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In handball we can separate the components of defence into various sections. In its simplest form, the components that contribute to building an outstanding defender, that there aren't any shortcuts in passing through, would probably include; Individual technical defence, Individual tactical defence, cooperative defence, and finally the collective (or team) defence.
Before reading, try to take a few seconds to consider these four sections.. Pick a player from your team and try to assess their current level in each of the four areas of their defence.
If you are like me about 10 years ago, you would probably have made an assessment similar to the following;
"Player X has a good technical defence ability for their age- they can tackle & block reasonably well. They have a good understanding of my teams' defence formation and can work well/have problems working alongside other players in defence"
This sort of assessment is perfectly fine. However, your assessment probably would not have actually touched upon one or more of the four sections. In the following short article I will try to outline the four sections and within each, identify why each is important for the overall defence training.
1: Individual technical defence
Throughout a child's physical and sport specific development the coach has a responsibility to develop a huge array of skills and competences. Individual technical defence is generally considered the starting point, whereby players learn such technical fundamentals as tackling & blocking. I think the majority of youth Handball coaches are able to tick the box of being comfortable of developing technique.
A practical example of developing individual technical defence might be learning how to finish a tackle once initial contact has been made. Disclaimer alert, all videos in this post are outdated, and by no means perfect.
The technical components are one thing - a very important thing and become a base for all additional components. Of the many thousands of professional handball players who stand in defence, not one of them is doing it with world class technique alone.. In order to carry out the technical tasks in defence, there are a whole heap of processes a defender must process and evaluate. Should i block or should i tackle? Is the attacker setting up for a duel or a distance shot? Where is the ball, and how might i need to position myself in order to tackle or block successfully? Where is the pivot player, and how is my positioning in relation to theirs? Am i positioned such that i can move around the pivot if necessary?
The technique of being able to carry out just some of the tasks mentioned above is one thing, and can learned in isolation, like the video demonstrates. But sadly coaches, Handball is a complex sport which requires more than just decent technique. The success of a participants individual technical defence lies in the players ‘tactical awareness’.
2: Individual tactical defence
If the technical skills are bricks, im sure we can all agree that we need to teach our players how to use them in such a way that they can build a beautiful wall.
Individual tactical defence is one of the most important components in junior Handball. Commonly overlooked, forgotten about, or even avoided, individual tactical defence can be one of the most difficult to teach. Why? Because your delivery of coaching at practice will be dependant on your players learning. No longer can you stand your players 2x2 at practice and talk them through how to finish a tackle, just like you did when you were their age (check my article on behavioural coaching).
Training of individual tactical defence requires fluidity in your practice, many many situations which require critical decision making, questions and answers, trial and error, small-sided games with moving parts, where things can go right, but where things mainly go wrong, just like in a handball match. This is where good youth coaches earn their stripes.
Being able to properly position themselves, to anticipate whether a tackle or a block is most suitable, and properly timing the execution of the action are crucial individual tactical skills that a player must master inline with their technique. Without these vital individual tactical skills, players will never learn how to work cooperatively with other defenders, and thus limiting their ability to perform effectively within a collective, more structured team defence later on.
As the coach you can support the development of a players individual tactical understanding of defence by structuring exercises that require defenders to stand with a low centre of gravity and in facing the attackers shooting arm;
Players can also develop a better understanding of the tactical defensive game through exercises where they are given the opportunity to make their own assessment and find the most appropriate solutions to unique game specific problems - an approach designed to improve 'Game sense'. As the coach, you must facilitate 'game sense' learning by asking reflective questions and guide players towards giving highly reflective responses. Ultimately there are many individual tactical elements players must work on before they can be expected to operate effectively within the team. These fundamental tactical issues include; • How should the player position their feet, body, and arms in the act of tackling/blocking • Where on the court should the defender position themselves when the ball is in their zone and where the ball is somewhere else? • How high should the defender go to engage with a specific opponent? • When should the make contact with a specific opponent, and with what force? • What can the defender do to take the initiative and put pressure on the attacker? • What is the optimum distance to your opponent, when they are in possession of the ball? • When should the defender start their run when they want to attempt an interception to steal the ball back? • When should the player back up if the defender beside them when they need help? • What does the defender do if they have ended up in a situation where they are alone against two opponents and the ball is coming into your zone? Question: How many of you have implemented a structured team defence with your teams? A 5-1, or 3-2-1 for example? ..Most im sure. How many of you have implemented this team defence, having not covered one or more of the issues listed above? ..My best guess, over 50% If you are one of the coaches who has tried, for example to develop a brilliant 5-1 defence with a group of young players, who have not yet learned how to work alongside one other defender, or has not yet learned how high they must go to engage an attacker, or how to decide whether a tackle or block is even necessary, then how do you expect them to perform as part of a collective defence which is fundamentally built on the effectiveness of these individual tactics? ...Something to think about. 3: Cooperative defence
The technical competencies might be the bricks, and the tactical competencies is knowing how to place the bricks in the right order..
