Field Hockey: centre half

Last season we played a couple of teams with a Star player in a key position who ran the game for their side. Any tips on how to stop this sort of team. Especially with many teams these days having a player/coach who is ex-national league this is happening more and more. We played 3 teams last season, 2 with a Star sweeper and another with a Star centre-half. How can we stop them playing and still play our game?

My child is learning to play hockey. What are the field posotions and thier roles.

Hi. I need to coach the following in a session%3A Attacking unit play using right hand side of the pitch. Emphasis on ‘Posting up.’ Use of lead runs and receiving the ball on the move. Any ideas?

What's the best way to break ball hogging habits

Dear colleagues, what are the best ways to defend an attacking team that is playing with a field player with goalkeeping privileges? Te question concerns indoor hockey only.

To John Royce: Formations Hey John just wondered your thoughts have taken over ane A1 Womens Side was trying to think a bit outside the box thought of trying a 1-1-3-4-2 formation or 1-1-3-3-3. had any success or heartache with either. Have varying degrees of age in this team which make it a little for younger ones to comprehend. Regards Ian Manhire Newtown A1 Womens Coach

I'm not sure how to position my team and what to call the positions as I am used to playing 11 a side hockey.

the opposition is now playing with 1 goalie, 2 d, 4 mid and 4 forwards it just seems they are everywhere and my mid field can not deal with the extra player. I was going to counter with a 1-4-4-2 but the girls are not used to it. we play a 1-4-3-3.

A player beats their defender. Do I leave my player to defend as I am nearest to the ball, or should I stay and hold my position?

I coach a women's team wide range in age 16 - 54 , when the stars align we are a very strong team hard to beat and very stingy when it comes to goals against, the games we do lose are usually 1-0 games,The exception comes when we play a team that plays a 1-4-4-2 ,what makes it worse is that we play a 4-4-2 and are very successful with it, but when it comes to defending against it my Defense and Mids become confused. I have not had any luck in figuring out a way to explain to my team how to defend against it. Any ideas on an easy way to fix this? Thanks

Hi All,Just looking for a simple way to counteract teams playing with 2 Centre Halfs. Have had my Centre Forward try to mark the 2nd Centre Half with limited success I'm not sure if it is there Centre Mid who is playing in the position or one of the Insides as they seem to diengage when they go into attack. Any help appreciated.RegardsIan Manhire

we have started using the 3-3-3-1 formation and wanted some drills to reinforce this formation

Hi all, after "volunteering" at the last minute to coach last season, I'm looking forward to coaching again this season but would like to be a bit more organised starting the season. Last season I used drills from here (thank you contributors) and put together a practice plan each week addressing what I thought were our weakness from the game just played. This got us through the season, we were promoted after grading and finished the season in the top 4 playoffs for our grade.I wonder if there is some kind of guide to putting a more coherent training plan together for the season.I'm coaching a boys secondary school team, aged 12-18. What kind of skills should they have mastered?What should they be attempting, working towards mastering (individually and as a team)?I last played as a collage boy on grass fields, the change to turf pitches has obviously obsoleted (along with age) much of what I knew as a player.Any pointers appreciated.David

The teams currently in our league all seem to have vastly different playing styles. It's obviously not possible to fully coach strategies for each of these teams, but i was wondering if people had any tips about how you can tweak your team tactics without moving too far away from the default mentality e.g playing against a team with a particularly strong centre half?

Need help with planning a rolling subs with 11 players and 5 subs.Keeper,4 backs, 4 midfied, 2 strikers.Any ideas please

Hi all,I am wondering, what do you think about formation 3-5-2? I watch football a lot and i think that our sport is very similar tactically. With this formation you could get 5 defenders when you are defending and in the offense these wide backs could join attack and the you have 5 - 6 players in the finish and easier way to get out of the press. I dont know this is just a thought. Let me know what do you think. Thank you

Hi can you help me setting a defence against a team playing 2 centre halves. My team plays conventional style 5321 . Thanks

The teams currently in our league all seem to have vastly different playing styles. It's obviously not possible to fully coach strategies for each of these teams, but i was wondering if people had any tips about how you can tweak your team tactics without moving too far away from the default mentality e.g playing against a team with a particularly strong centre half?

hi there I'm using 4-4-2 and on sometimes 3-1-4-2 with a lower level hockey team.I've chosen this over other formations, simply because the hockey experience and ability of my players is not of a high level (and most people have an approximate understanding of 442). Also, I believe that one must choose a formation based on players traits and what they can deliver. For example, I'd ideally prefer to have 3 forwards, to help with more height and width but then would have to either play 3 in the middle or 3 at the back... and my player strengths don't permit this. In short, I simply don't believe I have a strong enough CH / CM to handle 3 in the middle and I'm not convinced that the off-the-ball support from other players is strong enough to allow 3 in the middle. OFFENSIVE PLAYS Anyway, I'm not 100% where to get my centre mids to stand when we have a 16 yd hit to take (i.e. our possession). Obviously one of the CMs comes deep to offer a potential direct outlet from the centre backs or offer an overload option if the ball goes out to the sides (which is more likely, since I've pretty much banned the high risk play of releasing up the middle - we've had far too many turnovers in our final third or quarter because we tried to play up the middle). My players are 'aware' of posting up and leading runs. However, I'm not sure about the 2nd CM. On the one hand I'd ideally like the 2nd CM to come deep as well, in order to potentially help break up the opposition press but by doing so, I distort the midfield and if we do manage to get the ball to one of the CMs, he won't have the 2nd CM in a higher position to release to, etc. DEFENSIVE POSITIONING Can someone suggest, again, about midfield positioning using 4-4-2 or 3-1-4-2, when we are setting up a general press? I have traditionally encouraged man marking, simply because our general positional awareness is weak (which makes zonal play a no-no IMO) + our tracking and attitude to committed defending (i.e. you don’t give up if one tackle fails) could be better! However, looking at suggested presses on Sportplan, some zonal positioning seems a necessity and I think if I can help my players make the step, success will come because they've been forced to become more aware of their pitch positioning, etc. Also, looking at some of the presses, it looks like the midfield can go 'flat' to create a barrier... and as I encourage a diamond shape in midfield, I need to explain to my players what to do and when. Sorry for the wordy question. I hope this all makes sense. Regards, Gary

Hi All,Just looking for a simple way to counteract teams playing with 2 Centre Halfs. Have had my Centre Forward try to mark the 2nd Centre Half with limited success I'm not sure if it is there Centre Mid who is playing in the position or one of the Insides as they seem to diengage when they go into attack. Any help appreciated.RegardsIan Manhire