Gould Academy Varsity Boys' Lacrosse Coach Jim Dock's presentation from the 2013 US Lacrosse National Convention: Backer Zone Defense The Husky Way.

1. Backer Zone Defense
The Husky Way
Presented by:
Jim Dock
Boys’ Varsity Lacrosse Program Director
Head Coach
Gould Academy - Bethel, Maine

2. Thank Yous
• Gould Academy
• Coach Zach Lehman
• Greg Gilman & Dirk MacKinght
• US Lacrosse

3. Backer “Gold” Mantra
• Pressure the ball when it’s in your zone
• Get to the ball when it’s in the air
• Play your man to take away the ball
• If you get beat, get beat to the inside
• When you get beat to the inside, follow
the ball and seal off the rollback

4. Purpose of Gold Zone
• Force opposing teams out of their
comfort zone
• Since it’s a zone, MDD will improve
• Pressure them to make mistakes
– Pass earlier than they normally would
– Pass or shoot under pressure
– Take outside, low-percentage shots

5. Actual First Meeting Footage

6. “Gold” Backer Zone Set
SSM SSM
Backer
Crease Man
Pole Pole

7. Gold Personnel
• SSMs Up Top & Bottom Corner Poles:
Must be aggressive, have good field
awareness, & be disciplined
• Backer: Most athletic & aggressive pole
• Crease: Quickest & best takeaway man
• Goalie: Good at saving outside shots

8. Who Does What???

9. Bungee Principal:
• All players are on a imaginary bungee
cord that runs from their waist to the
center of the goal line
• When the ball is in their zone, they
extend out and stretch the bungee
• When the ball leaves their zone, the
bungee pulls them back into the hole

10. SSDM Up Top On-Ball
• SSDM steps up to play the ball in his zone
• Take the ball or get beat to the inside
• Drop step to show dodger the inside lane
• Seal off the O’s rollback
• Do not cross the “Rhino Line”
• When your man passes the ball off,
slough-in to 3-5 yards above the crease

11. SSDM Off-Ball
• Sloughed-in 3-5 yards above the crease on their
side of the “Rhino Line”
• Should have back to the ball, facing his man to
avoid getting caught ball-watching
• Sticks are up to the inside blocking passing lanes
• As soon ball is in flight to his man, he goes to him
and tries to get there before the ball does
• SSDMs have backer responsibilities for the poles
on their half of the field

12. Bottom Corner Poles
• Main responsibility is blocking the passing
lanes with their sticks and sniping “nuggets”
• When playing the ball, follow the Gold
Mantra
• If there’s a mismatch, apply more pressure
• Do not follow ball or engage behind GLE
• SSDMs have their back

13. Backer
• Backs up the ball in the bowtie
• Steps up with authority to meet the ball
when it’s in his zone
• Force the ball carrier to pass, shoot, or
rollback into the SSDM for the double
• Backer is always between the ball and
the crease man

14. Crease Man
• Only defenseman that plays the ball behind
the crease (3-5 yards from crease)
• When the ball is behind, crease man takes
the top side and gives the inside roll (where
the backer is waiting)
– Crease man & backer should use the crease
itself as a “third man”
– When the crease man goes behind, the furthest
SSDM covers the crease & the other SSDM
covers the two top zones

15. How Gould Uses Gold
• After a time out or on a restart, we go
into our Gold set
• We prefer to have our SSDMs on the
field, but all middies have practiced Gold
• We use it no matter what the O set is
• If O overloads to one half, we “Bingo” out
of Gold into our “Husky” man defense

16. Special Situations & Calls
• “Regular”: Allows adjacent passes
• “Apache”: Cover ball & lock off adjacents
• “Fish”: All-out pressure to take advantage
of a mismatch
• “Ironman”: Lock onto dominant player or
use against a mismatch

17. When Things Go Wrong
• SSDM turns ball carrier to the outside
• SSDM crosses the Rhino Line
• Failure to hand off the ball carrier
• Bottom corner poles are sleeping
• Backer comes with their stick instead of
their shoulder
• Bungee failure
• Communication breakdown

18. Implementing
Gold
Practice 6 on 5
•Practice against
several O sets (1-4-1,
2-2-2, etc.)
•Focus on off-ball
movement
•Keep sticks up in
passing lanes
•Cut off crease man
•Run at game speed

19. Dodges From Up Top

20. Dodges from X

21. When Backer Works

22. Contact Coach Dock
• dockj@gouldacademy.org
• www.gouldacademy.org/lacrosseblog
• Cell: (207) 318-9603
• Office: (207) 824-7774

23. Thank You

24. Coming Up at 11:00am
Ballroom – Mini Keynote
John Danowski, Duke University
How To Better Understand Your
Players/Coaches and Adapt Skills To Succeed
(w/Matt Danowski)
107AB
Reid Jackson, Positive Coaching Alliance
Double Goal Coach I