5 Practical Ways to Use Constraints in Lacrosse

Happy Sunday, Coach.

Welcome back to FCL’s Coaches Corner. Our quote of the day is from Dave Webster, the Head Coach of Dickinson Men’s Lacrosse.

Let’s rock,

Matt Dunn & Deemer Class

(Missed the last Coaches Corner? Catch up here.)

Today’s Quick Links for Coaches:

CLA content is everywhere right now, and quite honestly, it can be intimidating. It often reads like theory with scientific jargon which is interesting to talk about, but challenging to put into practice. So we want to help distill it down into actionable insights.

Everyone writing this newsletter coaches. We are out on the field regularly practicing what we preach. We’ve been running these constraints firsthand at FCL events, at BIC, and in individual training sessions for a few years now.

We believe in them because we see the power they can have. However, they are not without challenges.

We know firsthand that they are often easier said than done. New concepts create natural friction for players and coaches alike.

Jamie Munro broke down the ecological dynamics foundation behind this on a recent episode of the FCL Podcast.

Today we will give you five constraints we actually use, and the honest reality of running them.

Set up a drill with a scoring system. For example, the defense wins with ten stops, and the offense wins with five goals.

Here is the kicker: the offense is only given two "lives". Every time an offensive player forces a feed into the crease or takes a fundamentally bad shot, they burn a life. If they lose both lives, they lose the entire segment.

This constraint plays directly into a player's natural competitive drive. It forces immediate, internal offensive accountability.

You can use this exact same system for the defense: If you have defenders who are overly aggressive and penalty-prone in practice, give them 2–3 personal lives. If they exceed that number due to reckless play, they "foul out" and sit for the rest of the drill.

Constraints turn into accountability: Naturally, this becomes a highly effective tool for player accountability. It allows coaches to take a step back, yell at players less, and let the scoreboard do the heavy lifting.

Before using this constraint (shoutout to Mikey Thompson, CNU Head Coach for this one), the drill must meet a few criteria:

From there, the point structure is simple:

The Problem It Solves: This stops the offense from force-feeding the crease or chucking a blind "home run" pass/shot as the shot clock expires.

Standard drills accidentally teach players to panic-throw the ball away at the buzzer.

In a real game, an empty, retained possession is exponentially better than turning the ball over. This scoring system rewards sound decision-making and instantly forces players to value the ball under pressure.

Drills often become highly scripted and linear, stripping away player autonomy and reducing engagement. If the defense knows a pick is coming every time, they tend to cheat the drill.

Instead of dictating a single, rigid behavior, give your players a menu of 3–4 tactical options and let them call the look.

Take 4v4 segments for example. Instead of requiring a pick to be set before every shot, allow the offense to organically choose between a pick, a slip, a fly-by, or a mirror.

Because the outcome isn't predetermined, the segment replicates game reality. The defense is forced to read and react, and the offense is given the creative freedom to just be lacrosse players.

On the field, we want adaptable playmakers. Why not give them some ownership of their drills?

This is a concept we have been diving into heavily over the last few months. (Check out our latest blog post here for a deep dive).

The idea is straightforward: explicitly define what a Gold, Silver, Bronze, and No-Medal shot looks like for your offense. Once your team knows the standards, build a competitive environment around them:

This connects shot selection to a competitive framework, rewarding elite looks while actively penalizing undisciplined shooting and poor decisions.

Shot clocks are one of the simplest constraints to implement, but they remain highly effective.

Introducing a finite time limit naturally forces faster processing speeds and rapid decision-making. Players are forced to work much harder to intentionally create an early advantage because they know the clock is ticking.

This can be as simple as a coach verbally counting down a 7-second shot clock each rep. No need for an actual clock.

The Catch: While a shot clock increases the pace of play, it can also lead to reckless decisions as time runs out. To prevent this, use your shot clock in conjunction with a "Lose a Life" system or the 3-2-1 scoring structure to reinforce decision making.

While a constraints-led approach sounds great on paper, the practical application is where coaches often stall out.

Remember: a constraint is a strategic tool designed to guide an outcome, not just an annoying rule to enforce.

Staffing and Managerial Requirements:

At our BIC Men’s event, running a 3-2-1 scoring system alongside a shot clock required active personnel to track time and calculate points simultaneously. If you are short-staffed, have the players keep the score themselves. It forces them to stay locked into the drill's objectives and drastically reduces your managerial load.

Let it be Messy:

When you first introduce these rules, the drill may look ugly. Players will misread coverages, make bad passes, and fail often.

That is completely fine. In fact, it's the entire point. Resist the urge to blow the whistle and over-coach.

Use the 70% Success Rule: if the offense scores every rep, tighten the space or cut the time; if they can't score at all, dial the difficulty back.

Let the constraint do the teaching.

Overcoming Coach Resistance:

If a constraint feels chaotic or uncomfortable for you or your staff, run it anyway.

Traditional drill habits are hard to break. So are bad habits in games. Players need to solve problems under pressure in practice first.

Though you may need to grit your teeth for a bit, players will adjust to the environment and this will help them become better players down the line.

Loopholes

Athletes are smart. If there’s a way to win the drill without doing the thing you want, someone will find it.

Do not get frustrated when they game your system. Treat loopholes as a prompt to adjust on the fly.

It may mean you need to add in a shot clock, or that you need to add a scoring system that penalizes an action.

We encourage you to work through these loopholes. The more practice you have with using constraints, the better you will get at foreseeing loopholes and adjusting.

That is it for this weeks coaches corner. If you use constraints in your practices, we would love to hear about the constraints you use, any experiences you have had with constraints, and what impact it is having on your players.

Thanks for stopping by the office. If you are looking for a deeper dive, we have posted numerous videos on our Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube channels.

Stay tuned for more content and email us at [email protected] with any questions and let us know your thoughts.

This week’s freebie is from our webinar with Coach Ajax Zappitello. Coach Zappitello delivered a webinar centered around sliding and off-ball technique.

It is an extremely insightful webinar where Coach Zappitello dives into hot technique, slide technique, and off-ball technique as well as discussing multiple drills for each area.

We wanted to highlight a segment where Coach Zappitello discusses the keys to a great hot technique.

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