Jenelle Downs: Defensive Diamond/Bowl Progressions

with Jenelle Downs,
Centre College Head Coach;
5x SAA Coach of the Year;
NFHCA Region Coach of the Year (2017);
2017 NCAA Elite Eight appearance

Field hockey is a complex game and rote learning strategies will only take your team so far. What you need are tactically flexible players. In this video, Centre College head coach Jenelle Downs shows her blueprint to make athletes more versatile.

Coach Downs explains how to progressively place your defenders under increasing stress using flexible open-ended, multi-phase exercises that promote problem-solving and creativity.

Defense Drill Progressions

In a series of open-ended repeat drills, Downs shows how to teach players to become better defenders by:

• Outletting effectively under pressure from active opposition
• Running correct recovery lines after a turnover
• Communicating clearly to organize quickly

In a half-field transition drill that trains all aspects of the game, Downs trains her defenders to work together in numbers-down situations to nullify opposition attacks and then launch counter-attacks of their own. This is full-on, game-sense training designed to produce cognitive players.

Downs uses a whiteboard to introduce each drill with diagrams and detailed discussions that provide not only the "what" of each drill, but more importantly the "why."

This video from Coach Downs will give you ready-made drills you can use to get your players thinking more creatively on the field. More importantly, you'll observe an approach you can use to build your own drills and practices to ensure that your players continue to grow throughout the course of a season.

51 minutes. 2019.