Between tournaments, there’s dead time. A few weekdays here, a slower week there. Most goalies fill it with nothing, or worse, with unstructured reps that reinforce whatever bad habit they’re already carrying into the next event.

That dead time is actually the highest-leverage window you’ll get all summer. Fall ball starts in August, and the goalies who show up with one fixed weakness instead of the same five they had in May are the ones who win the starting job in the first two weeks of tryouts. Fixing something mid-tournament-season is hard. You’re managing fatigue and game performance at the same time. Fixing it in a quiet week in July, with no game pressure attached, is the easiest rep you’ll get all year.

The move is not “train harder.” It’s “train one thing.”

Pick the single pillar that’s costing you the most saves or the most confidence right now:

• • Pre-Shot: if you’re consistently a step late getting set
  • Hands and Feet: if your moving your hands and feet at the same time
  • The Finish: if your giving up rebounds instead of controlling the shot in your stick and crease

• Clearing: if you’re making the right decisions and throwing accurate passes after the save

• Mental Game: if one bad goal turns into two or three
• Communication: if your defense is getting picked apart in front of you

Each of AGA’s free 5-week plans (Low Shots, Foot Speed, Reaction Time, Crease Saves, Clearing Mastery) is built around exactly one or two of these gaps. Five weeks of focused reps you can run in the gaps between tournaments, finished right as fall ball tryouts open.

The goalies who walk into August with a fixed flaw instead of a vague hope that “it’ll click eventually” are the ones who separate themselves before the season even starts.

You can find these plans and over 200 drills in The Ultimate Lacrosse Goalie Drill Library by clicking here. Or you can get the specific plan that you want, yours to keep for life, by clicking here.