Offensive Structures That Can Be Taught and Learned: Principles-Based Offense

As we progress as lacrosse athletes, we must begin to master an understanding of different offensive zone structures, ideologies, and concepts in order to harness our full capabilities and potential as elite players.

One offensive zone structure we can learn and master is called a principles-based offense. In this system, coaches emphasize fundamental concepts and guidelines over rigid, predetermined plays. As players, we must operate with an understanding of multiple core principles that guide decisions for ourselves, our teammates, and even in response to opposing players during the game. This approach fosters flexibility, adaptability, and creativity, allowing offenses to respond dynamically to various defensive tactics.

This article provides a step-by-step analysis of what a principles-based offense entails, its components, and its application in gameplay. It also outlines advantages and strategies for coaches to effectively implement it during practices and game plans.

Key Components to Principles-Based Offense:

To run a principles-based offense successfully, we must understand its essential components. These elements are crucial to the structure, flow, creativity, and freedom within this style of play.

Understanding the Core Principles

SPACING:

The first major component of understanding is the idea of SPACING. Spacing is the idea of maintaining an optimal amount of distance between teammates. This is to force the stretch of opposing defenders to create what we call "time and room" to create dodging, passing, and shooting lanes.

BALL MOVEMENT:

The second major component of understanding is the idea of BALL MOVEMENT. This is the idea of being able to emphasize quick, precise, smart, and powerful passes and movement to help shift defenders to create opportunities to attack the goal (pass...dodge...shoot)

OFF-BALL MOVEMENT:

The third major component of understanding is the idea of OFF-BALL MOVEMENT. This is the idea of being able to engage in active running, moving, switching, cutting, two-man actions, and repositioning by teammates without the ball to create opposing defensive confusion and potential mismatched opportunities. To put this in simple terms, you are NOT just standing there watching the ball or the ball carrier. You are moving efficiently to open space or designated spots to create team offensive opportunities.

COMMUNICATION.

This is the idea of providing consistent and constant verbal and non-verbal (hand signals, body language, etc.) cues to coordinate actions against structured defensive set-ups.

READ A DEFENSE.

This is the idea of being able to assess defensive structures, set-ups, formations, and even defensive personnel tendencies to be able to exploit opposing teams' weaknesses or mismatches.

What Can We Do As Coaches To Help Players Feel Comfortable Implementing This

Player Encouragement and Empowerment:

As coaches, encourage players to make real-time decisions based on the principles taught. This will help foster a higher lacrosse IQ as players learn to read the game and anticipate plays.

Allow Creativity and Freedom:

As coaches, encourage your players to utilize their own individual skills and creativity within the framework of the team’s offensive principles. This encourages individualistic improvisation success when opportunities arise in gameplay.

Be Comfortable Adapting:

For this ideology to work, as coaches, you must be able to and comfortable enough to adapt. Adjusting on the fly against different forms of defensive strategies and structures is pivotal in reducing forms of predictability in the offensive zone.

Point Out Forms of Unintentionally Implemented Success to Foster Confidence:

As coaches, it is vital for us to point out forms of these concepts working to our team and players, even if it was done unintentionally. This helps build forms of confidence in our players to trust themselves and each other to run a principles-based offense in gameplay.

Advantages of a Principles-Based Offense:

UNPREDICTABILITY: 

THIS IS THE BIGGEST ADVANTAGE YOU CAN HAVE WITHIN AN OFFENSIVE ZONE IN LACROSSE!!!!!!!!!! Being able to run an unpredictable offense is crucial to gameplay success. This is largely because then opposing defenses cannot anticipate or scout structured movements or gameplan against set-rigid plays.

PLAYER DEVELOPMENT:

Running a principles-based offense will help enhance players' understanding of the game in the offensive zone, which will improve their decision-making and awareness while fostering the building of their lacrosse IQ. Which will create stronger and better players.

TEAM COHESION:

This promotes massive amounts of teamwork because it forces all players to work together, but more importantly, trust each other and their decisions they are making. As well as fill in left or open spaces to maintain positive offensive zone structure.

How To Properly Implement a Principles-Based Offense as a Coach

As a coach, if you choose to go down the route of introducing forms of a principles-based offense to your team. Whether you're a new first-time coach, a parent coach who has never played the game before, or have massive amounts of playing and coaching lacrosse experience, it is important to understand that you cannot just throw all this information out to your team at a practice or game and expect them to understand and comprehend what to do after a few reps at it. There's a reason principles-based offenses are successful; it is because they are complex for defenses to figure out, which makes it complex for an offense to master. To approach the introduction of a principles-based offense, my advice would be to go about it in this fashion.

Provide an educational focus right away. Begin by bringing the team together and have a "classroom" or "chalk talk" type discussion where you teach and reinforce the core offensive principles of this offense. Start with the basic concepts such as spacing, communication, etc, and once EVERYONE understands, then begin to introduce the more complex topics. This would be a form of incremental learning.

Once understood, begin the next phase I call "practice plan strategies". This is where you introduce scenario-based structured drills. These are drills that replicate gameplay scenarios that force your players to harness and utilize these new understanding concepts. You can also begin to introduce small-sided games. This will emphasize more touches and quicker movements.

Sample Drills You Can Introduce:

Bob The Builder

Russian Paradox

Battleship

Gretzky Drill

Offense vs Defense

Numbers

Begin to foster team bonding on and off the field to strengthen trust and communication. Consistent lineups also help players recognize each other’s tendencies and strengths. As well as reinforce progress consistently in practices and games. Positive feedback builds confidence and accelerates learning.

A principles-based offense in lacrosse offers flexibility, creativity, and dynamic play. By teaching and reinforcing fundamentals such as spacing, ball movement, and communication, teams can adapt to any defense. While there will be challenges during the introduction and implementation, the long-term benefits—player development, team cohesion, and unpredictable gameplay—make it one of the most effective offensive strategies in lacrosse.