Circle offense

[nylax72]

Can anyone help me out with plays out of a circle offense? Or direct me to sources for this type of offense?

[tomtom]

Your circle is designed to give a select few dodgers on your team become isolated against an agressive defense. Im not expert but Ill give a few things I know:

-Spread out. Make the defense want to pressure out to their man, giving ample space in the middle to dodge, and slowing the time it will take a cross crease slide to arrive.
- Try to force adjacent slides. If this happens, the adjacent offenseman should fill the space where his defender is sliding from and take a feed. Dont well, he will find himself staring down the goalie unopposed.
-Make cuts off ball, a circle takes especially careful off ball work to succeed.
- Prey on the tendancies of an agressive defense. If you play defenses that are agressive, uncontrolled, or undisciplined, this is a great set to work from as it will let you take advantage or overcommitting defenders. EG, dodge from left wing, defender overcommits to the bottom side. Dodger should take the space in the middle. When a cross crease slide comes, the man previously covered by the sliding defenseman should be cutting in to receive a pass. A good defense will slough in and clog the lane, but many will not. if the latter is the case, feed to that cutter and he will have a great opportunity.


I hope that made sense, its tough for me to get my point across without drawing things out. Somebody more experienced might want to clarify things and expound on what I said.

[CoachK]

No matter what defense you're playing, team concepts work well... A very basic idea many teams forget is to draw & dump... but there are many ways to do it. Draw the adjacent & dump, draw the crease slide & dump, or the most forgotten & quite possibly most effective, draw, roll & move the ball to the backside. Works against a sloughed in defense as well as multiple pressure defenses... Hell, we run it against a zone or two. If you have 2 defenders coming to you, someone is open, but you have to move the ball before the pressure gets there (think the slide is 1/2 to 2/3rd the way there).

I also like a 2-2-2 or 1-4-1 against the pressure.... Slides are predictable, you're playing 4 on 4 up the middle, but good creasemen can make it very difficult to slide at the appropriate time.

[laxlover8]

No matter what defense you're playing, team concepts work well... A very basic idea many teams forget is to draw & dump... but there are many ways to do it. Draw the adjacent & dump, draw the crease slide & dump, or the most forgotten & quite possibly most effective, draw, roll & move the ball to the backside. Works against a sloughed in defense as well as multiple pressure defenses... Hell, we run it against a zone or two. If you have 2 defenders coming to you, someone is open, but you have to move the ball before the pressure gets there (think the slide is 1/2 to 2/3rd the way there).

I also like a 2-2-2 or 1-4-1 against the pressure.... Slides are predictable, you're playing 4 on 4 up the middle, but good creasemen can make it very difficult to slide at the appropriate time.

Could you explain "draw, roll & move the ball to the backside"?

And "Slides are predictable under the formation of 2-2-2 or 1-4-1?

[CoachK]

Draw meaning get the slide or man coming, then roll away from the pressure & pass the ball (usually 1 or 2 passes) away from the pressure to the backside in order to attack again. This should create a field without a clear slide package at best & worst case scenario, longer slides. I try to have my players see the field in 4 zones. Left & Right... Then Behind Left & Right. If you're behind right dodging, pulling it out & moving it through 1 zone to the next (pass to an adjacent zone then pass once more to the backside), the defense should be collapsed & opportunities should open up.

I personally see the 1-4-1 & 2-2-2 as the nearly identical. Players should be moving to catch the ball in the same positions, dodging from the same positions, it's really just a minor difference in basic defensive positioning. My point was that if you're spread with two men on the crease, the two adjacent passes (if they're cut off) should not be available from what is being described. This creates 4 on 4 with the ball, 2 creasemen & back side player.

[rgriego]

somthing thats effective with all offenses is cutting. like they say good players know what to do with the ball great players know what to do without it. make sure your guys get a touch about 5 yards from the crease every time after they pass,when the ball is opposite of them ,and any other time they catch their defender ball watching.make sure that they keep their feet moving ,always looking for the back door.cutter is the most lethal man on the feild as long as he knows what hes doing.

[picknroll]

I think that the circle is trendy now as a counter to a crease sliding defense. Once you pull out the offensive crease player you force the defense to either slide adjacent or go into a zone. Agressive defenses use the crease slide to enable shutoffs on adjacent perimeter passes. If this type of defense becomes disruptive you go into a circle to force adjacent slides. The defense then has to slough off on the adjacent offball offensive players so that loosens the defense and gives you a little breathing room to move the ball. Also many teams practice crease slide packages way more than adjacent slides so you pull the defense out of their game and put the initiative back to the offense. A coaching friend of mine uses a "pulsating" 2-2-2. The offensive crease players start in tight (and away from the ball). They then push out wide after the defense has established all their slides and start a play from a wide 2-2-2. This makes the defense set up to slide from the crease and then switch to an adjacent slide in just a few seconds. The goal is to create slide confusion on the D and dodge or cut while the defense is confused. Cat and mouse game. I think this type of tactic is more successful than just lining up a static circle offense. I've also seen teams run this type of "pulsating" offense by switching back and forth between a 1-3-2 and a 1-2-3. It's the same concept.

[recon2ten]

The "circle method" as i call it,is used mainly against an aggressive defense that slides from adjacent. In the case of an adjacent defense try to get them to spread out and to play you far outside. The ball carrier should make a dodge and beat his man.At the same time the player directly opposite him should cut towards the goal. Look for the man cutting if hes open make the feed. If not then chances are the defense didnt make their slide in time and you should have a relatively clear shot at the goal.


PM me if you have any questions.