Men's lacrosse
Authors: Don Zimmerman & Peter England
Publication date: 2013
The Skinny:
Though cerebral and wordy, this is a masterful compilation of modern ideas with a very good balance between development and complexity. It lacks visual aids to accompany the narrative, but books are for reading and this one is a gem. It’s heavier on individual skills, focusing on the importance of fundamentals. Its chapter on player characteristics is the finest attempt to capture the essence of athleticism.
Drills:
There are three or four drills for every aspect of the game and they are mostly just a brief explanation of the set-up and execution. In team offense and defense, they are better diagrammed. There is substantial focus on both face-offs and goaltending—two areas which are usually shortchanged in books of this nature.
Usefulness:
The book places you more on the field during practice and less in the office preparing for practice. Zimmerman and England are exemplary teachers: skimming the fat and sticking with simple but effective tactics you can use immediately. If you can only buy one lacrosse book, this possibly makes it into the conversation. But to augment a collection of coaching books, this is a no-brainer.
Extras:
There’s a table of contents at the beginning and an author biography at the end. In between is pure lacrosse talk. No fluff.
Sports Illustrated Lacrosse: Fundamentals for Winning
Author: David Urick
Publication date: 2008
The Skinny:
An overall honorable attempt to summarize lacrosse as a team sport. A pleasantly (and surprising) amount of 10v10 tactics for a book on fundamentals. Weakness is in the photography which is grainy and outdated. Graphs and charts are clean and creative, especially in the team defense section. Good chapter summaries with checklists and bullet points of emphasis. Urick gives the right amount of detail in explaining a concept without boring or overanalyzing.
Drills:
Very few drills that are mapped and diagrammed. The author mentions drills and practice ideas designed to develop concepts and strategy. This book could certainly add a section devoted specifically to drills, but it’s honest about “what it is” early on.
Usefulness:
This is a really good book for defense and transition with a lot of focus on collaboration and movement. The offensive material isn’t bad, but it lacks creativity and versatility. Stick skills for the players are worth reading about and it spends a fair amount of time on coaching goalies. There should be books dedicated to that alone, so when we see one with a lot of depth, it makes us excited.
Extras:
Not too many bells and whistles. Your standard run-of-the-mill glossary of terms, a two-page history of the sport, and a toe-tip into the waters of rules and regulations. The book is meaty with team tactics, and if that’s what you’re looking for, what else do you really need?
Lacrosse Fundamentals
Author: Jim Hinkson
Publication date: 1993
The Skinny:
This book is Canadian as it gets. In fact, it’s technically about box lacrosse. But with a heavy focus on individual skills and fundamentals (compared to Hinkson’s 1996 follow-up: Lacrosse Team Strategies), there are aspects that are timeless and germane—even to American field lacrosse twenty-four years later. Except the mullets. My god, the mullets.
Drills:
There could be a thousand drills in this book, but you’d never know it. Some just have an idea for a name plus a one sentence description. The rest is left up to your imagination. But the book is just “tough” that way and you’ll be stronger for it. Our favorite are the “attitude” drills, designed to instill “aggressiveness, persistence, and determination.” But always with a “Sooree” at the end.
Usefulness:
The book is a classic, so there’s usefulness in that alone. How much of a Canadian box lacrosse book from the year Jurassic Park came out applies to practice planning today? You’d be surprised. Hinkson takes a no-nonsense approach to telling you what’s important about lacrosse skills and spends a lot of time with 1-on-1 offensive and defensive tactics; the fundamentals of which ring true today as they did back then.
Extras:
Mullets. Lots and lots of mullets.
honor roll