5 Dodging Drills for Lacrosse: A Box-Ready Progression

A defender closes your route to the middle. Your first move creates a step of separation—but a second defender is waiting. For box-ready practice, the dodge should end with a useful next action: attack the opening, move the ball or escape with possession.

These five lacrosse dodging drills progress from controlled footwork to reading defenders. The goal is not to chain together as many moves as possible. It is to change direction without losing the ball, then recognize what that change has opened.

Before you start

Use sticks, balls, flat cones and a clear, dry playing area. You can practise drill 1 alone; drill 5 needs four players. Wear the protective equipment required by your program and work under appropriate coaching. All partner drills below are non-contact: no checking, pushing, grabbing or driving through a defender. Set up away from boards, with room to slow down beyond each finish line. Stop and reset if players are about to collide.

Start at walking speed. The Canadian Lacrosse Association’s 2004 box coaching progression introduces dodging through a weight shift to change direction and emphasizes player readiness rather than age alone. These setups, distances and timings are suggested practice designs, not prescribed governing-body drills.

Practise on both sides and in both hands, using separate sets initially. You do not need to switch hands during every dodge. If carrying the ball takes all your attention, first work on tight-space stick handling.

1. Jab step and exit

Setup: Place a starting cone about three metres from a defender cone. Beyond that cone, mark two exit gates, one diagonally left and one diagonally right. Make each gate about one metre wide, with about two metres between the defender cone and each gate.

Action: Approach with the ball and knees comfortably bent. Make a short step toward one side, shift your weight, then push off toward the opposite gate. Take two purposeful exit steps before slowing down. Alternate directions.

The CLA’s initiation manual describes the jab step as absorbing forward motion with a bent knee before pushing off in the opposite direction.

Checkpoint: Your body sells the first direction—not just your stick. Finish balanced, with possession and your eyes up. If the jab becomes a long lunge, shorten it.

Dose: Four controlled repetitions each way.

2. Face dodge to a pass

Setup: Use the same approach cone and defender cone. Put a partner three to four metres beyond and to one side of the defender cone, clear of your running path.

Action: Approach as if preparing to pass. Pull the stick across the front of your body while stepping into the exit lane, keeping the same hand on top. Once clear, return the stick to a passing position and feed your partner.

That same-hand movement and return to a ready position are key features of the face dodge in Martin Bowes’s technique explanation.

Checkpoint: The ball stays controlled during the pull, and you can pass without stopping to rearrange your grip. Keep the movement compact rather than sweeping the stick far from your body.

Dose: Four repetitions per side. Begin without a ball if the movement is unfamiliar.

3. Roll escape and find the outlet

Setup: Place a cone as the defender. Start two metres away. Position an outlet partner behind your starting line and slightly to one side.

Action: Carry toward one side of the cone. Slow down before reaching it, turn your back briefly toward the cone and rotate away into open space. Keep the stick close, using your body to separate it from the imagined defender. Locate the outlet again before passing.

This is an escape rehearsal, not a contact drill. Walk through the turn before adding speed; do not spin blindly toward another player.

Checkpoint: You finish outside the cone’s space, balanced and able to see the outlet. A retained ball and completed pass count as success—even though the move takes you away from the goal.

Dose: Four turns each direction. If you lose balance, reduce approach speed and use smaller turning steps.

4. Read the defender: two-gate dodge

Setup: Mark a rectangle roughly four metres wide and six metres long, with a one-metre-wide exit gate at each far corner. One attacker starts with the ball; a defender begins two metres ahead.

Action: The defender moves at walking speed to close one route using position only. The attacker reads that movement, uses a jab or face dodge if needed, and carries through the available gate. Progress to a controlled jog once both players understand the task.

Checkpoint: Choose from the defender’s movement rather than deciding the dodge before starting. If a gate is already open, take it without adding an unnecessary fake.

Dose: Six attempts each, then exchange roles. Widen the area if every repetition becomes a near-collision.

5. Dodge, draw help and pass

Setup: Mark an eight-by-eight-metre area with a one-metre-deep finish zone along the far edge. Use two attackers and two defenders. One defender starts on the ball; the other begins deeper, between the supporting attacker and the finish zone.

Action: Play six-second possessions with positional defense only. The attackers score by carrying into the finish zone or completing a pass to a teammate there. The supporting attacker moves to remain available. Reset after a score, a turnover or six seconds; allow players to get into position before restarting.

If the deeper defender helps stop the dodge, look for the pass. If that defender stays with the teammate, attack the open route. If neither option opens, retain possession rather than forcing through a defender.

This reflects the CLA coaching progression’s distinction between beating a defender and drawing a defender, alongside its use of two-on-one and give-and-go situations.

Checkpoint: Judge the decision as well as the score. Did the ball carrier notice help arriving? Did the teammate offer a clear passing lane?

A 25-minute dodging session

• 4 minutes: Easy movement, cradling and partner passing.
• 9 minutes: Three minutes each on drills 1–3.
• 5 minutes: Reactive two-gate repetitions.
• 7 minutes: Two-on-two dodge-and-pass play, rotating roles.

For each player’s final six possessions, record two things: possession retained and appropriate next action chosen. Use those observations to choose the next practice focus—ball control, balance or reading help—rather than simply adding more speed.