PRESSURE – COVER – BALANCE
As soon as the other team gains possession of the ball, you want a player on your team to put PRESSURE on the player with the ball. In case that player makes a mistake, he/she should have a team mate behind (GOALSIDE) to step up and COVER the attacker. All of the other players should spread out and pick up dangerous players and BALANCE the number of defenders and attackers. Pressure, Cover, and Balance is achieved by assigning tasks to individuals based on their nearness to the attacker with the ball. These individuals we call the first, second, and third defender.
FIRST DEFENDER – SECOND DEFENDER – THIRD DEFENDER
First Defender -- This is the person nearest the attacking ball carrier. The initial job of the first defender is not to steal the ball! The initial job of the first defender is characterized by three concepts:
- Immediate Closure -- to put pressure on the attacker the nearest defender immediately closes the distance between him and the attacker by charging at them. This takes away passing options and may cause younger inexperienced players to just kick the ball away. You’ll often hear coaches shout “pressure him”, “close him down”. This is a call for the first defender to close immediately. To prevent chaos, the first defender must tell his team mates that he/she is going to close down the attacker by shouting out “Ball!”. Other defenders should then do other things.
- Delay – It is important that after charging the attacker, the first defender stop 1-2 yards away depending on their skill. The job of the first defender is to stay between the attacker and the goal (GOALSIDE) and delay him to give other defenders the chance to get into position.
- Channel – With the attacker now delayed, the defender positions themselves much like a basketball defender. On their toes, legs bent to allow for quick movement and turned sideways to force the player towards the sideline. The basic rule on channeling the player is that in your defending half you want to force the attacker to move to the outside to cut down his shooting angle. At the other end of the field defenders should force players into the middle of the field where there are more defenders who can take the ball away.
Second Defender – This is the second person to arrive at the scene. The job of the 2nd defender is to provide cover for the first defender. That is to cover up any mistake that the 1st defender might make. The 2nd defender must be GOALSIDE of the 1st defender. Once in position, the second defender lets the first defender know that his backside is covered by shouting out “COVER!” At this point if the 1st Defender can attempt to take the ball away when presented with an opportunity.
Third Defender – All the remaining players are
responsible for marking the other attackers, or spaces so that should the ball
be passed, they are positioned to become the new 1st Defender.
The idea is that all the dangerous
attackers are covered and that defenders can shift to cover open areas if
needed.
DRILL – First Defender 1 on 1
- Defender (red) makes a good clean pass to attacker in black. The scenario is that the defender is trying to clear the ball and accidentally passes to an attacker.
- Defender yells BALL! As they close immediately on the attacker and stops a yard away and delays.
- The attacker receives and controls the ball, then goes to meet the defender.
- Once the defender is in a delaying position, the attacker tries to get the defender out of position and pass the ball to the line of waiting defenders. The attacker has 10 seconds to get the pass off and must stay in the lane.
- When done, players retrieve the ball and switch sides by going outside the lane.
Attacker wins if he passes the ball to the line of defenders. Defender wins if the attacker doesn’t get a good pass off within 10 seconds, the pass is blocked and kicked outside the lane, or the attacker is forced outside the lane.
Coaches: In this drill we work on passing and receiving, attacking and defending and learning to communicate by calling out BALL!