The art of pressing in field hockey

The press as a way to defend and opposition attack in hockey has been around now for a long time, and ever since the removal of the off-side rule has become even more a vital piece of any coach and teams tactic's and strategy. However in recent years we have seen it shift from simply a defensive tactic or strategy to both a attacking and defensive tactic or  strategy. An if you watched the most recent European Field Hockey Championships, I think the great Alyson Annan Coach of the Netherland's may have just moved pressing to the next level again.

So what are the different types of basic presses in field hockey well there is-

1. Full Press
2. Half field press
3. 3/4 Field press

Each of these has its advantages and its disadvantages, and the good teams and coaches use different combinations of these basic presses, based on what the opposition might be doing. So what do I feel are three advantages and disadvantages of each of these basic presses.

Full Press: Advantages

- You can control the hole field and shut down the space out of the oppositions defence.
- You can force your opposition into the part of the field which maximises your chances to force a turnover.
- You can apply pressure to the full-backs forcing them to make a mistake on there 16 yard hits causing a turnover.

Full Press: Disadvantages

- It stretches your team opening up potential gaps across the field.
- If there is no communication from the lines behind the lines in front will potentially fail to pick up the movement of the opposition play and the balls.
- If the opposition can get in behind your front line with a good quick pass then the press will break down and you become exposed to the fast break.

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Half Press Advantages

- You close down the space in a much tighter way in your defensive half of the field.
- Your teams lines are much closer together thus better for communication and making sure that all lines and space are covered.
- You can see the oppositions defensive half in-front of you and judge the potential openings for a fast break should you force a turnover.

Half Press Disadvantages

- If the front line of the half court press breaks down or moves to attack the ball to early this will more often than not force a break down of your team structure.
- It doesn't put any pressure on your opposition in there defensive half allowing them time to get control of the ball and set up there attacking play.
- It can set a negative tone for the game for your team which can be hard to break even when you successfully force a turnover.

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3/4 Field Press Advantages

- The 3/4 press gives you the advantage of still being able to see the opposition area in front of you.
- This gives you the time and the change to intercept any full-back 16 yard hits that are hit straight up the field.
- It gives the front lines of the press the flexibility to pivot around and force the opposition into the areas of the field you want them to go into which maximise the chances of a turnover.

3/4 Field Press Disadvantages

- Again it stretches your team and means you may not be able to close the space down across the hole field.
- It allows the opposition the ability to get our of there defensive 25 without any real pressure on them, and allows them the room to switch the play.
- If the front line break down then it will expose you to a fast break.

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Pressing like any other tactic or strategy used has its draw-backs and its risks, so as a Hockey Coach what do I think is the best pressing approach, well I think you need to have a combination of everything to be successful. You need to be able to read what your opposition is doing where their weaknesses are and then apply a press that best suits that.

I personally use a very very aggressive press which is designed to force the play, force the opposition, cause confusion in the opposition and lead to turn-over after turn-over and eventually the entire break down of the oppositions structure. Now this is what most of my teams use the majority of the time-

Now this is like I say very aggressive, and its not something that every single team could execute as it requires two key things-

1. High level of fitness
2. High level of skill, patience and procision

The idea with this press is that you are happy to let the defence have the back pass that is fine, and the front line or up-side down mushroom cap as it has been coined by a couple of my teams, is there two place doubt in the mind of the defence and jump on anything shaky or poorly executed from the opposition.

As I always say as I take my teams through this, this press is high risk yes, but there is massively high reward if you get it right. Over the time I have been using this I have watched teams-

- Hit the ball over the side-lines and face our attack rather than try to break it up.
- Hit the ball over the back-line and face a penalty corner again rather than try to break out of it.

I have on countless occasions watched opposition defence lose there confidence and change there minds mid hit, and my teams on many occasions have pinned the opposition right back into there defensive 25.

With this press that is when as a Coach you know it is really working.

An while I cant lay claim to come up with this press in its original form, that rest with a good friend of mine and Coach from Victoria Mitch Dickin, I can say that I have further developed and tweaked it and continue to do so. I do believe its the next Quantum leap in field hockey pressing at International level, and hope one day I will be able to put it to work at that level.