Handball, though is a team sport, and while your builder might be the best god-darn builder in the world, with every brick at their disposal and knowhow to get their job done - they cant do it alone.
Cooperative defence is the ability for an individual to carry out their individual technical & tactical tasks in partnership with anothers' carrying out of their tasks - in sync. Not only that, they'll now need the understanding of how & when to change their tasks when something changes in front of them. A good example of cooperative defence, not in matchplay is;
In this exercises, three defenders must work together to attempt to stop the pivot player (man in the middle) from receiving a pass from any of the 3 'attackers' on the outside of the triangle. Indiv technical defence, i.e. The bricks: Feet and arm positioning against the ball in relation to the pivot player, feet and arm positioning against the pivot player in relation to the ball. And so on.. Indiv tactical defence, i.e. Using the bricks: When to leave the pivot player and approach the ball? When to retreat and take care of the pivot player? How close to the ball carrier should i be? What side of the pivot player gives me the best chance to stop any attempt for him to receive the ball? And so on.. Cooperative defence: The joining together of 2-3 players individual components to perform effectively together. This Small Sided Game (SSG) requires 3 defenders to work together by combining their individual components in partnership with each other. When one defender has evaluated that it is their tasks to move forward and pressurise the ball carrier, it becomes the task of the teammates to cover any attempt to pass to the pivot player. When the ball moves in the attack, the roles change, where another player assumes the role of giving pressure to the ball, while the first defender retreats to cover the attempt at passing to the pivot.
Three players, three individual roles, one collaboration, which requires an understanding not only of ones own technical and tactical tasks, but also the tasks of teammates, and the changing of tasks when things change in front of them. If 3 defenders can perform their tasks in collaboration so effectively to the point that they can interchange between roles and responsibilities, they will have succeeded in cooperative defence, the 3rd component of excellent defence. The above example of the type of exercise the coach can use to develop individual tactical and cooperative tactical defence is a good one in my opinion. This type of cooperation cannot be manipulated or taught by telling players how to act and react to certain situations. Like i said at the start of this post, these skills must be mastered through trial and error, moving parts, success and failure, and discussion to gage understanding.
If you as the coach can create an learning environment whereby players learn by being placed in situations that improve their critical decision making, believe me you're doing it right. Concepts i recommend reading up on: 1. Small Sided Games 2. Teaching Games for Understanding
Cooperation is also about how one defender can position themselves in order to make it easier for the players around them. For example the wing defender can choose to stand a little further towards the middle of the court, thus allowing the back defender to defend less space. It is the coaches job to assess what defence cooperation’s are the most important to train, based on the chosen defence formation or players suitable for specific positions on the court. Two vs two situations will often occur (for example the two middle defenders in a 6:0 defence) or three vs three (for example the three front players in a 3:2:1 defence). You can also develop more complex cooperation’s like 4 vs 4 situations or when defenders are outnumbered (2 vs 3 or 3 vs 4) in order to train specific situations or when the objective is to force the defenders to work even harder and faster to cover space.
Cooperative defence is how well one builder can work together with another builder to get the wall built effectively and on time, so the roofing guys can take over the next day!
4: Collective/Team defence
Collective, or team defence is the 4th and final component. Its the part that is able to take a proficient brick layer, teaming them up with other good brick layers, roofers, heating and ventilation guys, painters, and getting them working in sync towards a master blueprint.
The end goal is that the whole team develop a clear, coherent and efficient collective defence game where the individual competences is closely aligned based on a chosen defence formation. By this point Individual technical, individual tactical, and cooperative defence skills have been understood, and are able to be combined to implement a collective team defence. Happy coaching!