Lacrosse Video Tip

Presented by Brian Lalley, Camp Director
St. Olaf College - Boys Lacrosse Overnight & Day Camp

Behind the Back Pass / Shot

Celebrating and having fun at camp!

Xcelerate Nike Lacrosse National Program Director, Brian Lalley, discusses Behind The Back Pass/Shot:

Lacrosse is definitely a sport where players are constantly pushing the boundaries of what we believe to be fancy and unnecessary to the area of creative and advantageous. Much like the between the legs or behind the back dribble used to be considered flashy in basketball, mastering the behind-the-back pass or shot in lacrosse is a creative play that has significant advantages.

REPS!!

To execute a behind-the-back pass or shot, you first need to have some patience and realize this takes years of practice to become very confident and efficient at it. Practicing against a wall or rebounder, as well as with friends / siblings in the back yard to maximize your repetitions is crucial to mastering this skill.

Technique

What makes the behind-the-back tricky is the steps are opposite from throwing a normal overhand pass. To throw a normal pass, we start with the top arm bent and straighten it out on the follow through. With behind the back, the top arm starts straighter and then bend the arm and snap the top wrist behind the head.

Once you begin to develop the muscle memory of this motion, making sure your body is in line to your target to maximize your accuracy is very important. Many young players try to step wide of their target to help turn their hips and shoulders. This pass / shot should be executed with arms and wrists and not your hips and shoulders.

When to Use

The reason the behind-the-back can be so advantageous is that it quickly changes your angle of release. If the defense is rotation and someone is open to your opposite hand, the ball carrier can throw a behind the back pass instead of switching hands and rolling pressure. This creates a quicker pass which allows the receiver to have more time to be a triple threat decision maker.

This becomes a great shooting opportunity when the shooter’s angle has diminished. For instance, if a player catches the ball coming across the crease and has very little angle, shooting behind the back puts their stick closer to the middle of the field with more angle to the goal. It is also a hard shot for the goalie to find as the head of the stick is momentarily hidden behind the shooter’s head.

Xcelerate Nike Lacrosse Camps
Increase your lacrosse knowledge and gain valuable experience at a Xcelerate Nike Lacrosse Camp in North Carolina. We have two boys camps and a girls camp this summer at UNC Charlotte.