Check out the all new Coach Emorej website

Today I launch the Coach Emorej website, here is the link below why don't you check it out-

https://coachemorejemorej.wixsite.com/coachemorej

Time for the next Quantum Leap

Currently, at International level, we have the Belgium men's team playing a fluid, fast, highly skilled style of play which requires a high level of precision, then we have the Argentina Men's team who rely on their Penalty Corner battery to get the job done for them, so as a result, they have taken the traditional counter attack style and for want of a better word super sized it. Then in the women's game, we have Great Britain/England playing an evolution of the Australian Men's style which was to attack hard and attack through the top of circle, and the Netherlands under the great Alysson Annan who are playing very much an evolution of the traditional Dutch style with a dash of the Australian influence which comes from Alysson.

But none of these current styles of play from the best teams in the world is a quantum leap in the game, like what the Australian Kookaburras did back at the 2014 World Cup. It is my strong view that we are still yet to see the next quantum leap in the game at International level, and this is because of a couple of reasons-

1. Coaches at international level are yet to come to terms with how to play hockey with quarters.

2. Coaches at international level have not yet learned how to use the rotation's off the bench under the quarter's format.

3. Coaches at international level have not yet really understood the value of the rule which allows teams to pull their goal-keeper.

4. Coaches at international level in today's game are perhaps too risk averse, and unwilling to go for the win, instead settling for the draw, or relying to much on penalty corners to get the job done.

5. Coaches at international level today are perhaps not creative enough, again perhaps they are afraid to get to far ahead of the curve, unlike the great Dr. Ric Charlesworth.

6. Coaches at international level are perhaps losing too much control over the direction of their teams by handing over to much responsibility to Assistant Coaches and support staff.

So with all this in mind, what will I do differently when the opportunity comes at International level in the future?

Well without giving away game style, strategy and tactics I would want to do some of the following-

- Develop a style of play more suited to quarters, perhaps look at ideas from other sports that could apply to hockey.

- I would look to better use my rotations as I have said previously I would look to up those rotations and do it through a different method.

- I would consider pulling my goalie in a more strategic way.

- I would take risks and be willing to go for the win. I have long believed that I would rather lose the game in order to win, and this won't change at international level.

- I would be creative, again looking all the time at other sports for different ways to do things and to play.

- I would be far more hands on with everything, and I would bring my player empowerment model of coaching to international level, creating a consensus approach with everyone buying into what we are all trying to achieve.

I strongly believe the next quantum leap at International level with this great game of hockey, must be with a fast, free-flowing, fluid, bold, creative constantly evolving style of play, with everyone willing to take risks in order to win.

T.E.A.M must be at the Heart of the Team

T.E.A.M must be and needs to be at the heart of every single Team if it's not then I can with a fair degree of certainty guarantee that that Team will fail.

So what does T.E.A.M stand for, well in a nut shell its-

Together
Everyone
Achieves
More

Expanding on this it is a set of principles and rules which are basically-

- The good of the team must always come first, an individual while valuable is not greater than the Team and should always make decisions in consultation with the Team and in the best interests of the team both on and off the field.

- Team goals and must be made collectively and then each individual's goals must mirror up with and complement the team goals.

- Team achievements should at all times mean more than individual achievements within the team. While those individual achievements are important they are never as important as the Team achievements.

In the end that famous saying that there is no I in Team but there is an M and an E is very correct.

Future Direction of Coaching 2: Value of alternative forms of hockey etc

Just recently my Dad watched the Belgium National Men's Team compete at the World League in South Africa and was in aww, how well they played and how efficient they were in moving the ball from one end of the pitch to the other, also how silky smooth they were in the skills department, and he asked me why is this. I answered with this simple answer they play allot of Indoor Hockey which does help with skills and ball movement.

Now Belgium is not the only country that does this, Germany, Netherlands and most of the European countries also do this, as does the United States, and this is why it is my belief that their players skill base is much more superior than Australia. For a long time, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands also embraced small sided and modified versions of the game for juniors, so that juniors could get a better handle on the game before they moved to full field 11 on 11. In simple terms, the Belgium, Germany, and Netherlands have a system and a curriculum in place which lays out from year to year the skills that young players should be acquiring as they move through the ages.

Don't get me wrong Australia has had a few goes at this over the years, and it's sort of taken off for a while then died a slow death again, however in recent years we are seeing more and more effort by Hockey Australia, and the Eastern States to embrace the change of having more indoor, more modified versions of the game and a system and curriculum for the sport.

I am now convinced more than ever know that indoor hockey must be embraced by all nations, not only as a version of the game to play, but a version of the game that will help to improve the skills of the young players coming through, if they want to stay with and compete with the Belgium's and Germany's of this world.