Our “Coaches Clipboard” is a collection of quotes, pertinent phrases, knowledge and wisdom. Shared every now and then on a Sunday. It’s our "thinking menu" with some bits and pieces we came across…
#sharetheknowledge 🙂

Read. Enjoy. Think. Share.

1. Step into the arena, lay it on the line, care deeply, make yourself vulnerable, and fully live your one and only life.

2. Magic always moves towards souls who are no longer negotiating with fear.

3. Forgive yourself for not knowing earlier what only time could teach.

4. No farmer ever digs up the roots to make sure they have embedded into the soil. They trust their methods, support their seeds with nourishment, and never rush their work. Their support is what develops their crop.

5. Silence is more powerful than trying to prove a point.

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6. Nothing in life is of any value unless it is shared with others.

7. The confidence and comfort of sharing your story comes from knowing that impact always outweighs opinions. Judgment never prevails. Your vulnerability will.

8. Believe you can, and you’re halfway there.

9. Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up, it knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn’t matter whether you’re the lion or a gazelle-when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.

10. If I were less afraid of others’ opinions, what would I say?

Hope you enjoyed these… happy coaching!

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Connection is more important than tactics
- Adam Commens, high performance director for Hockey Belgium

You can have the most detailed game plan in the world. Press triggers mapped to the second. Set pieces rehearsed until players could run them blindfolded. A structure so well drilled that every position on the pitch has a name, a number, and a responsibility matrix to go with it. And then the whistle blows, the opposition does something you did not expect in the first five minutes, and everything you prepared starts to unravel. Not because the tactics were wrong, but because the players executing them did not truly know each other.

Adam Commens has coached at the highest level of international hockey, including his role as High Performance Director with the Belgian Hockey Federation during the Red Lions’ rise to the top of the world game. When he reflects on what separated the teams that won gold from the ones that fell short, he does not start with formations or pressing patterns. He starts with connection. “Connection is more important than tactics,” Commens says. “Both teams that won gold spent an enormous amount of time learning the why behind each individual.” His top three priorities as a coach? Connection with players first. A culture where innovation flourishes second. Understanding what the world’s best looks like third. Tactics did not even make his top three.

That is a provocative claim, especially for coaches who have invested thousands of hours in video analysis, tactical periodisation, and game modelling. But Commens is not saying tactics do not matter. He is saying that without genuine human connection between the people on the pitch, even the best tactics become fragile. And when connection is strong, tactical execution follows naturally, because players who deeply understand each other make faster decisions, take better risks, and recover from mistakes without the whole system collapsing.

TL;DR

The best tactical plan in the world falls apart when players do not genuinely know and trust each other. This article explores why elite coaches like Adam Commens put relationships before game plans, how connection shows up in small on-pitch moments that win matches, and what you can deliberately do in your training environment to build the kind of trust that makes tactics actually work. With insights from coaches and experts across international hockey, this is a challenge to the assumption that more tactical detail always equals better performance.

Sources

This article draws on insights from the following content on The Hockey Site:

1. Common Themes of Top Teams — Adam Commens

2. Values Based Coaching — Adam Commens

3. 3 Rules for Building Better Team Connections

4. Team Dynamics — Theo ten Hagen

5. The Power of a Clean Ego — Iain Shippey

6. Tactics, Trust and Team — Graham Reid

7. Diversity Is a Superpower — Rein van Eijk

What “Connection” Actually Means at the Elite Level

Let us be honest about what we are not talking about. Connection is not a team dinner. It is not a ropes course. It is not even the barbecue after preseason camp, as enjoyable as that might be. Those things have their place, but they are not what Adam Commens means when he puts connection at the top of his coaching priorities.

At the elite level, connection means something far more specific. It means that when a midfielder receives the ball under pressure, the forward on the opposite side of the pitch has already started a run, not because a coach drew it on a whiteboard, but because that forward genuinely understands how the midfielder thinks, what that body position means, and what option will be created in the next two seconds. It means a defender covering a space without being asked, because knowing a teammate’s tendencies is so deeply embedded that the response is almost unconscious. It also means a forward sprinting back when needed because he has the back of his teammate, even when his dedicated role is to stay upfront as the target striker.

Commens describes it this way: “You need to really understand each of the individuals that you’re working with and form a connection with them. You don’t have to be best friends, but you need to understand where these athletes come from.” That distinction matters. This is not about forced friendship. It is about genuine understanding. Where does this person come from? What drives them? How do they respond when things go wrong? What do they need from the people around them to perform at their best?

Theo ten Hagen, who has worked with some of the top clubs and national teams in Dutch and Belgian hockey, puts it in behavioural terms. Through his work with personality profiling, he discovered that players on the same team often have fundamentally different preferences for communication, feedback, and stress management. “Some people like to have quite tough feedback,” ten Hagen explains. “And some people have to be a little bit more careful because they have another preference.” The teams that succeed are not the ones where everyone is the same. They are the ones where people know each other, understand and respect those differences.

This is what connection means in practice. Not a vague sense of togetherness, but a precise, working knowledge of the people you share a pitch with.

Why Connected Teams Make Faster and Better Decisions

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The thoughts below is about that player. More specifically, it is about what we as coaches miss when we let volume dictate visibility, and what changes when we start coaching for personality, not just performance.

If you have ever watched a quiet player drift to the edges of the group and wondered whether you could be reaching them better, this one is for you.

TL;DR

Most coaching environments unintentionally reward extroversion. The players who speak up, react visibly, and demand attention tend to get more feedback, more game time, and more belief invested in them. Introverted players process information differently, not less effectively, but through observation, reflection, and internal rehearsal rather than external expression. When coaches adjust how they communicate, structure feedback, and design training environments, they unlock the potential of players who may already be among the smartest readers of the game on the team. These thoughts draw on five different masterclasses with world renowned experts, to explore why quiet players get overlooked, what that costs the team, and what practical changes coaches can make starting this week.

Sources

In case you want to more in depth, these were the sources we looked at:

1. The Pygmalion Effect, featuring Ric Charlesworth 🇦🇺 , Andreu Enrich 🇪🇸 , and David Harte 🇮🇪.

2. Diversity is a Superpower, featuring Rein van Eijk 🇳🇱 🇩🇪

3. Team Talks: Emotions, Energy, and Engagement, featuring Mati Vila 🇦🇷

4. The Cognitive Process of Coaching, featuring Henk Verschuur 🇳🇱

5. Values Based Coaching, featuring Adam Commens 🇦🇺 🇧🇪

The Coaching Culture That Rewards Volume

Let’s be honest about something. Most coaching environments, at every level, are built for extroverts. The players who talk the loudest in the circle get seen as leaders. The ones who celebrate the hardest after a goal get noticed. The ones who demand the ball, call for switches, and shout instructions are the ones we tend to describe as “having presence” or “showing character.”

None of that is wrong. Those players matter. But here is the question worth sitting with: what happens to the players who lead differently?

In The Pygmalion Effect, Andreu Enrich presents four findings from research on how teacher and coach expectations shape outcomes. When a coach believes in a player, that player receives a warmer climate, more content, more opportunities to respond, and more constructive feedback. The reverse is also true. When a player does not register on a coach’s radar, because they are quiet, because they do not demand attention, they gradually receive less of all four.

Now think about your squad. Who gets more of your words during a session? Who do you naturally gravitate toward in a break? It is usually the player who engages you, who asks questions, who reacts. The introvert standing three metres away, absorbing everything, often gets less. Not because you have decided they are less talented. But because the feedback loop between coach and extroverted player is faster and louder, and over time that gap compounds.

Ric Charlesworth puts it plainly: “Almost the worst thing you can do with a player is sit them on the bench and not use them, because the message then is, I don’t believe in you.” The same principle applies to communication. When a quiet player consistently receives less feedback, less eye contact, fewer individual moments, the unspoken message lands the same way. You are not seen.

Different, Not Less

One of the most damaging assumptions in coaching is that quiet equals disengaged. It does not. Introverted players are often doing enormous amounts of cognitive work. They are watching, mapping the game, running mental simulations. They just do it internally.

Henk Verschuur explains this beautifully in The Cognitive Process of Coaching. He describes how players process information differently depending on their cognitive state, their attention level, and even the pace at which a coach delivers a message. “If this coach is talking slowly,” Verschuur notes, “possibly their attention level or heart rate will go down a little bit and therefore they perceive more.” In other words, the speed and volume of communication directly affect how deeply a player can process it.

For an introverted player, a loud, high-energy team talk can actually reduce comprehension. Not because they are not listening, but because the environment does not match their processing style. They need a beat longer. A quieter space. A moment to organise their thoughts before being asked to respond.

This is not a weakness. This is a different cognitive pathway. And if you watch closely during matches, you will often find that the players who process most deeply are the ones making the best decisions under pressure. They have already rehearsed the scenario internally before the ball arrives.

Adjusting How You Give Feedback

So what changes? It starts with how you communicate.

Read more

Our “Coaches Clipboard” is a collection of quotes, pertinent phrases, knowledge and wisdom. Shared every now and then on a Sunday. It’s our "thinking menu" with some bits and pieces we came across…
#sharetheknowledge 🙂

Read. Enjoy. Think. Share.

1. I trust you, make the call.

2. Let people surprise you. Some will disappoint you, yes — but some will show up in ways you never expected.

3. Leadership isn’t forged in one defining moment—it’s built in the everyday decisions we make about how we listen, how we invest our time, and the standard we choose to live by.

4. Choose people over positioning. Titles change. Relationships carry you when the room empties.

5. Leadership is not built through slogans (like this one). It is developed through shared challenge, disciplined preparation, sound decision-making, and collective ownership.

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6. Leadership question: Can you see potential before it’s obvious?

7. Leadership question: Can you create belonging in high-pressure environments?

8. Leadership question: Can you develop someone beyond your own skill set?

9. Leadership question: Can you put those you lead in the best position to excel?

10. The real question is not: Are you in leadership? The real question is: Are people rising around you?

Hope you enjoyed these… happy coaching!

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Why the Upright Hit Still Matters

Today’s field hockey is heavily dominated by push passes, sweeps, flicks, and overheads. This has led to the near-extinction of the upright hit as a primary skill in pivotal moments. Especially post build-up, breaking lines, and structured counterattacks. Despite statistics showing 70% of passes are pushes and only a handful of hit passes outside shooting or corners, the upright hit offers solutions no other technique can provide at speed when executed correctly.

