Liam Banks’s Lacrosse Tip: Coach the Fundamentals

Liam Banks

Major League Lacrosse veteran stresses stick skills to youngsters

By Craig Haley
PlaySportsTV Managing Editor

Liam Banks laughs about the notion that Liam Banks the player might not always want to play for Liam Banks the coach.

“Liam Banks the coach makes kids run lot of sprints,” he says. “Liam Banks the player does not like to run lots of sprints.”

The Major League Lacrosse veteran attackman, who is playing for the Chicago Machine in 2009, relies on many of the lacrosse drills, as well as conditioning, that he learned at Syracuse University, where he earned the most outstanding player award at the 2000 NCAA Division I Final Four, when the Orangemen won the national championship.

Many athletes become coaches after their playing days end. Banks, however, has been doing that since before he began his MLL career. He was a camp counselor while playing for Syracuse lacrosse, has coached at many clinics, has created the LB3 club teams (there are seven teams) and camps – short for Liam Banks #3 – and has been an assistant coach on the high school and college levels. He believes the best way for coaches to teach youngsters how to play lacrosse is to stress individual skills and team fundamentals.

“I think the first thing when you’re coaching young players and getting kids involved is you have to understand that the kids have to fun,” Banks says.

“Basically when I go out to teach kids, I want to teach them stick skills. When they go to the next level, they have the right tools necessary to be successful. You’ve got to create a lot of stick skills – catching, throwing, scooping – but also make sure they are having fun as they’re doing it.”

As Banks’ PlaySportsTV lacrosse videos attest, he is a proponent of developing lacrosse stick skills through wall ball drills. This individual work provides a great way for youngsters to work on eye-hand coordination, strengthen wrists and get comfortable with passing, catching and shooting.

A youth lacrosse player can practice wall ball for countless hours, often creating drills – like counting how many times he hits a spot on the wall. Such devotion can eventually separate the better players.

“You need to have something kind of inside of you that makes you competitive,” Banks says. “The reason the wall is great is because you’re the only one getting better. No matter what I’m doing I always want to be the best at it. So going to the wall you can challenge yourself to get better, set goals for yourself. If you don’t reach the goal and you move on to the next drill, you’re only cheating yourself. It’s kind of like looking in the mirror. What a gut check for yourself.”

Not surprisingly, some of Banks’ other favorite lacrosse drills involve shooting. A simple drill like filling an empty net will teach youth players accuracy and timing. Also, Banks recommends that coaches put several cones about 10 yards apart in front of the goal. Players can practice split dodges and roll dodges around the cones to set up shots.

Banks says lacrosse coaches need to simulate game speed during practices. He says the sport has changed with bigger and stronger athletes who play at a fast pace. MLL rosters, for example, look more like all-star rosters in 2009, and the team that emerges to a championship level likely will have unselfish players who make the extra pass or are most willing to win groundballs.

Banks says it’s up to youth lacrosse coaches to bring out such traits in players. He has had plenty of experience displaying them as both a player and coach.

“I think (a lacrosse coach) has to generally be a leader, a friend, he also has to discipline,” Banks says. “I think for me it’s a little easier to coach and perhaps kids will listen because of my resume that I’ve worked pretty hard in the past to put together. So they kind of adapt a little bit with me. For other coaches, my suggestion would be to really keep it light and get the kids’ attention and focus on the right things. That will make it easier to get the results that you’re looking for.”