18 Lacrosse Goalie Drills to Improve Your Reaction Time and Foot Speed

For us goalies, we want the fastest reaction time and foot speed possible. The faster you can make those 2 elements, the more saves you’re going make. That simple.

Here are 18 lacrosse goalie drills that I use with ALL my goalies to give them quick reaction time, fast foot speed, and soft hands. I suggest you work them into your practice routine as well.

These drills can be apart of an off-season workout program or you can work them into practice when the goalies are sent off to goalie island, i.e. the rest of the team is doing another drill.

Before we jump into the this list of lacrosse goalie drills, if you’re more of a visual person here’s a video I posted to my YouTube channel outlining a bunch of different drills visually:

18 LACROSSE GOALIE DRILLS

Colored Balls

For this drill we need colored tennis balls in 4 different colors and 4 mini disc cones.

Setup the 4 cones along the crease to simulate the spots on a five-step arc.

Place a different colored tennis ball atop each cone.

The coach stands about 5 feet in front of the goal with the colored tennis balls in a bucket. He pulls out a ball quickly and throws it to a different spot in the goal.

The goalie must make the save, driving their top hand and lead foot to the ball. After making the save the goalie tosses the ball at the cone which matches the tennis ball’s color.

There should be very little time in between throws. We want this drill to be quick. As the tennis balls comes, the goalie doesn’t know which color is coming so they need to react to make the save while reading the color and quickly processing the information.

I also like to have the goalie shout the name of the color as he/she makes the save.

If you make a mistake, don’t worry about it, move on. As a goalie, you’re going to let in goals. It happens.

The most important element is how you react. Do you pout and compound the errors? Or do you move on to the next ball?

Jump Rope

Any sport that requires quick feet and quick reactions will benefit from jumping rope.

Jumping rope is usually synonymous with boxers but lacrosse goalies should also work as much of this exercise into their regiment as possible.

As part of a good pre-game warmup, I always recommend that lax goalies work in jumping rope in addition to their normal shot regiment.

Any standard jump rope will do, doesn’t have to be fancy.

Here is a video that shows different jump roping exercises:

I recommend at least 10-15 minutes of jumping rope per day. Jumping rope is also a drill you can do before practice or even after practice to get in some extra work.

Juggling

Juggling improves your hand-eye coordination, an important element for us lacrosse goalies.

I don’t recommend doing this drill during practice but anytime outside of the field is perfect to learn how to juggle. Start with 3 balls and then once you’ve mastered that, move to 5 balls.

Juggling against a wall is also an easier method when you’re first starting out.

Here’s a video with steps on how to juggle. Watch this and then practice, practice, practice.

Pipe to Pipe Saves

This drill is demo’d by Lax Goalie Rat sponsored athlete Will Mark.

You setup on one pipe and the shooter essentially shoots for the far pipe.

Here we’re making the save much more difficult so that when we return to normal shots they seem much easier.

Watch this drill from the Syracuse goalie Will Mark:

 

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Catching Cards

This is a mental drill that also works the goalie’s hand-eye coordination.

The coach will stand elevated on a bucket or chair with a deck of playing cards. Standing on the bucket simulates the same shot angle from which we’d see normal overhand lacrosse shots.

The coach flicks cards one at a time at the goalie who makes the save by driving the top hand and lead foot to catch the card. We’re going to be throwing the cards quickly, one after another.

This drill will work hand-eye coordination and concentration as the goalie must catch the fluttering card.

Again, you won’t be successful with every card. That’s ok. Focus on the next card, focus on the next shot.

Magic Square

This is another drill I learned from Coach Bill Pilat which improves the foot speed and agility of our goalies.

To setup this drill, we’ll place our goalie stick perpendicular to a line on the field as pictured above. This creates 4 quadrants.

With this magic square there are several variations that we will do –

One Foot – Jump on one foot from quadrant 1 to 2 to 3 to 4. Repeat with the other foot.

Two Feet – Jump and land on two feet now. From quadrant 1 to 2 to 3 to 4. Keep your feet and ankles together.

Diagonal and Back – On two feet, we’ll jump diagonally from quadrant 1 to 3, then 3 to 4 jumping back, then 4 to 2 diagonally, and finally 2 to 1 jumping back.

Jump Turn – We’ll start with 1 foot in quadrant 1 and the other in quadrant 4, straddling the stick. We’ll jump forward to land with our feet in quadrants 2 and 3. Then we’ll jump and do a 180 so our feet are now reversed in quadrants 2 and 3. Jump forward to quadrants 1 and 4 and then do another 180.

For each of the variations we’ll have the goalies go for 30 seconds. Take a 30 second break and then repeat.

Goalie Shuttle

For this drill, we’ll set up 3 cones in a line with 3 feet in between each cone.

Start in your goalie stance slightly behind the center cone.

We’ll shuffle to left, bend down at the waist to touch the cone, then shuffle back to touch the far cone. Finally, we’ll shuffle back to the center and get into ready position.

