Field Hockey: interception

The new rules - what will UK coaches be focussing on most? (Living in NZ, we're playing them now!)

Please can you explain the difference in the full court press press and the half court press

I need a good drill to help the girls move to the ball faster? we arw slow to the ball need a drill thanks

overlapping outside halves ? or drop Midfield in hole?

I have a ladies team with slow defenders who insist on playing 5-10 yards (sometimes more) off of their attacker. They do this as they say they are much slower and therefore need the space to catch up to them and as a 'buffer'. This is an argument I have heard used by a lot of slower players.I however have been arguing that they'd have more success if they marked closer and tried to prevent them from turning and gathering speed/or being within range to make the interception in the first place. They may get beaten on occasion if the player has the wherewithal to turn with skill and beat their marker, but I feel for a lot of players, the mere pressure of having a defender in close proximity may discourage them from attempting to turn and force them to play the ball backwards.My argument is that if you give a player with speed 10 yards to build up speed against you then it will be harder to stop them/catch them, especially in a wide space. The way I think about it is, if two cars are in a race, but the first one is allowed to get up to 30 mph before the start line AND is the faster vehicle, it's a no-brainer as to who will win. I'm interested to see what everyone else thinks - am I thinking about this incorrectly or does my thinking make sense?

How to improve personal defense ability?

I have a midfielder that wants to practice defending against lifted balls in a 1-2-1 situation, any ideas for drills that will assist with this?

Hi,I perhaps naively, expected to have most of our team from last year carry over and only have a few new comers to integrate and get up to speed with the rest. However meeting the team at our first practice last night i find I have five players still at school from last year and the rest all new comers, most of whom had not held a hockey stick at all till practice.This being only my second season coaching (year 9 to year 13 boys) has left me feeling a little blindsided, and feeling quite unsure how to prepare practices that target both groups of boys. Do i lump them both groups together, keep them separate? What drills/exercises to best bring the new comers up to speed.I don't want to neglect either group, keep practice worthwhile for the experienced boys, but also bringing the new comers up to a level were they can mix in with the others and learn organically from them while practicing as a team. David

Dear colleagues, I am coaching a 1st women team (Argentina) and the system that is working for us very well is 3-1-3-3. Given the quality players we've got in the midfield and attack we try to emphasize our offensive game all the time. The problem I am struggling to resolve is that the forwards do not get involved in chances to score inside the circle very often. The few chances the forwards have they are able to score but it is our midfielders who most of the time get to the circle in possession with the ball. I would like to see a quick transfer of the ball from the midfielders to the forwards who need to be in touch with the ball more often during the game and have the midfielders supporting the attack rather than being the leaders of the attack.Is there any drill or way to improve this aspect of the game? Thanks for your time. Martin