defense inside out practice drill

The T-Shirt Drill for “Inside-Out” Defense

One of our teams got beat getting back to play defense all day in our game this weekend, leaving a man on the other team open for easy goals every time they got the ball. Use this classic practice drill to teach your players get back in the "Hole" and play Defense "from inside-out".

Good defense starts with the feet, and that means having your feet in the right location on the field. Many younger and beginning players have the bad habit of chasing the man with the ball around at midfield, where he isn't really a threat to score.

This is a great way to teach your players fundamental defensive positioning- in between their man and the goal. The T-Shirt Drill teaches your players to get in front of the goal to cover the middle of the field first, then go out and guard the man they are covering.

This game is also sometimes called the Hopkins "Top Hat" drill. Johns Hopkins Coach Dave Pietremala bought an old Top Hat to put in the hole. You can use an old T-shirt or practice jersey, a cone, whatever you have on hand.


Here's THE DRILL:

t shirt lacrosse practice drill inside out defense

Figure 1.) Split your players into two teams, one for Offense and one for Defense.

Put your T-shirt, Top Hat, practice jersey or cone in the middle of the field, about 5 yards out from the top of the crease.

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PRACTICE TIPS:


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Make sure to let us know if the T-Shirt drill helps your team play better Defense this season! Defense! Defense! Defense!