Defense - giving up the straight

[Pixel]

Sometimes, you just need to do it.

4-4 in the 4th game - Ryan and Bobby vs Todd and Freddy. Ryan and Bobby are up 2 games to 1. This is the match point for Ryan and Bobby. Ryan gets it on his 3-row and calls a timeout. Watch the defense Todd uses to block him not once, but THREE times in a row.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2gB890rf6I&t=8m

I've said it before, and I've said it again - as a forward, once you pass a certain skill level, hitting longs is just as easy, if not easier, than hitting straights. When defending, you have to get over the psychological fear that the straight seems easier to score on than the other two holes - this applies both to snake and pull shots.

If:

A) there are 3 holes,
B) you can only block 2 of them at any given time,
C) and the opposing forward can hit all of the holes with the same speed and accuracy,

there is NO logical reason to always sit on one of them. By doing this, you are increasing the forward's probability of choosing the right hole from 33% (1 in 3 holes is open if you're always blocking different holes) to 50% (you're perma-blocking one of the holes - that means one of the remaining two must be open).

[Paul]

great post.

[subculture]

Let me add to this:

One of the keys to blocking the snake in particular, is learning how to predict when a shooter is going to shoot middle. Most goalies try to figure out how to predict/race/bait when a shooter is going to one of the corners, so shooters get very good at going smoothly to those corners. But the middle....

- Under what circumstances will most players shoot middle? What defence makes them inclined to look for middle.
- Do they have a 'tell' before shooting middle? Do they:
- stop rocking
- tap the ball
- wait longer than usual before shooting
- eyes get HUGE and mouth gaping wide open with drool
- hit a middle only when it's open for 2+ seconds

The best way to get good at this is simply by leaving middle open much of the time, and in many different ways, until you start recognizing patterns that tell you someone is going to shoot middle.

As you quickly get better at this, and you know much of the time when they are preparing to shoot middle, you have 2 options:

1) Block middle... move your guy there and hope they hit it. Obvious...
2) Discourage them from shooting middle... ie make them change their mind. Jab at middle with your defenders erratically and smoothly, whenever you think they might be looking at it. All the while your men are still covering the corners the majority of the time, bc this is where you want them to shoot. Once in a while, stick the foot out so you SPIKE any middle they shoot. Discourage them from shooting middle again (works even better if you can aerial stuff their middle back in their net

Like anything else, the more you use this 'D', the better you'll get at it... ideally you're able to use it in certain matches as your primary pattern - it can be simple to execute bc you're basically covering both corners almost all the time, and letting them hit your men there bc you're discouraging any middle shooting. It's important to still mix up HOW you block those corners - ie using all 3 defenders, fast shuffle vs slow circles vs ???

[SheldonYu]

Great post Mario, and great input too Sean.

..Actually no I don't like this post because the straight was my favourite hole to shoot, especially after a couple longs