The hit pass, done well, is more than nostalgia. It’s a tactical weapon. It allows teams to skip defensive lines, introduce variety, and add unpredictability, particularly against compact or well-drilled zonal blocks. Modern teams that embrace this, like the Indian women’s team, manage to manipulate opposition defensive structures not by chance, but by intent.

How to Implement This in Day-to-Day Training

• Include It in Your Drills: Integrate upright hit passes into warm-ups and small-sided games. Let athletes play ‘mini-golf’ style hitting games, or only award points for hits that reach a target zone. This introduces the skill in a “no-pressure” context.

• Purposeful Scenario Training: Specifically coach hit passes in build-up phases, counterattacks, and ball entries into the circle. Start with low-pressure scenarios, as “if you use that, we have big chances to get successful,” as Fede Tanuscio highlights.

• Emphasize the Short Grip: The modern evolution of the technique, the short grip upright hit, is faster and doesn’t force players to break their stride, making it more compatible with present-day hockey tempo. “If I have to pick one, I will take one of that,” Tanuscio said regarding technique selection.

• Decision-Making Cues: Teach your ball carrier to assess time, space, and numbers before opting for a hit. Ask, is there a link or ‘chest’ player available, and what’s the defensive structure ahead?

This “missing chest,” or link pass, is the essence of the upright hit. Using it to break lines when opportunities present, not just as a relic of slower tempos.

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That experience is what this article is about. Not midfield dominance in the highlight-reel sense of a spectacular solo carry, but the quieter, more decisive kind: the team that consistently wins the transition zone, connects pressing recoveries to forward play, and creates problems for the opposition before they have time to organise. The kind of control that does not always show up on social media but absolutely shows up in the result.

What follows draws on insights from several coaches who have explored these ideas in depth through The Hockey Site masterclasses and workshops. We will look at what midfield dominance actually looks like when you watch a game closely, how numerical superiority through the middle is created and exploited, why off-ball movement is the real currency of midfield control, how pressing recoveries connect to attacking play, and — critically — how you can train all of this into your team through session design. Along the way, there are a few practical training ideas you can steal, adapt, and make your own.

TL;DR

Midfield dominance is not about having the most talented players in the middle of the park. It is about transition speed, off-ball intelligence, and the habits your team falls back on when time and space disappear. The best teams win the midfield by connecting defensive recoveries to forward play through principles like third-man runs, diagonal movement, and disciplined rest defence. This article unpacks how that works tactically and gives you session ideas to train it. Read on if you want the detail.

Sources

The following content from The Hockey Site was used to inform and shape this article:

→ Managing Transitions — Andreu Enrich

→ Counter Attack — Fede Tanuscio

→ Defensive Transitions — Russell Coates

→ Third Man Combinations — Russell Coates

→ Off Ball Principles

→ From Game to Training — Fede Tanuscio

→ Rest Defence in Field Hockey — Fede Tanuscio

What midfield dominance actually looks like

Let us start by getting specific, because “dominating the midfield” is one of those phrases that gets thrown around in team talks without anyone really defining what it means. Here is what it looks like when you actually see it in a game.

The team that dominates the midfield is the one that controls the transition zone — that messy, chaotic strip of the pitch where possession changes hands and the next five seconds determine whether you are attacking with purpose or scrambling to recover. Fede Tanuscio puts it well when he breaks the game into four phases: off-ball, defensive transition, offensive transition, and on-ball. And then he says something that should make every coach sit up: the magic happens in the transitions, not in the structured phases. That is where the outcomes live. Everyone more or less knows how to set up a standard press or run a structured outlet. The hard part — the part that separates good teams from the rest — is what happens in those in-between moments.

When you watch a team that owns the midfield, you will notice a few things. First, when they lose the ball, their midfielders react before the opposition can organise. Russell Coates talks about reaction time being one of the most important principles in defensive transitions — not just physical speed, but how quickly a player’s brain switches from “I was attacking” to “I need to press, cover, or track.” Second, when they win the ball back, they do not just secure it — they immediately look to play forward through central channels or switch the angle of attack. There is an urgency without panic. And third, their off-ball movement creates a web of passing options that makes the ball carrier’s decisions easier, because the picture ahead of them is already arranged.

That last point is worth dwelling on. A masterclass with Ben Bishop on off-ball skills put a number on it that always sticks: roughly 97% of the game is played without the ball. So when we talk about midfield dominance, we are mostly talking about what players do when they do not have possession — their positioning, their leads, their communication. That is the engine. The ball movement is just the output.

Creating and exploiting numerical superiority through the middle

If midfield dominance is the goal, numerical superiority is the mechanism. The question is how you create it in a sport where everyone is marking someone and space is at a premium.

One of the most powerful concepts here is the third-man combination. Russell Coates dedicated an entire workshop to this, and the idea is elegant in its simplicity: when two players combine, a third player uses that moment to break into space that the combination has opened. The first pass draws attention. The second pass exploits the gap that attention created. What makes this relevant to midfield play is that third-man runs are how you manufacture overloads without needing to commit extra players from the back. A midfielder receives, plays a short combination with a forward or a wide player, and a second midfielder times a run through the channel that just opened. Two players became three in the space of a second, and the opposition’s midfield is suddenly outnumbered.

Coates emphasises that this only works with pre-scanning. The third-man runner has to know the space exists before the ball arrives. That means heads up, a quick check over the shoulder, and the discipline to hold the run until the right moment. When he shows video of it working at club level, the pattern is always the same: the player who makes the decisive run has already scanned, already identified the gap, and is moving into it as the combination unfolds. It looks instinctive, but it is trained.

Fede Tanuscio approaches the same problem from the transition angle. His four-step counter model starts with identifying where you recovered the ball, then how you recovered it, then spotting the free space, and finally playing what you see. What is interesting about this framework is that it puts the recovery zone front and centre. If you win the ball centrally through an interception, the opposition tends to be stretched wide, leaving vertical space through the middle. That is when you go direct and fast. If you win it through a duel on the flank, the opposition tends to be compressed centrally, so the space is wide. The midfield’s job is to read that picture instantly and choose the right route — and that choice is made in the middle of the pitch, in the transition zone, in a fraction of a second.

Tin Matkovic adds another layer when discussing one-up situations. Even when the numerical advantage is structural — the opposition has been carded — the principle of creating a domino effect through the midfield still applies. You find the two-versus-one somewhere on the pitch, you make the opposition shift, and then you exploit what that shift leaves behind. Matkovic talks about making the opposition move at least twice before putting the ball in the circle. That patient, probing approach through midfield — finding the overload, forcing the adjustment, then attacking the space that adjustment creates — is the essence of using numerical superiority intelligently rather than just running at people.

The role of off-ball movement and timing

This is where the conversation gets uncomfortable for a lot of coaches, because off-ball work is genuinely hard to coach and even harder to measure. But it is the single biggest factor in midfield control.

Think about it this way. When a midfielder receives the ball under pressure,

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“Enthusiasm is common. Endurance is rare.” — Prof. Angela Duckworth

👉 (Passion + Perseverance) x Long Term Goals = GRIT

In U12 hockey, coaches rarely lose players because they cannot dribble or hit hard. They lose players because the game starts to feel like a judgement. A mistake becomes something to hide. A tough opponent becomes a reason to switch off. A louder teammate becomes a reason to stop asking for the ball. In other words, the constraint is psychological, not technical.

According to Angela Duckworth, professor in psychology and a MacArthur Genius Grant winner for her research, GRIT is not a synonym for being “tough.” It is a combination of passion and perseverance toward a goal that takes a long time to achieve. [1]

That matters in U12 field hockey teams because a lot of what we call “quitting” is not actually a lack of character. It is often a lack of interest (the passion side), a lack of skills to recover (the perseverance side), or a situation that makes trying feel too costly. Duckworth also distinguishes grit from self-control or discipline. Self-control is the everyday ability to resist impulses and do the small things, like going to bed on time or doing the boring rep. Grit is the longer arc of staying committed to something that matters to you.[1]

So for U12s, grit is not about demanding adult-like resilience. It is about helping players find reasons to care, teaching them what to do next when it goes wrong, and designing an environment where they keep choosing to try again.

Duckworth makes a crucial point for coaches here: before you ask children to “work hard,” you have to help them choose easy — the version of the task that feels doable and worth engaging with. In her words:

“Choose the easiest one. Choose the one that you want to think about. Choose the one that you’re good at. Yeah, work hard, but first choose easy!”

When you start there, you create early “I can do this” moments, which keeps motivation alive long enough for perseverance to form. In U12 hockey terms, that means designing first reps and first games where success is frequent (not just scoring, but winning the ball back, getting a clean receive, offering again after a mistake), and then gradually turning the dial up. Grit, for children, is built step-by-step — not by throwing them into the deep end and calling it resilience.

Field hockey adds a particular twist. The sport has lots of micro-failures. First touches bounce, tackles miss by a stick length, and decisions have to be made under speed. If the coaching environment makes those moments feel costly, players protect themselves by playing safe, hiding, or disengaging. If the environment makes those moments feel informative, players stay brave, and bravery becomes the visible face of grit.

This article draws on the following from The Hockey Site:

• Lisa Letchford: “Basic Skills through Small Sided Games”

• Henk Verschuur: “Coaching! The Cognitive Process”

• Mati Vila: “Emotions, Energy, and Engagement: Building Better Team Talks with Mati Vila”

• Andreu Enrich: “Learning Environments”

• Tin Matkovic: “The Evolution Of Creativity”

What “grit” looks like on a hockey pitch at U12

If we keep grit abstract, it becomes motivational wallpaper. In U12 hockey, grit is a handful of behaviours you can see. A player who gets tackled and immediately offers again. A defender who concedes a free hit and then resets body shape instead of arguing. A goalkeeper who lets in a soft goal and still communicates. A team that is losing and keeps attempting the same brave solutions, but with slightly better choices each time.

This is why I like to treat grit as a training outcome, not a personality trait. It is something the group does, not something a child either “has” or “doesn’t.”

