Game Understanding – Structure
On page 31 of the GB Talent System Framework you will see this image and brief explanation about the importance of STRUCTURE in a game of hockey. It falls in the “Game Understanding” section of your ‘Complete Player Qualities’.
They (and we at county) use the terminology STRUCTURE, but you may be familiar with “formation”, or something else completely.
Click the Structure image to access the Talent System Framework
Our Structure
Please watch the YouTube Video carefully. This is the structure we would like to play this season.
What we like about this structure is:
- It gives 4 layers, or lines (Defense, Defensive/Holding midfield, Midfield & Attack). This will help us in & out of possession not have too much distance between each layer.
- With “Wing Backs”, we can make each line at least 4 players at a time, giving us full width coverage of the pitch where the ball is. This means we can attack in numbers, we should have 8 player going forward with each attack (and leaving the two Centre Backs to sweep up and counter attack).
- It will be harder for the opposition to play through the middle of this structure.
- There are clear roles in this structure which translate in to our zonal press.
It is important as a county team we all understand the structure we play. Everyone comes from different club/school enviroments where they use different formations, we need to agree one, and try to stick to is.
There is a change we will need to adapt our structure during some games.