Lax4life

Ok my team is playing in a playoff game and I need some advice on defense. My team is pretty good but the main problem has been our defense and allowing shooters to cut and sit in front of the goal, we have played zone and man to man and still the same issue. The age group I coach is 10-11yr olds, any advice prior to our playoff would help. I have told my team also to shoot at all times as we have a one pass rule, but the most shots we've had on goal has been 20-25 in a game. Most of the time it is maybe 10, HELP !!!!!

et1705

that is the age of my brother so I have experience, if you will, with that age group haha. It is basically that we scream at the players to pick a number and stick with them and yell to have their sticks up in a man-to-man which is probably a much easier concept to understand than zone at that age. I would reccomend a zone+1 as my team calls it. The guy on the ball always goes with his man as long as he has the ball nomatter what (hence the +1). A good way to denote where everyone is supposed to be is just draw six circles and tell them what they need to know and then they stick with a guy in their zone until they get to the next zone and they will yell cutter to the crease d if he id going to the net. That's the best I can do. Good luck -- Hope this helped somewhat.

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laxpIayer

hmm... Are you having a problem with middies? If so, here is a layout that might help.
click on it for larger image.



if you are having a problem with your defense, have them stick closer into the goal instead of playing their man far out.

hope it helps?

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Flyers11'

at that level they should not be setting up plays and passing the perimeter but i dunno about the 1 pass rule. of course i dont know ur team or their skills.

as a goalie i know exactly whats happening to ur team, a middie is left behind with broken ankles leaving them a man up, sending in cutters from all sides and leaving slam dunk opertunities. pulling the d back around the crees will help but you need to set up an effective slide motion. especially on a brakeaway, have the weakside man slide out and challenge the man. then slide ur center d to onto the other man but just slightly left, setting up a sort of triangle. this keeps them to perimeter shots and not point blank goalie nightmares.

another thing is that these point blank shots will inevitaly happen so ur goalie needs to be prepared. this is a great drill and it helps alot. have 3 of ur best shooters set up around the crees. one by one have them shoot (no rips, so ur goalie wont get hurt). have the goalie sprint at them and get his stick right up on theirs, while laying a shoulder into them. do this round and round till ur goalie is sweating. after water have him practice going for the offhand bounce shot low as fast as he can 20 times. have him do the bounce shot practice before all ur games.


hope it works out for you, and good luck.

laxman37

I believe Flyers nailed it. We had this problem at a tournament preseason, and we figured out it was that and fixed it.

In practice, tell your man to get back, sprinting. Make up a signal for if a middie is winded and needs a sub.

Also, work on 4 vs. 3 breakaways in practice, to help your defensemen with the slide. Tell them to play closer in, because at that age, the outside shot is not too much of an issue.

Attackmen14

Guys, remember he is coaching 11-12 year olds! We are saying things that would help an experienced team.I would suggest playing man on man, Just teach them sliding options. Most likely that could be the problem, you don't have any sliding going on?

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