Henk Verschuur’s point about the cognitive process of coaching matters here. In pressure moments, players can only take in so much information, and the coach’s tone and timing determine what actually lands. The same is true in children’s hockey, just with a lower threshold. If a coach overloads the moment with criticism, the child learns that pressure equals threat. If a coach reduces the moment to one clear cue and a calm reset, the child learns that pressure is manageable.

Grit is built through interest, commitment, and situations that help

“We need to be gritty about getting our kids grit.” — Angela Duckworth.[2]

If you want a practical coaching translation of Duckworth for youth, it is this. Grit grows when young people are allowed to sample widely at first, find what genuinely sparks their interest, and then, over time, commit more deeply to the right hard thing.[2][1]

This is important in U12 hockey because the aim is not to make every child “specialise” in gritty suffering. The aim is to help them build a healthy relationship with hard things. Duckworth’s “hard thing rule” for kids captures this nicely:

Children choose a hard thing themselves, they do not quit halfway through a season, but they are allowed to quit at the end if it is not the right fit, and try a different hard thing instead.[2]

That framing keeps grit from turning into stubbornness. It also protects joy. The coach can hold standards for effort and commitment inside the season while still being curious about whether the child is in the right place long-term.

A second youth insight from Duckworth is that grit is often forged in a crucible of challenge plus support. Challenge on its own can break confidence. Support on its own can produce comfort without growth. The combination is where children learn, “This is hard, and I can handle it.”[1]

U12-specific reality: motivation is fragile, attention is narrow, and meaning is social

At U12, players do not persist because a coach explains the value of long-term goals. They persist because the next repetition feels safe enough to attempt and meaningful enough to care. In practice that means three things.

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Our “Coaches Clipboard” is a collection of quotes, pertinent phrases, knowledge and wisdom. Shared every now and then on a Sunday. It’s our "thinking menu" with some bits and pieces we came across…
#sharetheknowledge 🙂

Read. Enjoy. Think. Share.

1. You are not supposed to carry everything alone.

2. Not all unfinished things are failures. Some are future chapters.

3. Comparison steals the joy you already earned. Walk your path, not someone else’s highlight reel.

4. Give yourself permission to restart, reset, and refocus— as many times as necessary. Growth isn’t linear.

5. Learning requires the humility to admit what you don’t know today.

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6. When we’re adding someone new to the team, the question isn’t only Can they do the job? but Can they help us grow?

7. Today I will prioritize intentional quiet time

8. “Do your job” is a wonderful slogan if you completely understand what the job requires.

9. If your peace depends on everything going right, it’s not peace. It’s control.

10. What am I doing about the things that matter most in my life?

Hope you enjoyed these… happy coaching!

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Got some urgent coaching questions? ↓

“Aerials are at the moment right now, in my opinion, like a normal passing skill. In the future, I think that this should be done already with under-12s, 14s, with a normal passing. Like, we learn how to hit as soon as possible. As soon as we have an individual capable of doing a high ball, that’s the soonest that we can play on.”

That quote from Tin Matkovic, currently coaching in Germany and working with the Polish national team, should probably make a few of us stop and think. Because if we are honest, most coaching programmes still treat the aerial as a specialist trick rather than a foundational skill. And yet here is a coach operating at a serious international level telling us that the high ball belongs in the same toolbox as the push pass and the hit. Not as a last resort, not as something you only let your strongest player attempt, but as a core part of how your team moves the ball.

The crucial lesson here is simple but maybe uncomfortable for many coaches: if you are not integrating aerials into your training from a young age, you are already behind. The game is evolving, players are getting smarter and more creative with how they use height, and the teams that treat the aerial as just another way to pass are the ones creating problems that defences simply cannot solve.

Why You Should Watch the Full Masterclass

This article captures the key insights from Tin Matkovic’s masterclass on The Hockey Site, but the full session goes much deeper. Tin walks through video clips from international matches, breaks down specific tactical scenarios in real time, and shares his screen to illustrate landing zones, defensive structures, and creative aerial execution in ways that are hard to do justice in written form. If you are a paid subscriber, the full video is available behind the paywall and it is well worth your time. Seeing the clips alongside Tin’s analysis gives you a completely different level of understanding compared to reading about it. The interactive Q&A with coaches watching live also adds a layer of practical discussion that you will not want to miss.

Takeaway 1: Know Your Landing Zones and Read the Opposition

“You imagine that you have an NFL match where every meter counts. So this is what we want. We want to sometimes skip the game.”

One of the most valuable parts of Tin’s presentation is how he breaks down the concept of landing zones. Rather than just lumping all aerials into one category, he explains how the choice of where to land the ball changes completely depending on what the opposition is doing defensively.

When playing against a zonal defence, Tin prefers landing zones on the outside of the field rather than through the middle. The reason is tactical and quite elegant. If the zonal team wants to intercept or contest the ball within the five-metre rule, they have to shift and stretch their shape. That movement opens up space through the middle of the field for a flat pass, a “Flach” as Tin calls it. So the aerial to the side is not the end goal, it is the trigger that forces the defence to react, and that reaction creates the real opportunity.

Against man-marking systems, the game changes. Here it is about momentum and speed into empty space. You are trying to manipulate your marker and then exploit the gap that opens when they cannot keep up. The landing zone is less about fixed positioning and more about timing your run to arrive in space before the defender can recover.

The takeaway for coaches is that aerials are not a one-size-fits-all solution. You need to prepare your team to read the defensive structure they are facing and adjust their aerial targets accordingly. Training sessions should include scenarios against both zonal and man-marking setups so players learn to recognise which landing zones to target in the moment.

One practical way to build this recognition is through freeze-play scenarios. Stop the game just before an aerial might be an option and ask your players: what is the defence offering? Where would the ball land? What would the next action be? Then, after matches, map your aerials onto a simple field grid with your players, marking where successful deliveries landed versus where turnovers happened. When the team builds that picture together over time, the landing zone concept stops being the coach’s idea and becomes the team’s shared language.

Takeaway: Train your players to identify the opposition’s defensive system and choose their aerial landing zones accordingly. The aerial itself is only the first action in a chain, what matters is the space it creates and how your team exploits it.

Read on for the full breakdown: how to manage the player who overuses the aerial, why there is no “golden technique” for teaching it, and what to bring to training on Monday. Exclusive for paid subscribers.

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“A good tackle is a moment. Good defending is the five seconds before it.”

Youth coaches are brilliant at teaching how to tackle. Stick down. Two hands. Get low. Time the jab. And yes, those details matter.

But here’s the pattern most of us have seen a hundred times: a young defender can tackle perfectly in a technical drill, then completely freeze in a game. Not because they forgot the technique. Because they don’t know which decision the moment is asking for.

They’re stuck choosing between being brave and being safe, and they’re doing it in half a second with a striker running at them.

So if you want confident defenders, you can’t just coach tackling technique. You have to coach the choices that come before it. The decision layer is what turns “I hope I don’t get beaten” into “I know what I’m trying to make happen.”

TL;DR

Confident defending isn’t a personality trait. It’s a repeatable decision process. When defenders learn a simple decision tree (delay, channel, press, tackle) and understand the role of the second defender, they stop panicking and start playing. The technique still matters, but it becomes the tool that serves the decision, not the thing they gamble on. Use progressive practices that start in 1v1, then add recovery defenders, then add transitions, so the decision-making grows with the chaos.

Sources to explore further

• The Second Defender’s Checklist — A practical decision tree for when to hold, switch, release, or commit in double defending.

• Robert Noall - 1v1 in game situations — How to coach 1v1 defending in realistic game contexts, not isolated technique drills.

• Russell Coates - Channel & Shave — The body shape and footwork cues that let defenders channel first and tackle only when the moment is on.

• Russell Coates - Defensive Transitions — The recovery mindset and first actions after losing it, so defenders don’t panic-tackle in chaos.

• Danny Kerry - Closing & tackling in a zone defence — Who closes and who holds in a zonal system, so tackling becomes a team decision.

• Fede Tanuscio - Rest Defence in Field Hockey — How structure behind the ball reduces fear and helps young defenders defend intentions, not just positions.

What confident defending actually looks like in young players

When a young defender is confident, it’s not that they tackle more. It’s that they look less rushed.

They arrive earlier. They take away something specific. They shape the attacker’s run. They buy time. And if the tackle is on, they go. If it isn’t, they don’t force it.

The opposite is the defender who feels the moment slipping away. They sprint, they lunge, they “try something,” and then they’re out of the play. That’s not a technique failure. It’s a decision failure under pressure.

This is why the “second defender” concept matters so much at youth level. When players start to understand that defending is a partnership, and that someone is covering behind them, they stop feeling like every moment is life-or-death. And here’s the thing… once a defender trusts that the situation is controlled, the technique almost always improves without you having to nag it. Because the body is calmer. The feet are calmer. The stick is calmer.

The decision tree a defender faces: delay, channel, press, tackle

If you want a simple coaching model that holds up, steal this structure.

First you delay. Then you channel. Then you press. And only then do you tackle.

Read more

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: most teams spend most of their defensive preparation on how to press, and probably a lot less on what happens when that press breaks. Yet the moments immediately after a press is bypassed are often the most dangerous in the entire match. Get those first few seconds wrong, and you’re not just conceding possession. You’re conceding high-quality chances.

This article is about those critical seconds. Not the press itself, but the recovery. Not the ideal scenario, but the messy reality when your structure fractures and you need to rebuild it before the opposition punishes you. And yes, it’s a long read… but worth it we think ;)

TLDR:
When your press breaks, you have roughly 4 seconds to reorganize before danger develops. This framework gives players three clear roles—Delayers (apply immediate pressure), Deniers (close passing lanes), and Droppers (get goal-side)—plus decision triggers for when to re-press versus reset. Master the recovery, and you'll maintain defensive solidity even when your primary plan fails.
Read it all to discover the training progressions that make this automatic, the common breakdowns that lead to catastrophic counters, and the advanced variants for elite teams to turn defensive chaos into their next attacking opportunity.