I like to have the goalie also touch the cones with their top hand because that simulates making a save.

An optional step here is the coach can then throw a shot at the goalie, who needs to make the save by reacting quickly.

So the steps are shuffle to the left cone, shuffle to the right cone, shuffle back to center, make a save.

The Goalie Shuttle drill is going to tie together our footwork, our lateral movement, and also being set and in proper save position after being on the move.

Off-Stick Hands Drill

This is a drill that’s going to work on our stick rotation especially when making those tough off-stick hip and off-stick low saves.

We’ll position ourselves in the goal, on our knees with stick and gloves (other gear optional).

The coach will throw or shoot balls to the off-stick side.

Have the goalie focus on really getting that underhand movement while driving the top hand to the ball.

Make sure they’re not sweeping that top hand to the ball. They should be “cutting the clock” moving the top hand in a straight line to the shot.

The bottom hand punches out to aid in quick stick rotation.

We’re not going to move our legs, feet, or body in this drill. We’re strictly working on hands movement.

Agility Ladder

Similar to jumping rope, the agility ladder is perfect for improving conditioning and foot speed.

You’ll need to purchase an agility ladder if you don’t already have one.

Here is the program I’ll have my goalies follow, it includes 13 different exercises in the agility ladder –

Once you get comfortable with the 13 exercises shown in the video you can then incorporate some lacrosse balls.

As you doing the agility exercises have a partner toss you balls that you catch and toss back. This will work hand-eye coordination while we’re moving our feet.

3 Stations

For this drill we set up three different stations. Similar to other drills in this list we’re improving foot speed with this drill. We’re also working muscle memory and conditioning with the 3 Station drill.

We’ll go quickly from one station to the next after finishing.

Station 1: Zig Zag Drill – Setup 5 lacrosse balls at 45-degree angle, in a zig-zag. Step and drive your top hand to simulate making a low save. Reset your body position and do it again with the next lacrosse ball at the station.

Station 2: Arc Drill – Immediately move to station 2 where we have 4 lacrosse balls setup to simulate the spots in between our 5-step arc. Simulate making a save on a low shot in between your legs.

Then move to the next spot on the arc and reset. Again, simulate making the low save, driving your top down. Move to the next spot and repeat.

Station 3: Lateral Step – Lateral step is a little more of an advanced move, so skip this if your goalie is brand new. In this station we setup 4 balls in a row. Instead of taking our 45-degree step, we’ll take a lateral step and simulate making a low save.

Goalie Lead Hand Drill

This is a classic lacrosse goalie drill and should be in every goalie’s training arsenal regardless of age or level.

For this drill, the coach will simply throw balls at the goalie who makes the save with only his top hand.

If you have two goalies, have them throw each other the balls while the coach analyzes their form to ensure its right. Chest up, top hand straight to the ball, with a lead step. Eyes ridiculously focused on the ball the entire time.

We’ll work on tying together our lead hand and our lead step. Lead hand is top hand (right for righties, left for lefties) and lead foot is the foot on which side the ball is shot (ball shot to your left, left foot is the lead foot).

For this drill, I like to build to up:

1. Start with just top hand
2. Add lead step (top hand + lead step)
3. Add trail step (top hand + lead step + finish with trail step)

This is a great drill to incorporate into your lacrosse goalie’s warmup plan.

Reaction Balls

For this drill, as you may have guessed, we’re going to be working on improving our reaction time.

We need a special ball called a reaction ball. The reaction ball has lumps on the outside so that the bounce is unpredictable.

There are a variety of drills we can do using the reaction ball:

Solo – You’re looking for a lacrosse goalie drill you can do by yourself, this is one. First drop the reaction ball in front of you. Then react by taking a step toward whatever direction the ball bounces and catch it in your hands.

You can do this drill using only the top hand to catch the ball and then do it using both hands to catch the ball.

Bounce Shots with Partner, bare hands – Stand about 5 feet apart from your partner and throw bounce shots to one another using the reaction ball. Step with your lead foot and drive with your lead hand, making a reaction as you see where the ball is going.

Get reset in your stance prior to each throw.

Bounce Shots with Partner, with equipment – Same drill as above but we’ll now where our sticks, gloves, and helmet. Also same as above, we want to drive our top hand to the ball and step with our lead foot.

Heavy Bar

For this set of drills we’ll use a heavy bar from the gym. A lacrosse shaft filled with pennies or sand can also substitute here.

You can also buy a power shaft (no affiliation) which was invented specifically for these types of drills.

We’re going to be working on building quickness and muscle memory in this set of drills.

Walk the Line – Simulate making saves to all the different spots using the heavy bar. Stick-side high, stick-side hip, stick-side low, 5 hole, off-stick low, off-stick hip, off-stick high.

