Zone defense and shooting space

[lax2300]

When running a zone defense, how do you prevent frequently getting called for shooting space violations, especially when your roving defense slides to trap the offense?

[mass_elite21]

It's very tough, I know that for many teams we play they get called for it quite often. I find that with shooting space, it is all about how the player acts. If they are aware that they are in the space, they can usually not get called by showing the refs they are making a legitimate effort to not get in the way. It is hard to explain without pictures, but I will try my best. If done properly, you can avoid shooting space and still slide properly. Do not square up to the girl with the ball, rather slide up, keeping your body out of the space but with your stick in the shooting lane.Contintue sliding in this fashion until you actually touch the girl with the ball, and from there you can actually get in a legitimate stance. When sliding up, you want to "sell" your slide to the refs by keeping your butt out, and your body as much as possible, and just keep the stick in her shooting space. I'm sorry that this was a vague answer, it's tough for me to explain. I hope this helped somewhat.

[lax2300]

Thank you. That was very useful. My experience is that the more experienced refs know to look for this. The less expeience refs see the slide and make a blanket call.

[SawyerLaxGirl44]

Isn't it also about meeting the girl with your stick first, rather than your body? That's what my coaches have always told us. Is that right?

[CTLaxer]

I have described a zone defense in women's lax at length in this thread: http://network.laxpower.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1842&highlight=women+zone and this thread: http://network.laxpower.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=138253 over at laxpower.

Basically, 3 seconds and shooting space are not big issues if the defense is done properly. When I had the proper players to run it, I didn't run into more than a handful of either call. Take a look at those threads and let me know if you have any specific questions. Also, knowledgable people such as RYU or lilaxgirl23 might decide to chime in too for specific questions.