School Lacrosse: Scooping Ground Balls

A soft-lacrosse skills session on scooping ground balls, the play that decides the most possessions in a game. It moves from individual technique to a non-contact 1 vs 1 battle.

How to play

1. Guided technique: knee bent, bottom hand low near the head of the stick, stick nearly flat to the ground, push through the ball and bring the stick up to your face to protect it (4 min).
2. Solo scooping: each student rolls their ball, chases it, scoops it and runs out cradling; ten reps with each hand low (6 min).
3. Partners: one rolls the ball diagonally and the other scoops on the run and passes it back (5 min).
4. 1 vs 1 battle: the teacher rolls the ball between two students 5 meters away; whoever scoops it and carries it to a cone scores a point (7 min).
5. Review: each pair says what technical mistake they made at first and how they fixed it (3 min).

Rules

• No hitting the opponent's stick or body during the battle.
• The stick never goes above the head.
• Battles start from the same spot and distance to avoid head-on collisions.
• The ball is touched only with the stick, never with the hand.

Variations

Adaptations

• Wheelchair users: use a longer stick or a ball pickup tool and scoop balls that come to their side.
• Back injury: scoops by bending the knees with a straight back, no battles.
• Students with less coordination start with a tennis ball, which rolls slower than a rubber one.

Learning goals

• Master the ground-ball scoop.
• Protect the ball and run out cradling.
• Compete for possession without contact.

Equipment for a class of 25

• soft lacrosse sticks: 30
• soft balls: 15
• cones: 20

Teacher tip

Intercrosse or soft-lacrosse sticks both work; if you don't have enough, run stations with half the class scooping tennis balls by hand. Typical mistake: trying to scoop with the stick upright like a shovel.

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