Backer Zone - How to play X

[Crusader9]

In a 2-3 Backer zone, how do you play the "X" man?

We have started to work with the Backer zone in practice, and what I am finding is that "X" seems to be a weak spot in the zone.

Right now, I am having the backer just shade beside the goal and the lower defender as part of the "3" to shade low as well.

Does anyone do anything differently?

Thanks in advance.

[FlucoDpole]

My backer zone pinches my longpole wings pretty tight. They're responsible for playing the man at X depending on where he goes. The backer backs their zone up while they engage at X,and depending on whether they play someone in front of the crease, my crease long pole either backs up the backer or controls the guy on the crease/watches for cutters from the top.
If the wing attack cuts to the crease,they have to go through the backer and the crease longpole.
Alternatively,if X sucks at feeding,you could ignore him as a feeder,and just keep the wing longpoles tighter to the crease to prevent him from cutting past GLE.

Our backer zone has a lot more problems with high cutters,since our middies aren't as efficient up top as our longpoles.

[shiftylax]

We play the wings tight and "pass" the X man between them. If the X man cuts in, the crease slides and the backer doubles. It's more of a hybrid backer, but with cutters at X and against a 2-2-2 you ahve to make adjustments. The best way to beat this approach offensively is to stack a side with three players so the topside middie/LSM has to make a decision on when/how far to drop. Wing D-men are egenrally faster than crease guys, so that is why we pass instead of havg the crease shade the X-man's movements. Besides, having the crease guy move in and around anywhere but the crease is distracting and opens up feeds to the middle.

[galaxcoach]

one of the best ways i have seen this done is by NYIT. Played very much like a 5 man rotation man down unit but the creaseman also covers x. when the ball is passed to X the creaseman pops out and pressures HARD! They play soft with the wing defenders and the top two defenders sag in to help out on the crease. This is an interesting concept becuase your pressure point is where the backer zone is normally weak, at X. When run well this defense is incredibly hard to beat and very confusing for an offense facing them. Coach kaley has a few videos out there for instruction and is very helpful and receptive to phonecalls with questions.