We’ll address:
- The reality of the Modern Broken Press
- The 4 Second Reset Framework
- Avoiding the Catastrophic Counter
- Decision Triggers
- Training the Reset
- Troubleshooting the Reset
- Why This Matters
- More Advanced Variants and Creative Strategies

Some of the sources used:
- https://my.thehockeysite.com/p/managing-transitions 
- https://my.thehockeysite.com/p/rest-defence-in-field-hockey 
- https://my.thehockeysite.com/p/defensive-system-variants-and-pressing 

The Reality of the Modern Broken Press

Let’s start with what we’re actually dealing with. When I say “broken press,” I’m talking about the moment when the opposition successfully plays through or around your pressing structure. This could be a sharp vertical pass that eliminates your first line, a diagonal ball that exploits the space between your units, or even just a series of quick passes that pull your players out of position.

The thing is, presses break all the time. Even at elite level, even with the best teams. Andreu Enrich, who coaches in the German Bundesliga and with the German national team, frames it perfectly in his work on managing transitions: there’s a moment after every loss or bypass where the game is completely open, where neither team has proper organization, and that moment is absolutely critical.[1]

The problem isn’t that presses break—that’s inevitable. The problem is what happens next. Do your players have a clear understanding of their roles in those chaotic seconds? Do they know when to keep pressing and when to drop? Most importantly, do they have a framework that allows them to make those decisions quickly and collectively?

This is where the 4-Second Reset comes in.

The 4-Second Reset Framework

The name is deliberate. Four seconds isn’t arbitrary—it’s roughly the window you have between the moment your press is bypassed and the moment the opposition can create a dangerous attacking situation. Miss that window, and you’re defending a counterattack. Use it well, and you can reestablish defensive shape before the danger truly develops.

But let’s be clear about what this framework is and isn’t. It’s not a rigid system where everyone has a predetermined position. It’s a set of principles that allow your players to reorganize quickly based on where the ball is, where the opponents are, and where the biggest danger sits.

Fede Tanuscio, who has worked extensively on defensive transitions at international level, emphasizes that in these moments you’re not defending positions—you’re defending intentions.[2] In the first two to three seconds after your press breaks, you need to read what the ball-winner wants to do. Are they looking to play forward immediately? Are they trying to switch the play? Are they looking to find a central player who can turn and face your goal?

This reading of intention is what separates teams that recover effectively from teams that just chase.

The Three Roles: Drop, Delay, Deny

Within the 4-Second Reset, every player falls into one of three roles depending on their position relative to the ball when the press breaks:

The Delayers are your front-line players—typically your forwards and maybe an advanced midfielder. When the press breaks, their job isn’t to win the ball back (though if they can, great). Their job is to apply immediate body and stick pressure on the ball carrier, denying them time to scan forward and play the dangerous pass. As Tanuscio puts it, you hold your position, you keep your body shape, and you make it difficult for them to execute cleanly.[2] You’re buying time, not committing to tackles you probably won’t win.

The Droppers are your deepest players—your defenders and defensive midfielder. The moment the press breaks, they need to be thinking about getting goal-side. Not just running back blindly to “fill space,” but reading where the opponent’s most dangerous players are and making sure those players can’t receive the ball in behind. Enrich talks about players needing to “find the man”—identify the strikers, identify the runners, and make sure you’re close enough to them that the first forward pass isn’t an easy one.[1]

The Deniers sit in the middle—your central midfielders and sometimes your side midfielders depending on where the ball is. Their role is the trickiest because it’s context-dependent. They need to close down passing lanes without getting eliminated, they need to be aware of runners coming from deep, and they need to support both the delay and the drop. When things go wrong in the reset, it’s usually because these players either push too high (leaving gaps between lines) or drop too deep (not supporting the pressure on the ball).

The magic happens when all three roles execute simultaneously. The delayers create immediate pressure and force a decision from the ball carrier. The deniers compress the middle of the field and make the vertical pass difficult. The droppers ensure that even if that pass does get played, there’s organization behind the ball.

Protecting the Center: The Non-Negotiable

If there’s one principle that overrides everything else in the 4-Second Reset, it’s this: protect the center. Always. When Tanuscio discusses rest defence principles, this is his first and most emphatic point.[2] The center of the field is where goals come from. If you push the opposition wide, you buy yourself time. If you let them come through the middle, you’re in immediate danger.

What does this actually look like? It means your deniers are prioritizing central passing lanes over wide ones. It means your droppers are angling their recovery runs to protect the circle and the slot, not just sprinting straight back. It means sometimes you deliberately let them have the easy wide pass if it means keeping your shape centrally.

This is hard to coach because it feels counterintuitive. Your players see an opponent free on the flank and want to close them down. But if closing that player down means leaving the center exposed, you haven’t solved the problem—you’ve just moved it. The discipline to stay centrally compact while the ball goes wide is one of the markers of a mature defensive unit.

Avoiding the Catastrophic Counter

Let’s talk about the worst-case scenarios. Not just conceding from a broken press, but conceding badly—the kind of goal where you watch the video back and everyone’s in the wrong place, no one’s communicating, and it looks like organized chaos.

These catastrophic counters usually happen because of a few specific breakdowns, and understanding them helps you coach against them.

Spacing: When Gaps Become Chasms

The first problem is spacing. When your press breaks and players start recovering, there’s a natural tendency for gaps to open up between your lines. Maybe your forwards are still high trying to press, your midfield is caught in transition, and your defenders are dropping deep. Suddenly you’ve got 15 meters between your midfield and defense, and that’s where the opposition’s best player receives the ball with time and space to do damage.

Enrich emphasizes that in counter defense situations, you need to think about staying connected as a block.[1] When you’re dropping, you’re not just running toward your goal—you’re maintaining relationships with the players around you. Your defensive line should be talking to your midfield, your goalkeeper should be organizing from behind, and everyone should be aware of where the gaps are forming.

The practical coaching point here is about reference points. In training, when you work on recovery scenarios, constantly pause and ask: “Who can you see? Where’s the gap? Who’s responsible for closing it?” Players need to develop peripheral awareness of their defensive unit, not just focus on the ball.

Communication: The Difference Between Recovery and Panic

Here’s a test: next time your team’s press breaks in a match, listen. Are your players talking? Or is everyone just running?

The teams that recover well are loud. The goalkeeper is calling out runners. The central defender is directing the midfield. Someone is shouting “step” or “hold” to coordinate when to engage the ball carrier. The communication isn’t random—it’s purposeful, it’s constant, and it’s focused on intentions not just positions.

Tanuscio mentions that without clear commands and organization, executing rest defence principles is nearly impossible.[2] The free central defender has a special responsibility here. They can see the whole picture, they can read the opponent’s intention, and they need to be the one calling the organization as the team drops.

But communication isn’t just about volume. It’s about information. “Push up” doesn’t help anyone. “Close the 10, I’ve got the striker” is actionable. Train your players to communicate specific threats and specific responsibilities, not just generic instructions.

Foul Management: When to Hold, When to Hit

And then there’s the uncomfortable tactical question: when do you commit a foul?

Let me be clear—I’m not advocating cynical fouls or anything that ruins the game. But there are moments in a broken press recovery where a well-timed, professional foul in the right area of the field can be the difference between defending a free hit in the midfield and defending a 2v1 in your circle.

The key is location. If your press breaks in the opponent’s half and they’re starting a counter, sometimes the smartest thing your forward can do is force them to stop, even if it means conceding a free hit. You’re trading a low-risk restart for a high-risk transition. That’s good coaching, not dark arts.

But this requires judgment. It requires players who can read the danger level of the situation quickly. And it requires a team culture where taking a tactical foul to help your teammates isn’t seen as a failure, but as a smart defensive play.

The absolute worst thing you can do is commit a foul in a dangerous area. If your press breaks and a defender lunges in desperately inside your 25, you’ve just turned a dangerous situation into a catastrophic one. Better to drop, stay on your feet, and trust your unit to recover together.

Decision Triggers: Re-Press or Reset?

So your press has broken. You’ve got four seconds (probably even less) to make a decision. Do you immediately re-press—try to win the ball back high—or do you drop and reset your shape?

This is the decision that separates the good from the great, and it’s one of the hardest things to coach because it’s so context-dependent. But there are triggers you can train your players to recognize.

When to Re-Press Immediately

The clearest trigger for an immediate re-press is location. If your press breaks in the opponent’s 25 yards, you almost always want to try to re-press. The risk-reward is in your favor. Even if the re-press fails, you’re not in immediate danger because you’ve got numbers behind the ball.

Enrich breaks this down beautifully in his framework for defensive transition: when you lose the ball in their half, the immediate reaction should be to put pressure directly on the ball and cut off vertical passing options.[1] This is what he calls the “counter-press” approach, and it’s predicated on having enough players around the ball to make the press effective.

The second trigger is the ball carrier’s body position and intent. If they receive facing backward, under pressure, without good passing options forward, that’s a pressing trigger. They’re vulnerable in that moment, and if you can collectively squeeze, you can force a mistake or at least prevent them from launching a dangerous counter.

The third trigger is numerical advantage. If the ball has gone to their player but you’ve got two or three of yours nearby who can quickly converge, the re-press makes sense. The key word is “quickly”—if your players have to sprint ten meters to get there, that’s not quick enough. The window has closed.

When to Drop and Reset

On the flip side, there are clear signals that you should abandon the press and get organized behind the ball.

The most obvious is when the ball gets played into space behind your pressing line with good tempo. If they’ve executed a clean line-breaking pass and their player is receiving with space to attack, chasing that is usually suicide. Your defenders need to recognize this immediately and start dropping to protect the center and get numbers back.

Tanuscio talks about recognizing when the ball reaches a “vulnerable zone” in your defensive structure.[3] If the opponent manages to play the ball through the middle of your press into a space where they can turn and face your goal, that’s your signal to stop pressing high and start getting compact low. He calls this “recycling the press”—you drop back, reestablish your shape, and look for the next pressing opportunity rather than chasing a situation that’s already lost.

Another key trigger is when you’re numerically disadvantaged around the ball. If their player receives and they’ve got two outlets immediately available while you’ve only got one defender in the area, the math says drop. You’re not going to win that 1v2, and if you try, you’re just creating more space behind you.

And finally, and this is the hardest one to coach: game context matters. If you’re leading by a goal with five minutes left, maybe your threshold for dropping is lower than if you’re chasing the game. If you’ve just made three or four recovery runs in quick succession and your players are gassed, maybe it’s time to drop and let them breathe rather than chase another press that probably won’t work.

