Should a player practice to develop equally both right and left hand stick skills? While this may be considered more philosophy than fact, the answer is “no” – mostly.
This heresy is inconsistent with the majority of the lacrosse world, including many with much more knowledge and experience than I. However, a player can be very successful – albeit up to a point – as solely a dominant hand player and should make that an initial goal.
Let’s qualify the audience here, first. This “one-handed” approach is applicable to the typical youth and high school lacrosse player in the learning and improving phase of skill development; the majority, not the elite. I can assure you no All Americans are ringing me for advice on stick work.
Let’s also at least acknowledge the benefits of honing two-handed stick skills and the foundation for why so many coaches preach “50 righty and 50 lefty” at practice. A player, especially an attacker that can catch, dodge, pass, and shoot two-handed is a great asset to an offense. Two-handed play eliminates a defenders ability to “take away” a strength and cheat on slides, thus creating dodging and feeding opportunities for her and teammates. Players can also create receiving opportunities from all relationships to the ball.
Now let’s consider the “typical” player; the 4th grader, the 6th grader, or even the average high school player. The player with pretty good age appropriate stick skills, but still prone to drop a pass or throw a ball away. The most important tactical objective for lacrosse (like other ball sports) is simply to obtain and control the ball, but that’s not easy. If players can’t scoop, catch, and throw without some proficiency then the team can’t possess the ball and score goals. Kids struggle, teams lose, and everyone get frustrated. Then at the next practice, the coach has everyone back on “50 righty and 50 lefty” thereby spending a good chunk of their limited time becoming perpetually average two-handed players (because it’s good for them in the long run).
Or maybe a player should just try to get really good at passing and catching in the way that feels most comfortable for the largest return on investment? I landed on this perspective after hearing an interview with Dom Starsia, former Head Coach at the University of Virginia and a US Lacrosse Hall of Fame inductee. He said, “Play in your strength most of your time. I do not discourage guys from switching if they can do it effectively, but the bottom line is performance”.
To be clear, since out of context, Coach Starsia made his point in reference to defensive players (and not attackers or middies) in the men’s collegiate game, which is a much different scope than youth player development. However, the relevance is, players need to “perform” and if it is one-handed then it’s one-handed. Some of the greatest lacrosse players over the years have been almost exclusively one-handed players coming out of the Canadian box lacrosse style. They are known for their “creative” and “unconventional” passing and shooting, successfully playing in an almost solely dominant hand style.
Continuing on Coach Starsia’s point, if a player should play in his or her strength shouldn’t he or she practice in his or her strength? Every minute a player is working on his or her non-dominate hand he or she isn’t getting better with the dominant hand skills or “playing in their strength”. I never encourage a newer or younger player to practice both hands on the wall, or in stick work exercises, or free play. In theory, doing so actually doubles the length of time it will take to improve dominant hand stick skills and gain confidence. For younger players that can take multiple seasons or even years, unless they are putting in substantial hours outside of practice, which of course, we know, is not true of the “typical” player. So by practicing “50 righty and 50 lefty” each practice players are essentially becoming very average at both hands and not developing proficiency or “strength”.
My advice, for what it’s worth, is to strive to excel with the dominant hand, but develop some competence with the off-hand. I actually believe that if a player is really proficient with one hand he or she can use the off-hand effectively solely on mental understanding of technique and well-developed sport specific coordination.
The way to accomplish this in stick work training is similar to soccer and basketball training. Both soccer and basketball require the use of both feet or hands constantly when dribbling, for example. And sometimes a player needs to pass or shoot as best they can using the “off-hand or foot” given the circumstance. However, for most reps practicing and playing, players are using the dominant hand (or foot) for most shots and passes. Players don’t run drills exclusively working on the non-dominant hand (or foot) and players don’t shoot 20 foot jump shots with the off-hand. So why do so many coaches spend so much time trying to get players to catch and throw a lacrosse ball left handed, which (to me) is harder than kicking a soccer ball or shooting a basketball?
A basic example to translate this to lacrosse is to work on multi-point passing (cradling, switching hands, then switch back, etc.) and including some Canadian (reverse grip) passing, yet still working with the dominate hand, whether it be with a partner or on the wall. Passing and catching exclusively with the non-dominant hand is more of a conditioning drill than stick work since most of the time is wasted chasing down the ball.
Only once a player has developed really proficient stick skills with the dominant hand is it time to expand the training diversity to improve the non-dominant hand, which can offer a whole new dynamic for a player and a team, but that is much further down the road than many people coach.