Hockey: 1/2 Court Press

The difference between the Full Press, which puts pressure on the specific areas on the pitch (wide areas in the opposition's 23m area) and the Full Court Press is that pressure is apllied on all areas around the pitch. Each player marks their man tightly and looks to step in front of their man.

When to use:

When you want to keep the opposition as far away from your goal, and to prevent the opposition's backline from playing the ball around (ideal when the opposition's backline are skilled at passing the ball out).

The basis of the press is that no player commits to the ball but a team screen is set up in the decided territory of the pitch. The aim is not to try and steal the ball from the opposition, but instead to make the opposition give the ball to you.

By pushing up you are trying to make the opposition make a mistake in trying to run or pass the ball out of these areas. After intercepting a bad pass your team should be looking to break and score.

When to use:

The Full Press should take place only if:

1. The opposition has a free hit in one of the 2 zones shown in the diagram.
   
   
2. Or a player in possession in the 23m area is given a very bad bobbly pass to their reverse stick side. However, this is slightly harder to read as all players need to react, because of this this tactic is probably not worth exploring to begin with.

Your team's press should prevent all lateral (sideways) passes across the pitch. All other passing options are easier to close down if you use the side lines to your advantage.

When playing against a half court press with a high forward that puts pressure on the direct switch pass the transfer tends to have to go via the 1st support defender which tends to slow the transfer down so when the ball gets to the opposite wide defender the opposition will have the press in place. Also if the team in possession tries to force the ball into the midfield the press tends to close in and the pressure tends to lead to ball turnover of ball and a break for the defending team on top of of this the attacking team tends have either midfield or forwards in the channels down the line available to receive the pass. If this pass is given once again the press will close down on the player in possession and turn over ball is likely to follow.

This animation is made to show my team The way we set up our press and where each player moves according to where the ball is.