The art of coaching this is giving your players a clear hierarchy of triggers so they can make quick decisions under pressure. Location first, then ball carrier position, then numbers, then context. That’s not a formula, it’s a decision-making framework.

Training the Reset: From Controlled Chaos to Match Reality

Okay, so you understand the principles. You’ve explained the roles. Your players nod along in the meeting room. And then you get to training and realize that understanding something intellectually and executing it under pressure are very different things.

The challenge with training the 4-Second Reset is that it’s a transition skill—it only exists in the chaotic moments between organized phases. You can’t drill it in a static way because the whole point is responding to unpredictability. So how do you train it?

Progression 1: Transition Game with Press-Break Scenarios

Start with a structured small-sided game that forces the press-break situation repeatedly. Here’s a format that works well:

Play 7v7 or 8v8 on a three-quarter pitch. The attacking team (let’s call them blue) is trying to score in one goal. The defending team (red) sets up in a defined pressing structure—could be your diamond, could be your high press, whatever you usually use.

The key variation: blue starts every possession with the ball in their defensive third, and they must complete three passes before they’re allowed to play forward. This gives red time to set their press. Once blue completes three passes, they can play forward—and they get bonus points for breaking the press cleanly with a single pass that eliminates the first line.

This creates the training environment you need. Red is incentivized to press aggressively (to prevent the clean break), but blue is specifically trying to bypass that press. When the press breaks—and it will, repeatedly—stop play and coach the reset. Where should the delayers be? Are the droppers getting goal-side? Are the deniers closing the gaps?

Run this for 4-5 minute blocks. After each block, show video clips of good and bad resets from that same exercise. The immediate feedback loop is crucial.

A variation from Tanuscio’s work: add a neutral player who can only play in the defensive half for the attacking team.[2] This creates an automatic outlet for blue when the press comes, which means red has to constantly work on their recovery shape. It mimics the reality of playing against teams who deliberately build with deep outlets to bypass pressure.

The key coaching moments in this game aren’t when the press works—they’re when it breaks. That’s when you blow the whistle, freeze the action, and make sure everyone can articulate their role in that moment. Who should have delayed? Who should have dropped? Did we protect the center? Are the gaps too big?

Progression 2: Match-Play with Constraints

Once your players understand the roles and can execute them in a more controlled environment, you need to test them in something closer to match reality.

Set up an 11v11 (or 9v9 if numbers are tight) on a full pitch. Play normal hockey with one crucial constraint: every time the defending team’s press is successfully bypassed—and you as the coach are the judge of this—they have to work in a defined zone for the next 10 seconds.

What do I mean by “defined zone”? Mark out an area from the 25-yard line to the halfway line with cones. When the press breaks, the defending team must recover into that zone before they can engage the ball again. This forces them to prioritize dropping and resetting rather than chasing all over the field.

This constraint is artificial, obviously—in a real match, you wouldn’t have a physical boundary. But it’s effective because it makes the reset tangible. Players can’t just mindlessly chase; they have to consciously drop, reorganize, and then engage from a more compact shape.

After 15-20 minutes, remove the constraint and keep playing. You’ll find that the behavior persists even without the physical marker because you’ve trained the instinct to drop first and engage second when the press breaks.

Another variation: play with the condition that the defensive team can only commit a maximum of two fouls outside their own 25 in each 10-minute block. This forces them to be selective about when they press aggressively and when they drop off. It trains that decision-making we talked about earlier—when to re-press and when to reset.

Throughout both progressions, the critical coaching skill is pausing at the right moments and asking the right questions. Not “why did you do that?” but “what were you seeing in that moment?” Not “that was wrong” but “where should you have been and why?” You’re building decision-making capacity, not just drilling movements.

Troubleshooting the Reset: Common Problems and Fixes

Even with good training, things go wrong. Here are the issues I see most often when teams struggle with the reset, along with what’s usually causing them and how to fix it.

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Our “Coaches Clipboard” is a collection of quotes, pertinent phrases, knowledge and wisdom. Shared every now and then on a Sunday. It’s our "thinking menu" with some bits and pieces we came across…
#sharetheknowledge 🙂

Read. Enjoy. Think. Share.

1. If nobody will help you do it alone.

2. Challenges and obstacles are part of the journey. They illuminate the path to success.

3. Have more than you show. Speak less than you know.

4. The best leaders never need to raise their voices. They instead elevate their actions.

5. It’s okay to be a work in progress.

   Thanks for reading The Hockey Site! This post is public so feel free to share it.

   Share

6. It’s okay if you don’t like me. Not everyone has good taste ;)

7. Whatever makes you feel bad, leave it. Whatever makes you smile, embrace it.

8. Surround yourself with people whose eyes light up when they see you coming.

9. Nothing will work unless you do.

10. Where in my craft am I simply interested instead of purposefully disciplined?

Hope you enjoyed these… happy coaching!

Have you seen ? ↓

Got some urgent coaching questions? ↓

Why is this so fundamental? Because a well-organized half-court press isn’t just about sitting deep and waiting for mistakes. It’s about proactively managing space, guiding the opposition where you want them, and, most crucially, making the central area of the pitch into a “no-go zone.” If you fail here, you open yourself to direct D penetrations, chaos, and easy scoring opportunities for the other team.

As Russell Coates put it:

“If your opponent has the ball and he’s looking to pass through you, get down low and try and block that pass.”

What does this mean in practice? Start every training session with this principle at the core of individual and team drills. Whether you’re working on a rondo-based warm-up or a high-intensity small-sided game, challenge defenders to focus on covering passing lanes, especially those into and through the centre. Teach players to see the hotline (the ball-goal line) as the most dangerous channel and empower them to use their body position, stick angles, and… patience to close it off.

Make it a habit:

• Coach defenders to prioritize blocking central lanes over chasing the ball.

• Integrate this mindset into your small-group unit exercises and one-on-one defending sessions.

• On video review, always highlight moments when your team either succeeded or failed to protect the hotline.

This core principle isn’t just defensive—it can actively create counter-attacking chances. By shepherding opponents to wide areas and denying central passes, you not only limit risk, you open the opportunity to win the ball on your terms and counter with numbers, especially down your preferred right side.

Most importantly, commit yourself as coach to reinforce this message every week. Simulate game scenarios where players must repeatedly choose between pinching in on the hotline or gambling outside. When in doubt, opt to block inside and “take one for the team”—it’s the foundation on which the whole system stands.

“You want to be coaching players individually to close down the central passing lane. You want to coach players individually not to lunge in, but to force the attacker outside.” – Russell Coates

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“Transitions are an open situation. It is happening all of a sudden, and it’s always different. You can never find exactly the same transition twice.” — Andreu Enrich

Why youth transitions feel chaotic (even for good teams)

If you coach youth hockey, you already know this moment. You win the ball, and for half a second it feels like you’ve got them. Then the first touch is heavy, a rushed pass gets picked off, and suddenly your team is defending a counter with players facing the wrong way.

Or the other side of the same coin.

You lose the ball, and two or three players feel the turnover… but nobody acts together. One presses. Another jogs. A third goes hunting for a stick tackle they are not going to win. And the opponent gets exactly what every counter-attacking team wants: time to lift their head and play forward.

That is why the “3 seconds after you win or lose it” matters so much.

It is the only phase of the game where:

• Everyone is out of shape.

• Decisions have to be made without certainty.

• One touch can flip the whole pitch.

And here’s the honest bit. Most of us coach the stable stuff more, because it’s easier to plan.

As Enrich says, transitions are “open” by definition. So the goal is not to control them like a set piece.

The goal is to give your players a default.
Not a play.
Not a pattern.
A default decision process and a shared set of behaviours that makes chaos predictable.

TL;DR

If you want youth transitions to look simple, you need three things: (1) a clear “first 3 seconds” decision tree for the ball winner (forward if it is clean, otherwise carry, otherwise link, otherwise protect and reset), (2) a team rule for the first 3 seconds after ball loss that assigns roles (Hunter pressures the ball, Blockers kill the middle and first forward pass, Home players sprint back to protect centre), and (3) rest-defence habits in your attacking shape so you are already ready for the turnover (protect centre, cover and delay, and avoid the double turnover by choosing the right first pass after you regain). Train this in games that create lots of turnovers, and your players stop “thinking about transitions” and start living them.

Some of the sources used:

But you’ll find many more useful videos on The Hockey Site ;)

Quick clarity: what exactly is “the 3-second window”?

Coaches mean different things when they say “transitions,” so here is the definition I’m using.

Offensive transition (win it): starts the moment you regain possession and lasts until you either:

• progress with control (carry or pass forward), or

• stabilise with a link/reset (safe sideways/backwards), and the team is back in a recognisable attacking shape.

Defensive transition (lose it): starts the moment you lose it and lasts until you either:

• have ball pressure and the centre is protected, or

• you have dropped and rebuilt your defensive organisation (counter-defence).

So yes, it is “3 seconds”… but it is really about the first action.

One important note (so you don’t overcoach this)

These are principles, not patterns.

The picture will change.

Your decision order stays.

That is how you keep creativity alive while still having structure.

The “3 seconds” solutions (what to coach)

1) When you win it: give the ball winner a decision tree (not a speech)

If you want U12–U18 players to be calm in transition, you need to reduce the number of decisions, not add more.

Enrich describes counters with a simple heuristic: an “if X then Y” decision tree.

Here is the version you could coach:

In the first 3 seconds after a regain:

1. Is there a clean pass forward? If yes, play it.

2. If not, can you carry forward? If yes, run.

3. If not, can you link sideways (short)? If yes, link.

4. If not, protect and reset (play back).

Enrich is clear on the priority:

“When you regain the ball… first priority, the first question is, is there a pass forward? … If the answer is yes, you have to play that pass.”
And:
“If that isn’t possible, then you have to run.”

Common mistake: the ball winner stops to “see what’s on,” which is basically donating time to the opponent.

Sideline cue that actually works: shout the first question, not the whole tree. “Forward?”

2) When you win it: the next two players decide if it becomes a counter or a mess

Every youth team has a ball winner.

The difference is what happens around them.

