There is a saying that is usually pinned to a successful person, they say he or she was "In the right place at the right time". They were in position to achieve success. This is extremely important in the world of sports. Position is everything. From the position of your body to the arrangement of players on a playing field. Yet as most sports rely upon formations it is not the static formation that achieves success but the active formation that dictates which team will emerge victorious. Soccer is similar to field hockey in this way as they both occupy the field in similar arrangements. Both can deploy similar formations, 5-2-3-1, or 4-3-3-1 and so on. The concepts are similar but the execution is vastly different. In soccer, the ball can be lifted over defenders, and the ball must preceed an attacking player into an offensive zone. In field hockey the ball cannot be lifted in to the air and the most important rule difference: there is no offside. This rule or the lack of it, allows a whole new way of offensive thinking. The strategies are endless. An imaginative field hockey team can, through the disciplined use of a zone attack and a zone defense, compete with anyone at any level regardless of the opponents skill superiority. That is of course providing that they are not facing the zone attack system.

So, in other words, what I'm saying is simply this. A team using the methods listed here can be more competitive. How? Let's first look at the mechanics of the game.

The most common technical skill that a field hockey player must develop is the dribble. The dribble requires a player to move as fast as possible, over uneven terrain, managing a heavy ball, using only one side of the stick. Unlike their ice hockey counterparts, a field hockey player cannot touch the ball with their feet, or it results in loss of possession. Under the most common playing conditions the dribbling technique requires the player to focus on the ball. They cannot take their eye off it to look to pass since they run the risk of mishandling the ball, kicking it, or illegally touching it with the stick. When they stop to look to pass they become vulnerable to a good tackle. This all supports one of my key theories. Pass often, keep dribbling to a minimum.

Most, if any, offensive dribbling should be done within the opponents "D" where the penalty is less expensive to the team. The defenders need to clear the ball quickly. Dribbling out of the circle is the best means of getting the ball out of your own end. Clearing passes would be the next best method providing the ball is not cleared to an awaiting opponent. Gain control of the ball; clear it up to the forwards.

This is where the Zone Attack System comes in. In the zone system, the field is segmented into zones. Each zone has a number and that number never changes. The perspective is always from your goalkeeper, "even" numbered zones are on the left side of the field, "odd" numbers on the right. Any number with one is in the middle. (See Illustration.) The players who align themselves within these zones are not numbered except in the case of a penalty corner. There, they assume the number of the zone they play in. (See section on penalty corners for more information).

The key feature of this is that by using numbers to identify where an open player is a pass can be made without looking. The pass is to the zone not to the player. The passer knows where the zone is all the time. They also know that they have a player stationed there moving forward and waiting for the pass. The number of the zone is called out when they are open or when they are breaking into an open space. The passer drives the ball to the called zone ahead of where they heard the voice of the player in the zone. The player in the zone has to go get the ball and continue the attack. Since the passer did not stop to look where she was passing the play continues without hesitation or interuption. The opponent cannot read the eyes of the passer since the passer doesn't need to look up. If more than one number are called it just gives the passer more options. The numbers allow communication and speed of delivery, and speed is a key element. Not only foot speed but speed of decision and execution.

When a player stops to look around the defense can catch up and regain a good defensive position. The faster the offense moves the better the attack. Maintaining a high speed attack will force an opponent to play a more defensive game and take pressure off your goalkeeper.

Another key feature of the zone and maybe the most important feature, is that it keeps players spread out throughout the field of play. Bunching up is the main plague of field hockey. The importance of maintaining formation cannot be stressed enough. In every game, especially at the high school levels, players who aren't disciplined and do not remain in their designated area hurt the chances of success of their team. The sad part is that these players ARE hustling, and playing hard. But they are not playing smart.

My daughter's team is an example. Whenever they attack, and the ball comes down the right side, the left wing closes across the goal. She positions herself at the right goal post. This places four players, the left inner, the center, the right inner, and the left wing all within a few feet of each other. This not only allows one defender to cover all of them, but the left wing is now out of position to score when the ball is passed across the face of the goal. In field hockey, this happens all the time! In one particular game the left wing, had she stayed by the left goal post(the backdoor) would have had the opportunity to score five goals as the ball eventually was passed across to where she should have been five times. In her effort to do everything and help everywhere she cost her team five goals. She needs to: 1. become diciplined and stay where she is supposed to be, and 2. she needs to trust in her teammates, that they will do their job at their position. By assigning players to a zone a coach can maintain the integrity of the chosen offensive formation. The lack of formation discipline is the major cause of offensive and defensive failure! Remember the old saying, "A place for everyone and everyone in their place.

The strategy behind the zone system is that all players are responsible for their zones. The techniques of the game do not change. The strategic zones are as simple as ABCD. The numbered zone tell players where they are to play, the lettered zones tell them what they are to do at that point in the field.

In the zone attack system the difficult skill of dribbling is supported by communication and passing. The zones, always the same, become the targets of passes. No longer does a player have to look where a player is to pass to, they pass to their zone. The player calls out their number when they are open. The voice direction and familiarity with the location of the zone allow for two players to connect. There is no reading of the passer's eyes for direction because they are now passing by means other than sight. This increases the speed of the ball downfield and keeps the defense guessing as to where it is going. The calling of numbers adds to the confusion of the defense since they will not know what the number means. This can be especially effective when this system becomes perfected and other players, who can look and see openings, can call out numbers where another player is breaking into the open.

Communication is essential to the game of field hockey and it must be in a code that is known and understood by the entire team. Why a code? In Massachusetts there are many club teams that enlist the players from different schools. There is a great deal of familiarity among the field hockey elite. When a girls calls the passer's name the passer may not know exactly where the calling player is. The passer will have to look just before passing and the odds are high that a defender will use the pause to read and intercept the ball. Passing to a zone eliminates any confusion which may arise due to a substitution, and injury, or one player moving from one zone to another. Everyone will know where the ball is going...except the defense.

The zone can be coded to whatever suits the team; numbers, letters, names, etc. The important thing is that the zones never change. When a player calls out her zone the ball handler knows someone will be in the area where she passes the ball. The other most important feature of this is that passes do not have to be person to person. The player calling for a pass to a zone is expected to get to the ball. The ball will be passed into her zone to a offensively oriented point (ahead or toward the opposing goal). The player into whose zone the ball is passed to is expected to be on the move and to get the ball. Her decisions about what to do next are already forming in her head and she will call out that decision the moment she makes it. Next time you watch a game notice the players adjacent to the ball handler. They are ready, but none of them know who will receive the pass. They cannot plan their next move since they do not what the first move will be. The use of a zone system can help everyone communicate and position themselves to their best advantage for success. Using the zone system, winning can be as simple as 1,2,3 and A,B,C .

The Zone at work

In the Summer of 2001 I had the opportunity to take a team to the Bay State Games in the 6v6 division. We installed the zone system. We only had a few practices but the girls picked it up well. We did very well in the tournament but failed to advance. One of our opponents was a very good team that had played for a long time together. They were the better team and resulted in our only loss.

The zone system performed exactly as I hoped and expected it would. Our attack was well dispersed. Our wings and centers never bunched up and the passing, as a result, created many scoring opportunities. It wasn't perfect though as I discovered a few things missing. The first thing missing was that when a passer called out a number the player in that zone didn't move. Everyone on our team knew and understood where the ball was going but by staying still we didn't break out. What was learned was that when a number is called out during a free hit all forwards MUST sprint to their zones downfield. In many cases our forwards didn't do this and the ball went untouched across the opponents endline instead of being taken under control. This was my mistake because I had failed to put emphasis upon this. Live and learn.

Our passing game and some of the goals that resulted were textbook studies in passing. During our corners we had problems getting the ball to the shooter. Again we all knew where the ball was going and how the play was going to proceed but we had trouble connecting the initial pass. We did work on this but since we didn't practice using the exact dimensions for the circle as used in the tournament we were a bit off. Again this was a coaching error. On the occasion when we connected, the corners went very well resulting in a good scoring effort and lots of shots.

This Summer, 2002, I had the opportunity to take not one but two teams to the Bay State Games. We were able to get together for four practices before the tournament. Once again I installed the zone system. It was interesting to discover that of the two groups one was eager to try the new method while the oher group was a bit relunctant to use it even though they had used it with some success the previous year. It was interesting that when the two groups scrimmaged the group that used it outscored the group that didn't by a margin of 10:1. Another factor that figured in this was unexpected. As the players became fatiqued, they used the system less. This revealed the importance of conditioning and that it should not be given less attention than developing skills.

Neither of the two teams advanced though both came in second in their pools. They played very well against some tough teams, losing only to the teams that eventually won their pools. Each team only allowed three goals and scored 12 goals combined. They proved once again that the zone system works but still did not use it to its fullest extent.

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