High school is a time when you can really hone your lacrosse skills, but you can also develop some bad habits that college lacrosse coaches don’t appreciate. If you want to play at the next level, get back to the fundamentals and don’t worry about your so-called “swag.” Here are three habits you should drop before trying to impress college lacrosse coaches.

1. The swim dodge – While Paul Rabil makes it seem effortless and utterly effective, we’re not all 6’3” and 200 lbs like him. For most of us the swim dodge never works and looks pretty stupid. If you’re going to try this move, make sure you can really do it, otherwise you’ll end up on your back with a turnover on your stat line. If you want to impress college lacrosse coaches, we recommend you stick to split dodges and leave the swimming to Michael Phelps.

2. Under-Hand Shots – While there is a time and place for under-hand shots in lacrosse, they’re usually a bad idea. If you want to get recruited, develop a consistently accurate, strong overhand shot. While they may not be as flashy as going low to high, overhand shots allow you to hide the head of your stick longer, making it harder for the goalie to see the ball and make the save. Fundamentally sound shooting is essential if you want to play college lacrosse, so grab a bucket of balls and start taking over-hand reps.

3. One-Handed Ground Balls – There is never a time or place to scoop the ball one-handed. Not only do one-handed ground balls make you more vulnerable to checks and turnovers, they are lazy. You have to be tough, but getting ground balls consistently is a surefire way to get playing time. So use two hands, bend your knees, and scoop through the ball, and you’ll be getting more calls from college lacrosse coaches.

Flashy may work in high school, but fundamentals rule the college game. If you want to play at the next level, consider dropping these three habits before college and check out our other lacrosse tips at CoachUp.

Whether you are a lacrosse coach or an up-and-coming player, be sure to check out the rest of our lacrosse articles.

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