
One of the best ways to improve your lacrosse shooting accuracy is to use a wall. It will help you develop muscle memory and lacrosse IQ.
Here are some lacrosse shooting drills that you can do with a wall –
The lacrosse shooting drill is pretty simple. You just need to stand about 10 yards away from the wall and then try to shoot the ball at the wall. As the ball hits the wall, try to catch it in your lacrosse stick. Do it as many times as possible.
This lacrosse shooting drill will help you develop muscle memory and lacrosse IQ.
Try to shoot at different angles and distances. It will help you become a better lacrosse player.
