Field Hockey: Jab Tackle

Review the basics of defending with this session working on shadowing, channelling and timing tackles

Strong low body position and balanced ready to move.

Left foot forward, right foot back, stick on the ground or hovering slightly above the ground.

Position of feet and stick make a strong triangle shaped base.

Tackle must be positive and strong with feet balanced.

Stick face angled towards the ball.

The tackle should be timed just as the ball momentarily leaves attacker's stick initiated by a jab to put player off or as player loses control.

The defender's stick should not be flat on the ground as this is a safety issue.

The defender could be injured by the attacker if their head is down too low and the attacker could take advantage of this over commitment by using a low lift.

Flat stick only when attacker stationary or moving very slowly

Split your group into two teams - defenders and attackers.

Players with the ball have to run around the cone and try and score. Players without ball also have to run around the cone, and then try and stop the other player scoring.

Two defenders can work together to channel

This exercise is designed to encourage defenders to force attacking players to move onto the defenders forehand

The player with the ball tries to run through between the 2 cones, indicating the maximum 10 points.

This should encourage the defender to try and force the player onto their open stick side, away from this high scoring gate!