ONE League – Byker versus York A
Posted on 20/11/07 14:37
Not wanting to gloat, but I suppose I should start off by saying that we (York A) won 10-4!
For those of you who don't know, the ONE (or Octopush North East) League has just started up, providing a league (and later in the year, a tournament) for Octopush/Underwater Hockey teams in the north east of England. At the moment, there are just 5 teams playing - Byker and Jesmond (both in Newcastle), Durham, York A and York B. (York had lots of players last year, so took the place of another Newcastle team who dropped out to field a second team.) The first league match was last night between Byker and York A, played at Byker. I must say, Byker have a great pool. It seems a little wider than York's (Bootham School), and I think it's only 20 metres long, but it has a movable bottom, so depth is constant, and was set at about 5 feet. Plus, the bottom is a hard plastic, and is nice and smooth, so the puck plays across it very consistently, unlike on tiled pools where the quality of the tile laying dramatically affects the ability to control and flick the puck.
The game was rather hard work, as we only had 6 players (ie no substitutes), but I think we managed to pace ourselves well, although the speed did slow down noticeable from the fist couple of goals. As a departure from the 2-2-2 formation we were playing last year in practice, Ali decided to try playing 3-3. Actually, this suites my style of play more – I tend to play at the back, but push forward quite a lot, either to support the attack, or to break out of defence. With only two defenders, this does leave a big hole at the back. Unfortunately what didn’t work too well was not communicating this, so there were odd times that, having pushed up from centre back, the guys playing left and right back didn’t know to drop in towards the centre more to fill the hole, and I think we lot one or two goals as a result – all my fault I’m afraid.
Aside from communication, the main other area we need to work on is supporting other players. From my position at the back, Ali seemed to spend a lot of time on the puck, but there wasn’t always the support there for him when he ran into trouble or out of breath (partly why I was pushing up further forward than I should have done). Support is not just about being in the right place, but also getting down on the bottom to be ready to receive a pass, or to take it off the opposition just after they won the puck off your team mate, or being ready to sprint into the open space that the player is about to put the puck into. Although I mention this in the context of the forwards, that’s simply because being at the back, I have the time and space to watch this. I’m sure it applies to the backs as well.
Despite the criticisms above, I think we played well, and there were definitely times when we gelled together as a team, as people start working out what other members of the team are doing, and being able to put the puck into space where you know someone is going to be. The last goal, for example, came from 2 simple passes – me to Ali to Lucy - taking the puck from half way into Byker’s goal. All my criticisms can be ironed out simply by playing together as a team more often, and taking the time to discuss what worked, what didn’t who should be where when etc.
One final thought is that playing 3-3 looses the midfield. The benefit is clearly better coverage across the width of the pool – a big help if everyone can’t put in long passes, and makes for a stronger defence. However, it means pushing forwards from defence is more difficult as you have don’t have that extra layer to push through the opposition. It also leaves you prone to having holes in defence if a defender pushes up with the puck, but looses it fairly quickly. So I’m now thinking there’s some kind of hybrid between 3-3 and 2-2-2, playing in some kind of arrow or diamond formation – eg with the either the central defender or the left and right backs playing more of a midfield role, and the 3 attackers mirroring the same v-shape (central attack plays ahead of the left and right wingers who become more of a forward-midfield position, or vice versa). Quite how any of this will pan out I don’t know, but hopefully we can practice it a bit in training session next Sunday.
Anyway, well done to York A, and good luck to York B who are playing Jesmond tonight!
For those of you who don't know, the ONE (or Octopush North East) League has just started up, providing a league (and later in the year, a tournament) for Octopush/Underwater Hockey teams in the north east of England. At the moment, there are just 5 teams playing - Byker and Jesmond (both in Newcastle), Durham, York A and York B. (York had lots of players last year, so took the place of another Newcastle team who dropped out to field a second team.) The first league match was last night between Byker and York A, played at Byker. I must say, Byker have a great pool. It seems a little wider than York's (Bootham School), and I think it's only 20 metres long, but it has a movable bottom, so depth is constant, and was set at about 5 feet. Plus, the bottom is a hard plastic, and is nice and smooth, so the puck plays across it very consistently, unlike on tiled pools where the quality of the tile laying dramatically affects the ability to control and flick the puck.
The game was rather hard work, as we only had 6 players (ie no substitutes), but I think we managed to pace ourselves well, although the speed did slow down noticeable from the fist couple of goals. As a departure from the 2-2-2 formation we were playing last year in practice, Ali decided to try playing 3-3. Actually, this suites my style of play more – I tend to play at the back, but push forward quite a lot, either to support the attack, or to break out of defence. With only two defenders, this does leave a big hole at the back. Unfortunately what didn’t work too well was not communicating this, so there were odd times that, having pushed up from centre back, the guys playing left and right back didn’t know to drop in towards the centre more to fill the hole, and I think we lot one or two goals as a result – all my fault I’m afraid.
Aside from communication, the main other area we need to work on is supporting other players. From my position at the back, Ali seemed to spend a lot of time on the puck, but there wasn’t always the support there for him when he ran into trouble or out of breath (partly why I was pushing up further forward than I should have done). Support is not just about being in the right place, but also getting down on the bottom to be ready to receive a pass, or to take it off the opposition just after they won the puck off your team mate, or being ready to sprint into the open space that the player is about to put the puck into. Although I mention this in the context of the forwards, that’s simply because being at the back, I have the time and space to watch this. I’m sure it applies to the backs as well.
Despite the criticisms above, I think we played well, and there were definitely times when we gelled together as a team, as people start working out what other members of the team are doing, and being able to put the puck into space where you know someone is going to be. The last goal, for example, came from 2 simple passes – me to Ali to Lucy - taking the puck from half way into Byker’s goal. All my criticisms can be ironed out simply by playing together as a team more often, and taking the time to discuss what worked, what didn’t who should be where when etc.
One final thought is that playing 3-3 looses the midfield. The benefit is clearly better coverage across the width of the pool – a big help if everyone can’t put in long passes, and makes for a stronger defence. However, it means pushing forwards from defence is more difficult as you have don’t have that extra layer to push through the opposition. It also leaves you prone to having holes in defence if a defender pushes up with the puck, but looses it fairly quickly. So I’m now thinking there’s some kind of hybrid between 3-3 and 2-2-2, playing in some kind of arrow or diamond formation – eg with the either the central defender or the left and right backs playing more of a midfield role, and the 3 attackers mirroring the same v-shape (central attack plays ahead of the left and right wingers who become more of a forward-midfield position, or vice versa). Quite how any of this will pan out I don’t know, but hopefully we can practice it a bit in training session next Sunday.
Anyway, well done to York A, and good luck to York B who are playing Jesmond tonight!
Jodie wrote: