b) The Screen
Depending on the type of defensive play your opponents will decide on, the screen can be an effective tool to have in your arsenal. It can be used, either as the main aid to get shots on goal, or even as a diversion to attract the attention of defending players. Your attack is set up in the traditional way and the ball is passed around. If you cannot pass the ball to the centre and there are no clear shots on goal, then the ball is passed to the central attacker on the outside. When they receive the ball they rise out of the water to fake a shot, pass the ball to the right and swim across to their left to block out the defender.
It cannot be stressed enough how important the passing and staying high in the water is during these plays. The attacking player on the right needs to know the position of every team mate and here precise passing is crucial.
Another type of attacking screen is done on the left side of the post and this time involves attackers on the left side. This time it is player on the far left who swims towards the person defending the team mate to his right and blocks them off using their back. The attacking player to the left of the central player swims to his left and at the same time that the far left player lunges forward towards the goal. Here, if done correctly, both attackers should be in front of goal with only one defender in between them. The ball has to move quickly from right to centre who can then pass it to the free player. The good thing about this type of move is that if the defender tries to touch your hand from behind it is a penalty so they are useless to help out.
Saturday, 24 April 2010
Sunday, 14 February 2010
Offensive Plays
There are a number of offensive plays which will be used during any game but the most common are:-
a) The counter attack
b) Screen (sometimes referred to as the player check)
c) Man Up situations
d) The Centre Forward and Double Centre
a) The counter attack
For the counter attack to be effective, you have to start with a solid defense which in turn can be turned into attack as quickly as possible. Let us take as an example, that we are defending in an M Zone defense as explained in previous blogs. For the counter attack to be effective, you need to be alert at all times and know the right moment to start attacking. If you leave too soon you might give your opponents that extra second to score and if you leave too late, then the counter attack will not be effective as the opposing team will already be retreating too.
Once on the “break”, the defender who was on the outer right hand side opens up after a few short fast strokes to get the ball from the goalie. In the mean time, the other front four start swimming fast towards the opposing goal. Just after the half way line, the second player on the right breaks away to their right to receive the ball. By this time, the middle player would have swam up to the two meter line, while the outer two have reached the five meter line and so now, it all boils down to 2 picking the right pass to the “free” player and scoring.
These types of plays are practiced all the time during a training session. You can start with 3 on 2 then 4 on 3, 5 on 4 and finally 6 on 5, all the time using a chaser coming up from behind. A chaser is the defending player furthest back who tries to catch up with the group to close down a counter attack.
If you would like to learn more about How To Play Water Polo , just click on the link and it will take you directly to a treasure chest of information.
a) The counter attack
b) Screen (sometimes referred to as the player check)
c) Man Up situations
d) The Centre Forward and Double Centre
a) The counter attack
For the counter attack to be effective, you have to start with a solid defense which in turn can be turned into attack as quickly as possible. Let us take as an example, that we are defending in an M Zone defense as explained in previous blogs. For the counter attack to be effective, you need to be alert at all times and know the right moment to start attacking. If you leave too soon you might give your opponents that extra second to score and if you leave too late, then the counter attack will not be effective as the opposing team will already be retreating too.
Once on the “break”, the defender who was on the outer right hand side opens up after a few short fast strokes to get the ball from the goalie. In the mean time, the other front four start swimming fast towards the opposing goal. Just after the half way line, the second player on the right breaks away to their right to receive the ball. By this time, the middle player would have swam up to the two meter line, while the outer two have reached the five meter line and so now, it all boils down to 2 picking the right pass to the “free” player and scoring.
These types of plays are practiced all the time during a training session. You can start with 3 on 2 then 4 on 3, 5 on 4 and finally 6 on 5, all the time using a chaser coming up from behind. A chaser is the defending player furthest back who tries to catch up with the group to close down a counter attack.
If you would like to learn more about How To Play Water Polo , just click on the link and it will take you directly to a treasure chest of information.
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