New inexperienced defense - good drills?

[newbuddyerror]

I'm actually not a coach but I'm the goalie for the team with a new coach. What are some good drills for a newish defense that I can run with them?

[picknroll]

Here's the stuff that I do almost every practice:

Cone progression for Individual Defense

Set up cones about 10 yards apart zig zagged from midfield to GLE. Start with a line at midfield. Each player then backpedals at the first cone, and then shuffles to the next cone while poke checking. At each cone the defender drop steps and continues to shuffle and poke. Emphasize short choppy steps while keeping their butt low. Next progression is to add a ballcarrier who rolls back and changes hands at each cone. The defender repeats same as above while keeping "hip to hip" with the ballcarrier always keeping his stick in front of the ballcarrier while constantly poking at the ball carriers hands. Final step of the progression is to add a forerarm hold (for righty defender) at each cone as the ball carrier rolls right to left (away from pressure) and add a butt-end hold at each cone as the ball carrier rolls left to right. This is all just basic individual defense stuff, but I run almost every day to develop muscle memory.

Adjacent Slide Position and Communication

Set up four cones about 15 to 18 yards apart. Put an offensive player on each cone. Put four defensive players inside the cones without sticks (only working on position and communication). Have the offensive players move the ball clockwise around the cones. You want the on-ball defender on the ball carrier while the two adjacent defender slough off in position for an adjacent slide. Communication is "ball, left, right". The forth defender is backside and sags into the center of the circle. As the ball moves around the circle the defenders pop into position depending on whether they are on-ball, adjacent, or backside. Make sure the defense every time the ball is passed and make sure the defenders "explode" to the ball and retreat back quickly when sloughing off or sagging.

2v2 with Crease Slide
Set up a top O middie with a short-stick defender along with a crease O player fronted by a long-stick. Start with the ball at the middie who attempts to dodge the D middie. The D middie must protect topside by channelling the ballcarrier down the side. If the O middie successfully dodges topside the crease defender must slide to pick him up (at the goalie's call). The D middie must recover to either double the ball or pick up the crease O player (depending on how you play it). You can also run 2v2 starting the dodge from X or the attack wings.

Covering the Crease
Set up a 1-3-2 offense with one long-stick on the crease fronting the offensive crease middie. Have the offense move the ball quickly around the perimeter. Teach "big eye/little eye" to the crease defender and "head on a swivel". The crease middie works as hard as possible to get open and the offense feeds him if he does get open. This teaches "fronting" while the defender keeps track of both the ball and his man.

I've got more, but that's the basic stuff that I use. Hope that helps.

[newbuddyerror]

Thanks, I'll run it by my coach to see if he'll let me run them.