with Andrew Fink,
Mount Ida College Head Coach,
8x Conference Champions;
4x NCAA Division III qualifier,
3x Coach of the Year NAC/GNAC;
Boston Storm General Manager (UWLX)
With an aggressive adjacent defense, there is no need to slide from the crease any more!
More and more teams are using their long pole and defensive middies to create opportunities to score during the transition to the offensive side of the field. In this video, Andrew Fink presents a series of progressive drills that build an attacking adjacent defensive scheme that will lead to turnovers and offensive chances for your long poles.
Coach Fink takes you through a Mt. Ida practice, giving you a look at not only how he structures practice, but how he uses that structure to build an entire adjacent scheme with simple drills in under two hours. Starting with the Basketball transition drill that gets the defense involved in the offense, Fink progresses through a series of footwork drills that introduce and reinforce the idea of the off-ball defenders supporting the on-ball defender.
Footwork Drills that Teach Defenders to Support Each Other
Through a series of footwork drills, Coach Fink emphasizes the importance of off-ball defenders moving in relation to the on-ball defender. Each of these footwork drills add a piece to the entire adjacent-slide defense as the players work toward more game-like drills.
Putting It All Together
In an extended teaching session followed by live repetitions in a 6v6 drill, Fink puts the pieces together and demonstrates all of the concepts of an attacking adjacent-slide defense. He explains how he runs his defensive sets of Black (pressure ball), Blue (support from middle) and Darkness (double). He walks through all areas of the field and explains where each player should be positioned and who the slide is.
Drills
It's challenging to roll out a new system or scheme without building up the key instructional components and nuances of what you are trying to teach. Coach Fink introduces 13 drills and situational play options. The drills will develop a defensive player who has the skill and confidence to run an adjacent slide defense where they can "hunt" the ground ball down and join the transition to offense creating opportunities to score.
Each set of drills is designed as a series of layers that ultimately blend together to create an aggressive adjacent-slide defense. The drills are easy to understand and easy to implement. Regardless of the drill Coach Fink covers, his explanations are clear and the drills are run with precision.
Sample Drill - Mini Box Game
Presented early on in the video, this drill puts everything together in a small package. Long poles and short stick defensive midfielders play a 3v3 game in a condensed area, giving every defensive player time to not only work on his adjacent slides but also become a more adept offensive player. Played continuously from end to the other, the defenders must work in tandem to support each other and prevent an offensive player from slipping through the defense.
This drill, like all of the others, is clearly explained by Fink and can be a great drill to later reinforce all of the concepts presented in the video as a part of a part-whole progression.
This video lays out what you need to do to create a team environment where your defensive players can join the transition to the offensive side of the field to score goals for the team.
"This is a great video that really focuses on the part-whole method of teaching. Each drill builds on the last one in a way that's easy to understand and makes sense." - Customer Review
72 minutes. 2018.