One of the most important aspects of training for any sport is the work athletes put in outside of practice. For lacrosse players, wall ball is a popular form of training that can be done outside of practice and almost anywhere. Wall ball helps athletes practice catching, passing and shooting and perfect the basics of lacrosse.

Wall Ball tips with Chazz Woodson

New to wall ball or lacrosse in general? We got to hear from Coach Chazz Woodson about the basics of wall ball and important tips to remember in order to be efficient when putting in reps. Keep reading or watch the below video to hear from Coach Woodson himself!

Truths about wall ball

Now, Coach Woodson suggests that you don’t need to spend hours each day at the wall. He believes that just 10 minutes each day of dedicated, hard wall ball work will deliver arguably better results, as you aren’t exhausting yourself with too many reps. 

“Ten minutes a day on the wall for a week – 70 minutes – is about a season’s worth of touches if you’re really working hard.”

– Coach Chazz Woodson

The benefit to working hard in those ten minutes of wall ball each day is that the wall will work just as hard as you do. If you throw soft passes to the wall, it’ll give you soft passes back. If you throw hard passes at the wall, it’ll give you soft passes back. It’s important to remember what kind of player you want to be both on and off the field, and think about what kinds of habits will help you achieve your goals.

Getting Started

Grip is an integral piece to the outcome of a wall ball session. The grip that you have determines your ability to control the lacrosse stick, and you want to avoid a bad grip so you don’t learn bad habits. Here’s how Coach Woodson suggest finding the best grip:

1. Extend your dominant hand straight out in front of you, holding the lacrosse stick in the opposite hand.
2. Take the end of the lacrosse stick and place it on the inside of your elbow.
3. Grab the stick with your dominant hand, as if you were going to shake hands with someone.

Keeping a loose grip with the stick in this position, you should be able to use your wrist to control your shots and move the stick with ease.

On the Wall

In the video, Coach Woodson then goes on to demonstrate himself playing a bit of wall ball. Afterwards, he breaks down several observations.

• He never stood with his feet and hips square to the wall. He made sure to angle his body in order to shoot and receive passes as if he were playing with a partner, simulating how he would react in actual game play.
• He was constantly shifting his weight. Similarly to standing at an angle to the wall, in actual game play, you are constantly shifting your weight. This allows your body to do the right work in order to send and receive passes the way you would when playing in a game or at practice.
• When passing with one hand, he kept his arm raised above his head, not bent in front of him with his hand in line with his shoulder. This keeps you from pushing the passes out in front of you and allows you to use your wrist to complete the pass with full range of motion.
• The idea is always to get the ball in and out of your stick as quickly as possible. In order to achieve this, you may find it helpful to choke up your grip on your stick for some passes, like when holding the stick in your non-dominant hand. This allows for greater control over your passes in terms of speed and accuracy. 

Put that all together, and you’re practicing like a pro!