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“The intent behind a scoring pass is for my teammate to be able to receive it and shoot. That’s the scoring pass.”

— Alyson Annan

You know it. We know it. The circle is where games are won or lost, and yet it’s often the area where our coaching attention is most superficial. We drill shooting technique endlessly—slaps, sweeps, deflections, tomahawks—but we rarely train the behaviours that create shootable moments in the first place. This article pulls together insights from several elite coaches to give you a framework for striker movement, timing, and circle behaviour that actually works in the chaos of a real game.

The goal is straightforward: transform your forwards from ball-chasers into intelligent predators who create and exploit space, arrive in shootable positions, and convert chaos into goals.

Sources:

Alyson Annan: Circle Behaviour
Santi Freixa: Scoring
Jude Menezes: Rebound Scoring
Hunt Rebounds Like Predators 
Fede Tanuscio: Circle Entries 

Movement Principles: When to Check Away, Hold Position, or Attack Space

Here’s something that took me a while to understand, and I think a lot of us get this wrong: circle behaviour is not about constant motion. The best strikers know when to move and when to stay still. The timing of that decision is what separates efficient finishers from frustrated runners who never seem to be in the right place.

Checking Away

So when do you actually want your striker to check away? The answer comes down to reading the passer. If the passer is not yet ready to deliver—their stick isn’t on the ball, they’re still running, they’re under pressure—then your striker needs to create separation from their marking defender. They also need to check away if the space they want to occupy is currently blocked.

The execution is simple in concept but requires discipline. You want a short, sharp movement away from where you ultimately want to receive. This draws your marker with you, and then you explode back into the vacated space. But here’s the key: timing is everything. Check away only when it will open a passing lane at the exact moment the passer is ready. Too early and the defender recovers. Too late and the moment is gone.

Now, how does this differ between senior teams and youth? With your top senior teams, players are using checking away to manipulate experienced defenders who track runs and anticipate movement. They combine checking with communication—eye contact, hand signals, subtle body language. With youth teams, you’re really just teaching the basic concept: “show and go.” Move one direction, then go the opposite. Emphasize patience—don’t rush the check; wait for the passer’s cue.

Holding Position

This is where Alyson Annan really changed lots of coaches’ thinking. She’s emphatic about it:

“Once you’re in the circle, stay in the circle as an attacker. Reposition yourself somewhere else in the circle if you feel the need to move, but stay in the circle.”

So when do you hold position? When the passer is ready and the passing lane is open. When your marker is ball-watching or has lost track of you. When standing still creates the clearest target for a scoring pass.

The execution requires specific body shape: get low, stick down, weight on the balls of your feet. Face the goal—be ready to receive and shoot. And above all, avoid drifting. Drifting is that ball-watching, aimless movement that takes strikers out of dangerous positions. Annan is clear:

“Standing still doesn’t mean not getting in front. It means not running across the goal and back and forward.”

Attacking Space

The third option is attacking space, and this is what most strikers want to do all the time. But the truth is, it only works when the conditions are right. You attack space when a clear passing lane has opened behind your marker, when the passer’s stick is on the ball and they have eye contact with you, and when you can arrive at full speed into a shootable position.

The execution must be short and explosive—not long, same-tempo jogging through the circle. Time the run to the passer’s readiness, not to your own impatience. Get in front of your defender at the last possible moment.

Santi Freixa has a great way of framing this:

“The better position I will take, the more space I will have, the more time I will have, and the more simple it will be for me to score.”

That simplicity is what we’re after. We’re not trying to create highlight-reel moments. We’re trying to make scoring feel inevitable.

Creating Shootable Moments

Here’s something I’ve come to understand: a “shootable moment” is not a lucky bounce. It’s not being in the right place at the right time by accident. It’s the product of deliberate body shape, stick position, and timed movement. Let me break down each element below…

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For field hockey coaches striving for mastery, keeping pace with the constant evolution of the game’s rulebook is both a professional responsibility and a strategic advantage. The recent FIH (International Hockey Federation) updates to the Rules of Hockey, effective March 1, 2026, warrant careful analysis—not just for umpires, but also for coaches at all levels of the sport. Who better to guide us through these changes than the eminent field hockey umpire coach, Keely Dunn?

As a leading voice in umpiring education, Keely Dunn’s livestream offers a uniquely practical lens on rule changes and their real-life applications and implications. This session is not your average rule review; rather, it’s a forthright, line-by-line inspection, with robust discussion on both subtle adjustments and substantial shifts. Below, we give a comprehensive overview of the key topics, including the lively Q&A that followed, and highlight actionable takeaways for coaches.

Overview of Key Topics: Parsing the 2026 Rulebook

The Context Behind the Rule Changes

In characteristic fashion, Keely Dunn dives into the ruleset refresh with context—these changes, while effective internationally as of March 1, 2026, only apply to competitions of that level unless adopted by domestic associations. She reminds coaches and umpires that local associations will delay the implementation of FIH rules and diverge in regulations on how to implement some of them. The update cycle itself was abrupt, arriving just before World Cup qualifiers, creating logistical and strategic headaches.

Introduction and Editorial Improvements

A chunk of groundwork was laid by discussing the editorial overhaul; grammatical clarifications abound, aimed at increased precision and accessibility. Keely Dunn acknowledges the importance of these efforts while signaling her intent to focus on the practical, game-impacting rule tweaks. The composition of the FIH Rules Committee is highlighted, with specific attention to Barry Dancer’s influence—his historical skepticism towards the penalty corner and penchant for innovation could foreshadow radical future changes.

Rule 3: Penalties for Too Many Players

A quietly significant transition exists here: umpire discretion when penalizing captains for an extra player on the pitch has been tightened. The language now mandates a yellow card if the infraction materially affects the match, removing the prior green card “wiggle room” often exercised in domestic games. Coaches must therefore re-emphasize substitution discipline within their squads; unintentional errors that influence outcomes will be punished more severely.

Kit and Equipment: Gender Inclusion and PC Masks

Another area of progress is the explicit rule allowing players of any gender to wear shorts, skorts, or skirts, irrespective of the rest of their team’s choices, codifying inclusivity around player kit. The rules also escalate the recommendation for defenders to wear face masks during penalty corners and strokes. While not yet mandatory under the Rules (but often required by regulations in domestic competitions and required by the FIH), the implication is clear: those defending without a mask assume avoidable risk. Coaches must adapt equipment protocols to protect their players—and future mandates are plausible.

Protective Equipment Ambiguity

The guidance on protective gear remains ambiguous—knee pads and leg guards in particular lack precise definition regarding when they must be removed. This is an area that can spark confusion and controversy in domestic leagues. Keely Dunn expresses the need for further clarity, hoping for more comprehensive guidance in future editions without complicating matters for all participants.

Match Duration, Quarters, and Interval Flexibility

The commentary touches on the practical implications of match duration and interval requirements. FIH rules continue to allow derogation for domestic competitions, meaning that local organizers can vary both the number of periods and the length of halftimes. A thoughtful argument is cited regarding quarter breaks reducing competitive advantage for fitter teams—coaches must balance physical preparedness with situational management based on competition format.

2026’s Headline Change: Aerial Rule Overhaul

Unquestionably the most impactful substantive change comes to the aerial ball rule. The revised rule now allows any player starting from 5 metres or more away from the initial receiver to close as soon as that receiver has touched the ball. Interceptions within 5m are still permitted, subject to playing distance and danger. The aim is to simplify the decision for umpires, decrease ambiguity for defenders, and encourage better decision-making by aerial passers who will look for teammates with more space to execute their skills.

Despite initial concerns from the global community, Keely Dunn finds that the upgraded rule has improved defender safety, produced more predictable play around aerials, and clarified umpiring decisions. For coaches, this underscores the importance of teaching players not only to judge when to contest for aerials but, more importantly, when not to. It also lessens the value of speculative passes into the circle, shifting tactical emphasis back onto possession-based entries.

Definition Debates: “Played” Versus “Touched”

An intriguing technical discussion emerges around the wording—what it means that the ball must merely be “touched” by the receiver before others can close the gap. The subtlety could affect close-calling scenarios: “played” is a defined term for field players, involving stick contact, while “touched” would also include body contact by goalkeepers. Coaches should assume “touched” means any perceptible first contact by any player and common sense will prevail.

Loose Objects and “Unintentional” Foul Clarity

Another major clarification, especially for club and youth games, is that if the ball strikes a stick or piece of equipment accidentally dropped (not thrown) on the field, play now continues unless otherwise specified. This removes an unearned foul from the game, ensuring fairer outcomes. Conversely, items thrown—such as penalty corner masks—remain sanctionable. The new rules also confirm a strict yellow card (not less) if such equipment thrown strikes a player or umpire but only on the knee or above. The best approach for coaches is to encourage players to roll the discarded equipment along the ground as much as possible to mitigate any risk.

Ball Striking the Umpire: A Nuanced Update

The rules now formally prescribe a restart protocol if the ball hitting an umpire gives a clear advantage to either team. If in the open field, this is typically a bully restart; however, if it occurs during a penalty corner, the only recourse is to re-award the penalty corner (as a bully is not possible once the PC is underway). Keely Dunn and the chat recognize that there is no perfect solution, but the change now better protects game integrity in situations where an umpire’s inadvertent contact decides an outcome like a ball entering the goal or being blocked from it.

Penalty Strokes: Terminology and Positioning

Refinement to the penalty stroke language now emphasizes “penalty stroke” (not just “stroke”), standardizing terminology. It further clarifies when feet or stick positions must be legal—the moment the whistle is blown—mirroring the management of foot faults at penalty corners. This level of specificity enables coaches to instill correct cue-based discipline in players for these decisive moments and certainty around what will be permitted when.

Communication Highlighted as a Core Umpiring Skill

The guidance appendix now explicitly recognizes communication (alongside cooperation) as a primary umpire skill. This reflects the rising importance of presence, explanation, and prevention in managing modern field hockey. For coaches, it is a timely reminder that your dialogue with umpires (as well as your team’s conduct) can be pivotal in outcomes and perceptions.

