A fun game for young players to learn how to find and defend space
Set Up
Create 4 boxes of cones in a 15×15 or 20×20 space (different colors if you have it). Add an offensive player with a ball and a defender (with or without a stick). The goal is for the offensive player to make it to each box. Once the attacked gets into a box, they must drop the ball (w/no pressure), re scoop it, and then go try to capture another space. Each player gets 60 seconds to capture as many boxes as possible and they cannot capture a zone they already got
Coaching Point & Principles
- Finding the open space on offense and attacking. Using dodges or change of direction to get to space
- Defense has to guard all 4 boxes at once, so they should continue to try to reset positioning to drive players away from boxes
- Coaches should look for: Do they go to the zone FURTHEST from the defender? Do they fake toward one zone and cut to another? Do they change speed when they see the defender commit?Do kids scan before committing to a zone?
Progressions
- Defender has no stick
- defender can only shade, no body contact
- Add a 5th cone
