Using Video Analysis in Lacrosse Coaching

Why video earns its place at grassroots level

Most grassroots coaches across the South West are working with a couple of hours of pitch time a week, a mixed-ability squad and a handful of willing helpers. In that setting, every minute counts, and the gap between what you think is happening and what is actually happening can be surprisingly wide. A player who looks slow off the dodge may simply be starting her cut half a metre too early. A defensive unit that appears to be conceding from the top may actually be losing shape on the second slide.

Video closes that gap. Filming training and matches gives you a record you can pause, rewind and watch at half speed, and it gives players something far more persuasive than a coach's memory. Done well, it is not about producing polished highlights. It is about giving clear feedback and planning sessions that target what your squad genuinely needs.

You do not need a budget for this. A phone, a cheap tripod and a parent willing to stand behind the goal will do more for your coaching than any amount of expensive kit.

Keeping the setup simple and repeatable

The best filming routine is the one you can actually sustain through a wet Cornish January. Fuss kills momentum, so settle on a method and repeat it every week.

• Film from height if you can. A balcony, a bank behind the pitch or the top of the stand shows you shape, spacing and off-ball movement that a touchline view flattens out completely.
• Use a tripod or a clamp. Handheld footage is unwatchable after ninety seconds. If the wind is up on an exposed pitch near the coast, weigh the tripod down with a kit bag.
• Shoot landscape and wide. You want to see the whole attacking third, not one player's shoulders. Zoom only when filming individual technique.
• Record in short blocks. Three to four minutes at a time is plenty. Long files are a nightmare to review and no one watches them.
• Protect the kit. A simple rain cover, a lens cloth and a spare battery will save you on a drizzly evening in Taunton or Torbay.

Name your files by date and session theme — "12 Mar, clearing shape" — so you can find the clip you need in ten seconds rather than twenty minutes.

What to film — and when

Training and match footage serve different purposes, and it helps to be deliberate about both.

In training, the richest footage usually comes from small-sided games. Sixes and sevens on a reduced pitch reproduce the decision making you care about most: when to push, when to settle, when to pass out of a double team. Film from the side so you can see both the ball carrier and the support runners. For stick work and shooting, move closer and film side-on — this is the clearest way to show a player that her hands are dropping or that she is shooting across her body.

On match day, resist the urge to follow the ball. Keep the camera steady on a half or a third of the pitch and let the play come to you. Then clip out short moments that illustrate a theme:

• A settled attacking set, to review spacing and cut timing.
• A clear or a ride, to look at outlets and support angles.
• Draw or face-off contests, to examine body position and reaction.
• Transitions, both ways, which is where most grassroots games are won and lost.

Giving feedback players can actually use

A twenty-minute video review will lose a squad faster than a freezing warm-up. Keep clips short — fifteen to thirty seconds is ideal — and build each one around a single point.

Ask before you tell. "What do you see here?" gets a player thinking; a five-minute monologue gets her nodding politely and learning nothing. Then add one piece of information she can act on: "Your first two steps are going away from the goal — can we get them going across the face instead?"

Show good examples as often as poor ones. Nothing lifts a training session like a clip of the under-14 defender executing a perfect check, or of a midfielder recognising the overload and switching the point of attack. Players remember the moment they were held up as the standard.

Finally, make the footage easy to reach. Watch it on a tablet at the side of the pitch while the squad is stretching, and share short clips into the club group chat so players can look again at home. Keep the tone constructive and specific — video should feel like a tool, not a tribunal.

Turning what you see into session plans

This is where filming starts to pay you back in coaching time. After each match, note two recurring themes rather than ten scattered observations. Two is manageable; ten is noise.

Say your footage shows your attack repeatedly bunching on the left-hand side. Your next session might open with a passing and cutting drill that forces a switch, move into a three-on-two that rewards reversing the ball, and finish with a conditioned game where a goal only counts if the ball has crossed the centre before the shot. Everything in the session traces back to something the players saw on screen, which makes the purpose obvious and the buy-in far easier.

Reviewing footage monthly also lets you track progress honestly. Coaches are notoriously bad at noticing gradual improvement, but a clip from October next to one from February settles the argument.

Making it stick across a season

Share the load. Rotate the filming duty between parents, injured players and assistant coaches, and keep a simple shared folder so nobody is hunting for footage the night before a session. Not every week needs a full review — one match and one training block a month is enough to keep feedback fresh without burning anyone out.

Start small. Film one drill this week, watch it back with two players, and plan one adjustment. That single loop, repeated honestly through the season, will sharpen your squad faster than any amount of extra fitness work — and it will make you a more observant coach in the process.