What To Look For in a Lacrosse Goalie Coach
What To Look For in a Lacrosse Goalie Coach March 2, 2026 If you or your child plays lacrosse goalie,...
Read More →
As a lacrosse goalie, your role is to be a leader and a consistent performer. This requires a high level of effort and world-class communication. Here’s the good news: These two factors are entirely within your control and can have a massive impact on your game, but they are so often undervalued.
Effort
Your effort is a personal choice. If you are not giving 100% every time you step on the field, whether it’s practice or a game, you are doing something fundamentally wrong. Approach every game and practice with the same mentality. Do not take practices less seriously than a game, because that subconscious behavior will translate into your game when your best effort is needed most. Dominate every rep, every day.
Warmup
One of the best opportunities a goalie has every practice to reinforce effort and consistency is their warmup. Your warmup isn’t a time to relax and go through the motions; your warmup is your opportunity to lock in and build consistent, repeatable habits that will help you transform your game.
As you go through your warmup as a lacrosse goalie, I recommend something similar to this:
- 10 shots anywhere high (60-70% speed)
- 10 anywhere mid (60-70% speed)
- 10 anywhere low (60-70% speed)
- 10 anywhere (80-100% speed)
Your shooter should be 12 yards away or more. In an ideal world, you would have 2 shooters passing the ball back and forth so that you can lock in your positioning as well.
Don’t worry about making saves: worry about moving well. This is the one time in practice you have to yourself to drill in your technique and make sure you’re doing things right; don’t waste this opportunity!
Communication
You are the leader of your defense, and you must take ownership of this role. Communicating with your defense benefits both you and your team in several ways that you may not have considered. Strong communication with your defense leads to many positive outcomes:
- Lower Quality Shots: By directing your defense, you can force attackers into taking easier, lower-quality shots.
- Stronger Bonds: Consistent communication builds trust and a stronger bond with your defense, who are relying on you to be the voice of the unit.
- More Playing Time: Your coaching staff will have more belief in you as a leader and a communicator, which can lead to more playing time.
- Better focus: If you’ve ever had a very good conversation, you know that it’s impossible to think about anything else at that moment. You’re focused entirely on the present moment: not about the homework assignment you have to submit tomorrow or what you ate for breakfast. For lacrosse goalies, we can use consistent, confident, and positive communication with our defense to achieve this same state of mind.
Being a world-class communicator benefits not just you, but your entire team. If you love to win, you must be a world-class leader in the cage.
Have Any Questions ?
We know every goalie’s journey is different. If you have questions about training, packages, or what’s best for your game, we’d love to help.