Man Down Defense: A Catalog of Drills

Coach Tiffany presents a step-by-step development of the fundamentals of man down defense. He begins with a discussion on personnel. A decision must be made between the best defenders and a specialty unit. Players must be intelligent and have a good stick. Man down defense relies on anticipation of skip lanes and the ability to knock down passes and shots. Tiffany has created a catalog of drills that can help identify and improve the personnel for man down defense. The 2 v 1 knock down drill works on the drop step technique and the 4 v 2 drill puts two defenders in an urgent situation and requires communication and changing positions. The 5 v 3 drill addresses the skip lanes. A series of drills get progressively more challenging for advanced players. A drill to develop offense and man down defensive technique is the 3v2/4v3/5v4 drill. A section on terminology is important to define all-important verbal calls in lacrosse. Man down schemes used against the 3-3 offense include the center string, the diamond, 4v3 up top and 3v2 up top. Defending the 1-3-2 offensive, Tiffany diagrams on the white board using both 5 man and 4 man schemes. He then takes to the field to demonstrate many of the drills and schemes. Game clips of the man down defense show the system in action.105 minutes. 2008.