From the Box to the Field: A Breakdown of Saskatchewan vs Halifax

Box Lacrosse is a game that I didn’t have much exposure to growing up. As more American players play box, and box principles continue to show up in the field game, we find it important to continue to learn and study this game.

Why Study Box?

In this blog, we will take a look at several clips and concepts from this NLL Week 1 matchup for parents and players to study and see how they can connect to the field. Be sure to checkout our blog for other breakdowns and thoughts from our staff at 1stclasslax.com/blog.

Feeding

One thing that always impresses me about box players is their quick snappy feeds. They’re often in a triple threat position, ready to pass, shoot, or dodge. Given the 1 handed play, as players play to their natural side, this also results in a lot of back hand, BTB, and one handed feeds. Let’s take a look!

This clip is a tough one handed pass while under pressure. The passer is able to have touch and give the shooter a soft catchable pass for a great shot. It’s impressive recognition of spacing and a silky touch pass in tight space. Box players get a lot of chances to feed and receive in tight windows.

We often think of the “stick has eyes” saying when referring to shooting. Here is a crazy example of using the stick to reach and find a passing lane. The concept clearly can be applied to passing as well as finishing. Field players can continue to expand how they think about their feeding angles.

Mark Matthews is a player who I’ve always looked up to and been so impressed by. We played together briefly for the Atlanta Blaze and I watched countless videos of him in 2011 and 2012 when I was still in high school. 10 years later and he’s still dominating. Check out these two feeds. He’s in a triple threat position, but a low one by his waist. He smoothly can box fake or BTB fake, get off a shot, or eventually feed like he does in both of these. It’s so impressive because he can get his defender to commit even more with the threat to shoot.

Wind Ups

Wind ups are something we talk a lot about in the form of hitches. We refer to players hitching and being a threat to shoot, and using that to create opportunities to hitch and attack or even sell the shot and feed it. Let’s take a look at a few great examples.

Here we have a great wind up and pass through some pressure. He leaves the stick back and loaded, which allows him to use his wrists to snap the pass off. Additionally, take a look of the deception where he’s able to hold onto it for longer and even turns around the recovering defender, who thinks he shot it!

This second clip is a perfect windup roll dodge, or what you’ve commonly seen me refer to as a hitch and roll! The dodger feels the defender over-step to topside, and then rolls and quickly gets his stick back his shoulder. It’s a great move for field players to dig into more because coming out of the roll, if you assume they are on their natural side, it automatically gets the stick back to the middle (more angle!)

Let’s take a look at a great example of how this translates to field. In the Fall Classic, Canada scrimmaged Virginia. Checkout this fantastic example of a wind up to skip pass on extra man offense. The windup attracts eyes and can cause less sticks to be in passing lanes than a normal feeding posture!

Pick Play

Lastly, let’s take a look at some simple pick concepts. Again, as you see more box lacrosse on the field, picking is something that doesn’t always come natural to pure field players, especially given some players’ lack of exposure to similar games like box, or basketball!

Here is a great example of the non-ball carrier setting a deep pick, which allows the ball carrier to come topside with more room for a shot. The deeper pick also makes backside help farther away, and in this case, absent in a subbing situation. Let’s also study this technique, what I’ll call the “Spin Seal” for now. Kevin Crowley put me onto it and it showed up here. Before even making the way over to set the pick on the ball carrier’s defender, the picker spins and effectively seals his own man, and creates a double pick for the ball carrier. This deception is a great way to pin your defender!

Here’s a nice example of an off ball double pick. The pickers double down pick, and make it very hard for outside defenders to make a play on the shooter. This is a nice set play and produces a quick hands free release. Take note how the top picker is able to get a piece of two defenders to give his teammate enough time.

Lastly, repicking is a key concept that field players need to continue to get comfortable with. Here, the picker recognizes a switch, and quickly re picks and ties up the new on ball defender. This produces for a great screen shot with shooters hands free. I often like to encourage our pickers to be “dynamic”, establishing a mindset where they need to be fluid and ready for constantly changing situations as opposed to being static and dull in their motions.

When picking in box, you see some really physical picks set in the back of the defender. This clip shows a nice example of that. The picker doesn’t allow the defender being picked to play the switch, and works hard to get himself open. I also love the subtle windup here to really make the defender step out to further open up the pick and roll.

Despite our blog getting lengthy here, it only felt right to share this clip from our 4v4 Pairs drill in Best In Class 2024 this past August. Attackman Aydan DiRocco(2024, Haverford HS) sets a great pick here and immediately rolls to the net on contact! Many players set picks and allow themselves to be covered, and this is a great example of how the box can translate onto field play.

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