Field Hockey: defending in the circle

I have done numerous exercises on goalscoring but my girls cant seem to finish. Any suggestions?

Bram. I have a question on your answer about defending the left channel. Over the years I've heard various different views on how to defend the left channel. You answer suggest forcing the attacker on to the strong side where an inside defender can provide a cover tackle if necessary. Fine. Other rhetoric suggests keeping the attacker wide and restricting the route to goal. For me, your suggestion offers the greatest risk. Can you provide some perspective of these two approaches.

Hi everyone, I have been hunting for a more detailed explanation on the self pass rule for hockey. My under standing of it is that a self pass must involve the ball moving five meters before it is hit by the player or it must be hit from a dead positon (not moving) I have umpired many games where the players 'tap and hit' the ball, often with another player rushing in to tackle just as the 'tap' is played. This seems dangerous but im not sure if the tackler is playing dangerously or if the 'tap and hit' player is dangerous? I have read the rule book but this rule is not explicit enough. Any interpretaions welcome. Thanks

They are very crowed and play a lot in the middle they are ball watching> They are playing in each others positions

With the new own goal rule it's getting very critical to defend the player who is carrying the ball.The team that I coach had a major problem on this area last season.I've already told them what they sould do in order to make it difficult for the ball carrier to scan for a pass or hit the ball inside our defending circle,or at least make him to drible instead of making a dangerous pass.But,they are not used to doing it and we have conceived a lot of goals that way.We have the same problem at defending a free hit inside our 25 yards,when the attacker dribles with the ball for the neccessary 5 meters and then smashes it into our circle.I am trying to think of a way or an excersise that will make them do it,but I haven't found one.Any ideas for both ways could be very helpful.

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?

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.

We are always the better team on the hockey field. 90% in the opponents circle, but we are unable to score. At practice I see the most amazing goals, lifts, drag flicks...

How do you play against a team that is defending with all 11 players behind the ball and in the circle the whole game? (a bit frustrating)

So I'm having trouble getting my young and inexperienced group of midfielders to flip the switch from defense to offense, and back, as we move up and down the field. They will often hang back and leave my forwards stranded rather than rush in to attack. Naturally, we are not scoring. Advice and drill ideas would be most welcome! J.G. Coach, Maryland USA

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?

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

I just became the head coach of a middle school field hockey team and would like some pointers on how to coach. I have experience with goal keeping and defensive drills, I was a keeper, so I would like to learn more about offense as well. Any help is appreciated!!

Baseline defence: How to prevent teams from Scoring goals from the left and Right baseline.Do I tell my left and Right half to channel player outwards ,protect feet,frontal pressure and allow other defenders to tuck infield.Or do I opt to tell defenders to go man to man inside 23 and then apply frontal pressure ,channel player outwards ,watch angle of engagment.As recently we only conceded through attack on our baseline

I'm in the U.S., coaching a team of 11-12 year olds, with 1-2 years of experience. Defending the circle, when the ball is loose, my players are not getting control of the ball to hit out of the circle. It's congested with opponent and my team's players. If my players get control, they lose it quickly. If the opponent has control, my players aren't very good at taking the ball or stopping the opponent from taking a shot. Luckily we have a good goalie but she can only do so much. (Full disclosure: I didn't play FH but have a decent understanding of the game. No one else in my community would step up to coach so it's fallen to me.)

could someone comment on the 5 yard rule when entering the scoring area? There always seams to be a lot of wrong information regarding this rule.

Where do the defensive players stand during a corner?