The Importance of Defending

Having a great defense is just as important to your team’s success as having a good offense.  The defender’s job is to prevent the other team from advancing the ball and scoring a goal. Improving defense skills will help your team do several things:

·       Get the ball from the opposing team

·       Get the ball BACK from the opposing team if they take it from you

·       Prevent the opposing team from scoring

There are things you can do to improve your team’s defense and have them ready to take on any offense and come out on top.  Excelling at the moves listed below will increase the overall strength of your team due to the fact that the offense will have a much more difficult time keeping the ball and scoring on your team.

Intercepting Passes

Being able to intercept a pass the other team is making cuts their offensive threat significantly.  To do this, you must be on the lookout, at all times, for opportunities to get in there and keep the ball from getting from one offensive player to the other.  The best position for the defensive player is goal side of the offensive player so they can see both the ball and the player and where the ball is being passed.

Prevent turning and facing the goal

When you can affect the first touch of the attacker and cause it to be a negative first touch, you have accomplished making them turn the ball away from you and the goal to try and prevent you from taking it from them.  This is called screening and when you can force them to have to screen the ball from you; you’ve weakened their attack and threat on your goal.

Get back into Good Defending Position

Whenever you’ve been beaten, never give up, but head for the near post to get goal side of the attacker again.  You want to get into a good defending position between the ball and your goal as fast as you possibly can and there is no time to lose.  This would be a good drill to practice during scrimmages to improve reaction times and hustle, even when it seems that you’ve lost the upper hand at first.

Never lose sight of where the ball is

When the offense has the ball and is screening it from you and turning to keep you from it, remember not to get too close. This is called leaning on the attacker and a good offensive player can use this to their advantage by spinning and playing the ball into the open space you left.

You must also remember to keep your eye on the ball at all times.  You can only intercept the ball and prevent the opposition from scoring if you know where the ball is. 

As a defensive player, you should always remember that your responsibility is to pressure the attacker, not let them advance on your goal and intercept any and all passes you can. The stronger your defense is, the less likely it is that you will have any goals scored on you, or at the very least, you will make it extremely hard for them to do so.  Both sides of the ball are important, and each one plays a huge part in the outcome of the match. You may not be the one to always score the goals, but when you can prevent the other side from scoring on YOU; you’re doing your major part to help your team get another win.