Q&A Summary: Drilling Down into the Rules

The interactive Q&A led to a range of practical discussions vital for coaches:

• On PC mask removal, Keely Dunn fielded questions about what exactly counts as “thrown” versus “dropped,” reiterating that the former brings mandatory sanctions while the latter does not. Coaches have no wiggle room: mask removal must be absolutely controlled, and tossed items in frustration or haste can still bring severe consequences.

• Whether a goalkeeper can intentionally use their body as the initial receiver of an aerial ball was confirmed: yes, under their own distinct permissions (per Rule 10).

• There was a spirited exchange around the ambiguity of “touched” versus “played,” with the consensus that the FIH could provide greater linguistic precision through consistently deploying defined terms.

• Concerns about halftime lengths and match scheduling were assuaged; local regulations can override the FIH Rules explicitly, so coaches can work with administrators for practical solutions.

• The group dissected rare situations of the ball striking the umpire at penalty corners—emphasizing that equity, not rigid protocol, guides the application of the re-award. Coaches must teach players to continue until the whistle and avoid unwarranted appeals in such high-tension moments.

• On appeals and dissent, Keely Dunn clarified that only video referrals at top levels constitute formal “legal” appeals, and most verbal questioning on-pitch is actually dissent, not legitimate inquiry.

Final Thoughts: Key Takeaways for Coaches

This session, expertly steered by Keely Dunn, demonstrates the necessity of engagement with not just what is written in the rules, but also why those rules exist and how they are being applied by leaders in the umpiring community.

Key takeaways for field hockey coaches:

• Aerial discipline is king. Train players to understand the non-negotiable 5-metre gap and that if an interception attempt within 5m fails, that player must not continue to interfere with the receiver. Speculative aerials are now lower-reward and higher-risk.

• Mask management is a matter of compliance—no exceptions. Ensure your defenders are thoroughly briefed and drilled on equipment handling during penalty corners; rash mask removal carries avoidable team-altering consequences.

• Substitution errors are now more costly. Maintain strict discipline on bench management—not just to avoid sanction, but to protect your match control margins.

For a full appreciation of the rule book’s details and implications, invest the time to watch the entire Keely Dunn session on demand. As always, the deeper your grasp of the rules, the more effectively you can coach your team to both exploit opportunities and avoid unnecessary risks.

Watch the complete session (see above) for more nuanced examples and shared expertise. Your players will thank you on the pitch. Maybe even the umpires ;)

And here’s the part that stings a bit as coaches: we can run a session full of technically correct reps and still create a team that makes poor on-ball choices when the game goes chaotic. The skills exist, but the skills are not living inside a decision framework. So the players freeze, force it, or over-carry until the moment is gone.

That is exactly where on-ball principles earn their keep. They are the behavioural rules that show up when time and space disappear, and they are coachable across youth, experienced players, and of course mixed-skill teams.

TL;DR

On-ball principles are the “defaults” players fall back on under pressure: how they scan, receive, protect, eliminate, and choose tempo. Coach them as decisions in context, not isolated technique. Youth need simple cues and repeatable pictures. Experienced players need sharper constraints and more autonomy. Mixed ability groups need one theme with multiple entry points, so everyone trains the same principle at their level. Use constraints to create behaviour, and language to create alignment.

Some of the sources used to distill these principles if you want to take a closer look at it all

• The 3-Second Decision Framework for Receiving Under Pressure

• Scan-to-First-Touch Under Pressure: What to Coach When the Picture Changes Late

• Eyes Up — pre-scanning

• How To Train On-Ball Decision Making

• Dynamic receiving skills

• Balancing skill gaps

• Basic Skills through Small Sided Games

• Teaching kids about running the ball vs passing

And just you know, earlier we also wrote about the off ball principles of course 😉 ↓

Back to our On Ball Principles now…

What on-ball principles actually are

A skill is “can you execute a reverse-stick receive?”

A principle is “what do you do with that receive when the defender steps, your forehand is shut, and the passing lane closes late?”

So on-ball principles are repeatable decision rules that connect perception → decision → execution. They are not a list of moves. They are what players use to choose the move, at the right moment, with the right level of risk.

A clean way to explain it to coaches and players is the “short window around reception” idea. In the 3-second window around receiving, the player must scan, position, control, and act with purpose, or the opponent arrives and the whole moment collapses.

And when you zoom in on real match moments, you see these principles showing up again and again:

• Scan with purpose, not as a ritual. A shoulder check should answer: Where is the nearest pressure? Where is my safe exit? Where is my damaging exit?

• First touch is a tactical action. Your touch must buy time, buy space, or buy protection. If it buys nothing, it is “control” that still loses possession a second later.

• Tempo is a choice. Not always fast. Not always safe. The best players speed up when the picture is favourable, and slow down when chaos would create a turnover.

• Eliminate when it creates advantage, not because you can. Especially at higher levels, the reception itself can eliminate a defender if the touch and body shape take you away from pressure and toward a damaging exit.

That’s the headline: principles give players a “next best action” when the game removes certainty.

Teaching on-ball principles to youth teams: simple cues, habits, transfer

With youth, the biggest trap is over-coaching the language and under-coaching the picture. You give them ten coaching points, and they remember none of them in the match because they never owned the why.

So teach youth on-ball principles with three habits, and keep them ridiculously consistent across the season.

Habit one: “Find pressure early.”

This is scanning, but youth don’t need a lecture on perception. They need a question they can answer quickly: “Where is the closest defender coming from?”

Habit two: “Face where you want to play.”

Even with developing technique, body shape is the cheat code. If a player receives square, they are already late. If they receive half-open, they have options even with an average first touch.

Habit three: “First touch buys something.”

Youth often think the receive is the end of the job. It is the start. So coach the touch as intent: touch into space, touch away from pressure, touch into protection.

Now, the transfer piece. Youth don’t transfer learning from unopposed reps. They transfer from constraints that force the principle to appear. That is why small-sided games matter so much: they repeatedly create the same pressure pictures and force decisions at speed, without you having to artificially “tell” them what to do every rep.

If you want youth to get better at receiving under pressure, do not start with “perfect receiving”. Start with: “can you scan, receive half-open, and play the safe exit under time pressure?” Then, week by week, you make the safe exit smaller, the damaging exit more attractive, and the pressure more realistic.

Reinforcing and sharpening on-ball principles with experienced players: detail, constraints, autonomy

With experienced groups, the coaching problem flips. They already know the words. They already have skills. What they need is sharper standards and better problems to solve.

Read more

Situation A: A centre-back offers a passing option. He sees how his teammate gets ready and makes the pass. At the same time, he notices how an opposing forward immediately starts sprinting towards him at full speed. He gets scared. The reception is poor, the ball bounces off his stick. The forward steals it and goes towards the circle against the goalkeeper.

Situation B: A centre-back offers a passing option. He sees how his teammate gets ready and makes the pass. At the same time, he notices how an opposing forward immediately starts sprinting towards him at full speed. He sizes him up and waits for him. When the ball arrives, with the first touch he already eliminates him. He moves up towards the next line of pressure, having already created numerical superiority.

Beyond how the player who received the ball resolves the situation… Is there any difference in the pressure?

The answer is clearly no. The forward does exactly the same thing in both situations.

What changes, beyond the final outcome, is how the player with the ball experiences it.

Personal experience

At 17 I started playing as a centre-back in my club’s first team. For three or four years, every build-up from the back was a stressful situation for me. When the ball went over the backline for a restart, I already started to suffer.

Over time that changed. Later on, not only did it stop causing me tension, but I even started to enjoy trying to find the solution to the presses.

The pressure hadn’t changed. I had.

It’s logical that this happens with growth and experience.

But then… As coaches, how do we help accelerate that process?

🧰 The toolbox

I’ve always liked the analogy between technical skills and a toolbox. Every technical action is one more tool I can use.

If I want to build a chair and I only have a screwdriver, it will be difficult.

If I also have a saw, a hammer and pliers, I have many more possibilities.

If I want to get out of a pressure situation and I only know how to use the sweep, it will be difficult.

If I also know how to use the sweep, the push and the flick, I have many more chances.

Our first objective as coaches is to try to provide our players with as many tools as possible.

🧠 The mind

The next step, and perhaps the hardest to develop, is the mental side: the player’s intelligence. That they understand the game they are playing.

I can have the most technically complete player in the world, but if when they have to cut a piece of wood they use a screwdriver, having so many resources is of little use.

Same if they need to make a five‑metre pass and choose a hit.

In my opinion, an intelligent player is not necessarily the one who has the most resources, but the one who knows which one to use from those available. Who knows their limitations and knows how to make the most of them.

I’ve seen elite players without so many technical resources, but with superior intelligence.

Of course, intelligence and understanding are harder to train and many times we think they’re just a genetic lottery.

But that’s not reality. We can and must make the effort to work on these capacities.

In training, we should try to ensure that all, or almost all, exercises include decision‑making. The more situations they encounter where they have to choose, the more they will develop that ability.

Ask questions, a lot. Make players reflect, make them think about what they are doing and not act on autopilot. Open questions help them think.

Use video. And not as opponent analysis to win a match, but as self‑analysis to grow. Let them watch themselves. Let them see, with the overhead camera, things they didn’t see while playing. Let them correct each other.

These are just some of the ways we can develop understanding. In one team I coached, we even did theoretical exams as a joke: multiple‑choice questions projected on a screen and a live leaderboard for who answered best.

There are many ways to work on it.

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🎉 The environment

One detail I don’t want to overlook is that, when it comes to training understanding, the type of environment we create is fundamental. And when I say this, I mean the “vibe” in the air, especially when we work with kids.

It has to come from good energy and respect. Players need to feel that when we ask them a question, we’re not giving them a test to see whether they know the answer or not, but that we’re trying to get them to think for themselves.

They have to learn to live with error, and this is impossible if they’re afraid the coach will scold them when they do something wrong.

When we talk about pressure as perception, fear plays a fundamental role. I can have all the resources and enough intelligence, but if I’m afraid, none of that gets used.

I don’t want to go deep into neuroscience, but it’s proven that when we’re stressed, the brain responds more by reflex than by reflection.

And I don’t want to forget this: beyond what’s ideal for learning, there is the person. If we take care of the person, everything else flows.

Laughing at mistakes so we can try to learn from them. Celebrating small achievements.

When we enjoy ourselves, we are more open to learning.