Save Tennis Balls – Now we’ll throw tennis balls at the goalie and have him make saves using the heavy bar. We should focus on driving our top hand to meet the tennis ball. Shoot to various areas of the

Walk the Arc – Holding the heavy, simple walk your arc, back and forth.

Normal Warmup – You can even attach the heavy shaft to your normal goalie head and go through a normal warmup. After doing this exercise when you go back to your normal lacrosse shaft the thing is going to feel as light as feather in your hands.

You can also combine the heavy bar with the 3 Stations drill or the Off-Stick Hands drill described above for an extreme workout.

This drill will build up arm strength and hand quickness while maintaining a good goalie positioning.

Mini Hurdle Drills

For this final set of drills, we’re going to need a set of mini hurdles.

These drills are a proven method for improving foot speed and quickness.

Once you’re comfortable progressing through the hurdles you can increase the complexity of this drill by having a coach throw you a lacrosse ball to catch while you make your way through the hurdles.

You can also perform the drills with your lacrosse goalie stick in your hands, simulating saves as you go through the hurdles.

Follow the program outlined in this video during your offseason workouts and you’ll notice a significant gain in quickness when its time to start making saves in the goal.

Tennis Racket Reaction

This one is again courtesy of MLL goalie Scott Rodgers and I call it the Tennis Racket Reaction drill.

For this drill the goalie stands in the cage, without the stick. Another player will toss a ball to the coach who has a tennis racket.

The coach will simply volley the ball at the goalie who makes the save. Similar to the Goalie Lead Hand drill the goalie will drive his top hand to the ball.

Works our reaction time and save technique especially for those close-in shots.

Here is an Instagram video of Scott Rodgers performing the drill:

A video posted by Scotty Rodgers (@scottyrodg42) on Aug 4, 2016 at 7:23am PDT

Hot Potato

This goalie drill I learned from the MLL’s Brian Phipps. It’s called “Hot Potato” and is meant to develop soft hands in lacrosse goalies and thereby reduce rebounds.

This is a drill I’ll work into the beginning of practice to get the goalies going.

You simply throw the ball back and forth – catching and releasing as soon as possible – and ensuring that you’re 1.) watching the ball at all times and 2.) receiving the ball with soft hands.

You should not be snatching or stabbing at the ball but rather receive it like an egg, the same way attackman/middies are taught to catch a pass.

Here is a GIF of Mr. Phipps demonstrating the drill with 2 people:

Some variations of the Hot Potato drill:

• Perform it against a wall when you’re alone
• Play in a group of 3-4 so you really have to track the ball (try some no-look throws)
• Play “P-I-G” or “H-O-R-S-E” where each player gets a letter if the ball is thrown to them and they drop it or snatch at it.

In each case, the goalie is focused on watching the ball into his/her hand and receiving the ball with soft hands.

Rabbit and Dog Agility Drill

This drill is going to help the goalie’s agility and reaction speed.

One player plays the role of the rabbit and the other player the dog. Set up two cones 6 feet apart.

The Rabbit moves back and forth laterally and the Dog must copy his movements, mirroring his lateral movements.

The Dog must read the Rabbit’s change of direction and copy his movements. Go for about 20-30 seconds, 3 sets. Then switch roles.

Here is a video demonstrating the drill:

Footie

Here’s a drill I picked up from MLL Pro John Galloway seen above. It’s called footie and it helps goalies learn to step to the ball and get the feet instinctively moving when you see a shot.

It’s a great drill to include in the warmup and also to perform at halftime to get the feet going.

Goalie stands with his hand behind back while a teammate shoots low worm-burners at his feet. The goalie will step to the shot and block it with his foot.

Drive your foot to the ball, finish the save balanced, and then reset.  After lots of reps of this drill the goalie will be trained to move his/her feet immediately when a shot is incoming.

Wrapping Paper Drill

Many times in a game a goalie will need to make a save through traffic. This is a great drill from I learned from Devon Wills to simulate that and also work on a goalie’s reaction time.

This drill also helps the goalie track shots.

Great drill. This goalie (Gussie Johns from USC) should be working on not giving up rebounds though 🙂 What can I say, as a coach, I’m also looking for points to improve upon.

 

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If you’re looking for even more lacrosse goalie drills, check out these 2 posts:

• 8 Advanced Lacrosse Goalie Drills
• 10 Excellent Lacrosse Goalies Drills To Improve Your Game

Conclusion

If you want fast feet and quick reaction time, you have to work hard.

Even though you may not have been blessed with these attributes it is possible to increase your foot speed and reaction time using these 18 lacrosse goalie drills that I describe above.

Some of these drills you can do by yourself while others require a partner or a coach.

While some (like jumping rope, agility ladder, and mini hurdles) are not specific to lacrosse goalies, they do work on skills that all champion lacrosse goaltenders excel at.

Now get out there and get to work!

Until next time! Coach Damon

What are some of your favorite lacrosse goalie drills? Let me know in the comments.