Beat the defender

This is focused on movement past a defender. Set up a box using four cones at the top of the D (it doesn’t have to be central onto the goal, it can be to one side).

Queue your players up in even numbers at the two cones furthest from the goal. The players to the right (the defenders) start with the ball.

They pass the ball to the player (attacker) on the left cone and run into the box to defend. The attacker then brings the ball into the box and attempts to get past the defender, while still staying in the box, and exit the box through the two cones nearest the goal. They can then carry the ball into the D and take a shot.

The players should then run back to join the back of the queues.

Initially the defender should only shadow the attacking player, trying to channel them to the strong side of their stick. You may then make it more challenging for the attackers by allowing the defenders to tackle them.

The attacking player should try to get past, ideally by taking the ball onto the defender’s weak side by doing a ‘V’ drag. This is done by playing the ball forward to the defenders strong side then dragging it back from their left (forward) foot to their right (back) foot (forming one side of the ‘V’) then taking the ball forward onto the defender’s weak side (forming the other side of the ‘V’). The principle of this is that the defender over commits to their strong side and, therefore, cannot get back onto their weaker side well enough to pick up the ball.