As coaches we have enormous power over our players’ self‑esteem. And we must assume that with the responsibility it deserves.

➡️ Conclusion

When a player receives the ball, the opponents are going to chase them anyway. That pressure will always exist.

The difference won’t be in the speed at which they come, but in the preparation and understanding of our player.

If they have tools, they’ll have more options.
If they understand the game, they’ll choose better.
If they feel confident, they’ll dare to try things.

The pressure will always be there.
It’s up to us to try to turn that threat into an opportunity.

Until next time!

Javi

“Train the game, and the game will show up.”

There’s a player every youth coach recognises.

In the warm-up they look like a future star. Clean hands. Quick feet. They can eliminate in a 1v1 channel. In a passing box they ping it through tiny gates. They win every “skills race.” Everyone notices.

Then the game starts.

And somehow they shrink. They drift. They take one extra touch. They run into traffic. They beat one player and lose it to the second. Or they don’t get the ball at all, because the team’s shape never actually finds them. They go from dominant in drills to anonymous in a match.

That isn’t a motivation problem. And it usually is not a “they do not care” or “ego” problem either.

It is a transfer problem.

Individual skill does not automatically become team play. It has to be coached across the bridge: decision-making, scanning, timing, off-ball understanding, and a training environment that forces players to solve the same problems they’ll face on Saturday.

TL;DR

The jump from individual skill to team play is not about reducing creativity. It is about putting skill into context.

Coach players to connect their technique to decisions under pressure, to off-ball pictures, and to simple combination concepts (third man, give-and-go timing, when to carry vs pass). Design sessions that start technical, then become problem-led, then become game-led. The game is where skill becomes team play.

Some links to consider for more context

We’ll reference these in the shared insights below…

1. Essential Grip Skills (Leap Hockey) — Why the “basic” detail of grip is actually what keeps technique available at speed, which is what makes team play possible.

2. The 3-Second Decision Framework for Receiving Under Pressure — A practical lens for pre-scan, first touch, and next action under pressure.

3. Dynamic receiving skills (Andrew Wilson) — How receiving on the move maintains flow and breaks lines, plus what to coach before the ball arrives.

4. Off Ball Principles — The positioning, movement, and communication that make individual skill “work” for the team.

5. Third man combinations (Russell Coates) — A clear bridge from individual skill to collective line-breaking through timing and connection play.

6. 1v1 in game situations (Robert Noall) — 1v1 as a game problem (ball position, acceleration, decisions), not a cone move.

7. Teaching kids about running the ball vs passing — Coaching the run-versus-pass decision so carrying becomes a team action, not a solo habit.

Why skill in isolation does not automatically transfer to the game

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: the drill is often lying to us.

Most isolated skill work strips away the very things that make skill valuable in a match. There is no scanning demand because the “answer” is pre-set. There is no true pressure because the defender is passive, or predictable, or arriving on a known cue. There is no consequence for the second defender arriving, because the drill ends the moment the first move “worked.” And there is rarely any requirement for teammates to read and connect to the action.

So the young player becomes brilliant at the thing the drill rewards: clean execution in a clean picture.

The match rewards something else: execution while the picture is moving.

That’s why I keep coming back to fundamentals that are more than “basics.” Grip, for example, is not just a beginner topic. When grip habits drift, everything slows down: receiving, carrying posture, ability to play early, quality of deception, even what a player can see while moving. When those details are right, technique stays available at speed, which is what allows the team game to happen.

Skill in context: decision-making under pressure is the real skill

A coach will often say, “They can do it in training.”

I’d rephrase it: “They can do it when the decision is removed.”

Receiving is a perfect example. The “3-second window” around reception is where possession either becomes advantage or becomes turnover. Pre-reception scanning and positioning, the reception moment, then the post-reception decision. That sequence is the bridge. The first touch is not the skill. The first touch is the consequence of good information and good positioning.

Andrew Wilson frames the same idea through dynamic receiving. Receiving on the move matters because it breaks lines and maintains flow, but it only works if the player has done the homework early. The point is not “receive while moving” as a trick. The point is: the player receives in a way that keeps options alive for the next teammate.

So if you want young players to “show up” in games, the coaching target is not more isolated touches.

It is better decisions per touch.

Designing practice that demands technical quality and tactical awareness at the same time

This is where coaches either accidentally build team players, or accidentally build soloists.

If your practices reward the player who holds the ball the longest, you’ll get more ball-holding.

If your practices reward the player who beats the defender but ignores the next pass, you’ll get more “beat-one-lose-to-two.”

If your practices reward the team that keeps flow and finds the free player, you’ll get players who start to scan, move, and connect.

The simplest way I know to do this is to design sessions in layers.

Start with a technical base, but do not live there. Move quickly into game-like problems where the same technique must appear under pressure and in relation to teammates.

Read more

This article is not about your flicker or your hitter. It is about everyone else. The post players. The trailer. The second-phase shooter. The safety. These are the roles that turn a failed routine into a scored goal, or a broken play into a defensive nightmare.

Understanding the Support Structure

Before we dive into specific roles, we need to establish the framework. Tin Matkovic, in his masterclass on PCA variations, breaks down the attacking corner into structural components that go far beyond the primary execution.[2] He emphasizes that once the ball enters the circle, you are essentially playing eight versus four, sometimes even a “double advantage” in numerical terms. The question is whether your support players are positioned to exploit that advantage or simply standing around watching the flicker do their thing.

The typical PC support structure includes the near post player, the far post player, the trailer (often positioned at the top of the circle or slightly inside), the second-phase shooter (who may double as one of the post players), and the safety or transition player. Each of these roles carries specific responsibilities that change depending on the routine type, the defensive setup you are facing, and whether the initial attempt succeeds or fails.

What Matkovic stresses repeatedly is that variations and support positioning are not about complexity for its own sake. “The more difficult the variation, the bigger the risk of somebody in the process creating a technical error,” he notes. The same principle applies to support roles. Clarity beats creativity. Every player needs to know exactly what they are doing and why.

Sources
This article draws on insights from the following masterclasses and expert sessions:

[1] Simon Blanford - Beyond Shot Count: How Data Analysis Can Change Your Team’s Circle Tactics
[2] Tin Matkovic - PCA Variations
[3] Fede Tanuscio - Circle Priorities
[4] Jude Menezes - Rebound Scoring
[5] Pirmin Blaak - How to Train Your Goalkeeper
[6] Fede Tanuscio - Practice Session Design

The Post Players: Near and Far

The near post player’s primary job is to provide a deflection option and to be first to any rebounds that come off the goalkeeper’s pads or stick on that side. This player needs to be brave, positioned tight to the post but not so tight that they cannot react to a ball played across. They are reading the goalkeeper’s body position constantly, anticipating where a save might redirect the ball.

The far post player has a different calculus. This is often where the “garbage goals” come from, the ugly tap-ins that win matches. Fede Tanuscio, discussing circle priorities, emphasizes the importance of “far post player connections” and “crash balls” as fundamental attacking principles.[3] The far post player is not hoping for a perfect pass. They are expecting chaos and positioning themselves to capitalize on it.

One thing I see too often is post players who position themselves and then stand still. That is not how this works. Jude Menezes, in his masterclass on rebound scoring, captures it perfectly: “Almost even before they entered the circle, they expected and they believed that the ball was coming to them. So it’s just that anticipation that it’s coming to me, and that in turn gets them working on their readiness.”[4] Your post players need to be in constant micro-movement, adjusting their position based on where the shot is coming from, where the defenders are shifting, and where the goalkeeper is committing.

The Trailer Role

The trailer sits slightly deeper, typically at or just inside the top of the circle. Their job is multifaceted. On the initial routine, they provide a release valve if the primary option is closed down. On a slip variation, they may become the shooter. But their most important function comes in the second phase.

When the initial shot is saved or blocked, the trailer is often the player with the clearest view of where the ball has gone and who has the best angle. They need to be ready to either crash in themselves or hold their position to receive a layoff. The decision between crashing and holding is one we will address in detail later, but for now, understand that the trailer cannot be passive. They are reading the play and making split-second decisions about whether to attack the ball or maintain their spacing.

Tin Matkovic talks about having “rebound positions covered” as part of every routine.[2] The trailer is your primary rebound insurance. If they are not engaged, if they are not anticipating, you are essentially gambling that your first shot will be perfect every time. And as we have established, it will not be.

The Second-Phase Shooter

In many setups, the second-phase shooter is one of your post players or your trailer. But conceptually, it helps to think of this as a distinct responsibility. This is the player who is designated to take the second shot if one becomes available. They need to have their stick on the ground, their body weight forward, and their eyes locked on the ball from the moment the flick or hit is released.

Simon Blanford’s analysis of in-circle outcomes reveals something important: when you accumulate shot probabilities across a sequence of actions, the overall chance of scoring increases significantly.[1] He gives the example of a German sequence where an initial 3% shot led to a rebound shot at 3.2%, which then led to a corner at 15%, resulting in an accumulated probability of 20%. That is nearly seven times higher than the initial shot alone. Your second-phase shooter is the player who turns that mathematical potential into reality.

The Safety and Transition Responsibility

Here is where many teams get caught out. Everyone is so focused on scoring that they forget the corner might break down entirely. The ball might be intercepted. The goalkeeper might clear it long. A defender might charge down the initial shot and launch a counterattack.

You need at least one player, sometimes two, whose primary responsibility is transition security. This player positions themselves at the edge of the circle or just outside, ready to track back immediately if possession is lost. They are not crashing for rebounds. They are your insurance policy against being caught with seven players in the opponent’s circle while they break four-on-two the other way.

Pirmin Blaak, discussing goalkeeper training and game situations, touches on the importance of understanding numerical dynamics around the goal.[5] The same logic applies in reverse. If your PC breaks down, you need to recover numbers quickly or you are exposed. The safety player is not glamorous, but they might save you two goals for every one they cost you by not being in a rebound position.

Rebound Anticipation: Reading Deflections and Positioning for Garbage Goals

Let me be direct about this: most goals from penalty corners do not come from the initial flick or hit beating the goalkeeper cleanly. They come from deflections, ricochets, second balls, and what we politely call “garbage goals.” The teams that score consistently from corners are the ones that anticipate and position for these outcomes.

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