Tips for new WA players

Eleanor DurrPlayer, England

Hi Ekeesha, 

Firstly, I am sure you will not let your team down, it is always difficult to change position but it is great you are wanting to learn and improve. In regard to your feeding into the circle, this generally comes with practice. However, it is important to see where you shooters want the ball and where the position of the defender is. For example, if your shooter is holding their backspace it is important you lift the ball over the defender so it will drop into this backspace. Do not pass the ball where the shooter is, feed it when she wants it. If the shooter is holding their front space, with their defender behind them, you would feed the ball directly to the shooter. Also, remember you can mix up your feeds, so you can do a little drop ball in or bounce, likewise a chest if the shooter is in front of overhead if the shooter is behind. Just look where the defender is and pass it away from the defender. To practice your passing accuracy you can place spots on a wall or look for a certain brick, and aim to hit that exact spot over and over from different distances. To practice passing the ball into the backspace, either get a partner who indicates where they want the ball and get them to give you feedback if that is where they wanted it or what needed to be down. Alternatively, place spots on the ground and imagine a defender and attacker in front, so you can practice the ball going up and over to hit the spot. 

In regard to getting free on a centre pass, I would advise you to come off the line and do more preliminary work - so work off the ball. So come off the line and try to keep your WD moving and lose her before you cross the line, this way you are not competing for the ball. Alternatively you can check out the centre pass set plays. This involves you working closely with your GA to get free. 

A general piece of advice for playing WA is your movement and angles. At WA you will need to keep offering and re-offering, using short sharp angles to get away from your player - similar to GD where you use short, sharp movement to stay with your player. You can practice this from drills in the DIY section. 

Hope this helps.