Constraints Led Approach - Applied
Learning from a recent session
Recently I delivered the IFDA’s Level 1 coaching course to Jabba the Huck. One of the weaknesses of these type of coaching course normally is that the content has to be fairly generic. To try and combat this the course was for a single club and also split across two evenings with the participants sent away in the meantime to put some of what we discussed in the first session into action, then we reconvened and discussed how it went.
One of the areas I challenged the group was to try and change their normal process of delivering the things they wanted to teach through a drill into delivering it through game play instead. I’ve written a bit about that previously so I won’t fully repeat myself.
I wanted to talk through one of the practical examples from their training session that we discussed. It was a really good discussion and example of how using game play can lead to positive behaviours emerging naturally - and how you can act as a coach to enhance that further.
A quick background about Jabba: they are a mixed team both in the division they play, but also they are completely open and welcoming to players of any level. So they have the widest possible spread of ability levels in the team from complete newcomers to international superstars.
One of their priorities for the session they were running was teaching the use of the breakside. Previously this would have been through drilled activities but they were open to practicing through game play instead.
Luckily Jabba’s coach for that session was Fiona Mernagh who is my partner so she was able to iterate some ideas with me before the session and what we ended up with was:
A 4v4 game, where the pitch was divided by a vertical line of cones. On one side of the pitch the defence were not allowed unless they were marking the disc. The defence, naturally, should force away from that half of the pitch while the offence should be very incentivised to get the disc to the “free space”/breakside.
1. Can the offence figure out that they should prioritise hunting breakside throws?
Feedback was: yes. All teams did a good job figuring out they should attack the free space. And really that’s a good coaching job right there - teaching players to look for and execute in free space is really important to teach.
AND they had fun doing it. So that’s always nice.
However it wasn’t all perfect on offence. Some of the (smarter? more experienced?) teams figured out the could put ALL their offence players in the “free space” and very easily score. I’m definitely not opposed to players being smart and efficient so when I’m coaching I mostly enjoy that sort of thinking.
However, if you wanted to make the game more representative there’s a couple of simple adjustments you could make:
a) 3 second rule
The offence is only allowed in the free space on their own for three seconds - after 3 seconds the defender can enter. This keeps the advantage for the offence and the impetus to keep looking breakside, particularly early after catching the disc*, but places emphasis on the offence players timing their movements and getting out of the space if not thrown to. All good things.
b) Max 1 offence player in the "free" breakside space
Similarly, this promotes awareness of the positioning of the rest of your team, and means you need to time moves if you want those cheap breakside score - exactly like in a real game. But again, with the free breakside option you’re still promoting your players to hunt that option.
There is also an alternate adjustment that might not necessitate a rule change and that comes from the defence side.
2. Can the defence stop throws to the breakside?
The feedback here was: no, they weren't very good at this.
From what I was told about the game the most common marking error I see in players was the one exposed in this game: not actually getting a force on fully i.e. never getting close enough or positioning too much in front and not cutting off throws to the side.
There's a lot more to good forcing that what you do when you're fully set in position on the thrower. This is where a lot of traditional marking drills don't transfer to a game situation, because you're not going to be in that perfect drill marking position unless you know how to get there.
It's very simple to understand where you should be in relation to the throw and the breakside when nobody is moving and there are cones as a guide but in a game your starting positions and the angles for the thrower are always changing.
OK - so what should you do about it. This is an important point: modified/constrained games are great tool for encouraging behaviours but you need to actually coach to get the most out of them. So here’s a couple of suggested approaches to this situation:
a) Wait for a good rep
My ideal scenario would be that I see a team put together a good defensive rep at some point - then use that as an intervention point to highlight as an example of how we want to approach defence. However, with the focus primarily on the offence there may just not have been enough time or focus for this behaviour to emerge. In those cases -
b) Direct intervention from the coach
If you aren’t seeing the behaviour you want naturally occurring you need to take more direct action.
This can take a questioning approach - "What could the defending team do to make things more difficult for the offence?" - or a direct instruction - "We need to focus more on setting disciplined forces on defence".
Normally I think the questioning approach would be best, however in a situation where you're playing this game really to focus on your offence and you want to limit the length of your interventions a direct instruction can be fine too.
*One of my top tips for players that want to break the mark better is to break the mark before it’s actually there. It’s much easier to move the disc breakside when there’s less pressure on the throw. A game that rewards that behaviour is ideal.