In this article on field hockey, we shall discuss the important aspects of tackling and interception in hockey, how to make successful drags and the very important goal shots with higher percentage of success.

Interception is all about gaining possession of the ball from the opponent with an unexpected tackle. In combination with the traditional tackling, these sneaky steals and interceptions make up a very important aspect of the game.

The players who have the ability to read the game generally move into advantageous positions and make timely interceptions, earning costly possessions over the course of the game. The key to a good tackle are getting low to the ground, good footwork, patience, strength and the ability to use a variety of tackling options. As a defender you should be proactive and manipulative by throwing the challenge to the attacker and forcing him to go into a position that is best for you to make your move.

When you challenge the attacker, it will be better if you can push him wide to the sidelines or to the backline, but when you are caught in the middle of the field, you generally want to force the ball carrier onto your fore-stick or onto the fore-stick of a teammate. Remember that the fore-stick is your strong side, and the opponent’s reverse stick is his weaker side. Thus if you channel the player with the ball onto your fore-stick, he will be forced to carry the ball on his reverse stick side.

When making a tackle in a situation when the game has slowed down or is in a confined area, you must be able to get low to the ground and place your stick flat on the ground so that you cover a bigger area. In this way you can also protect your feet and avoid giving away a free hit.

In open play situations where you are chasing an opponent, you need to be very patient as you prepare to make a tackle. I have noticed that our players are a bit impatient because in practice this aspect is ignored and our players prefer to make a strong tackle and thus commit foul play in sensitive areas of the ground. Your ability to change direction is extremely important, but the ability to channel the player wide or onto a teammate is also a very important skill. This helps in slowing down the pace of the opponent’s attack and gives you and your teammates the opportunity to reposition and carry out a well-coordinated attack on the ball carrier.

When you are contesting the ball in the defensive circle, which we time and again call Dee, remember that the intelligent attacker is just looking to win a penalty corner if he cannot get a good shot away.

Another tackling technique in modern hockey is called Poke. This usually occurs in fluid play at moments when the ball spills loose or your opponent takes his stick off the ball while making a pass or a goal shot. Be always ready for the poke when the ball is unprotected, so that you can remove the ball from the opponent’s control.

In the poke tackle your body position is usually side-on with one foot in front of the other, but often this tackle is useful in tight situations in which you are not well balanced.

Lunge is another technique that requires excellent balanced position weight forward with your left foot in front of your right foot and your left hand may be the only hand used if you are lunging and stretching a long way forward on your flat stick side.

You can also use flat fore-stick technique and flat reverse for tackling and interception. Flat is mostly used in tight midfield situations or in defensive circle and for a flat reverse a strong left hand is used at the top of your stick and the point of the stick touches the ground. While making the flat reverse tackle you should be low to the ground and committed entirely to the contest.

The European teams preparing for the 2024 Olympics are using cricket batting gloves on the left hand to practice this tackling technique. The gloves allow you to get your left hand to the ground to make the tackle without fear of sustaining an injury.

All players irrespective of their positions should be able to execute various tackling techniques. Remember that tackling and interception may not be reflected on hockey stat sheets, like assists in basketball, but these ball winning skills might be the best action moments that you can make to help your team earn ball possession and put your team in advantage over your opponent.

Before discussing the all-important goal shooting in detail let’s briefly discuss the drags and elimination skills in hockey. Drags and elimination skills allow you to change direction, create new angles of movement and eliminate opposition players as you move with the ball.

These skills often look flashy but their appropriate use is always a delicate balancing act. One only masters drags and eliminations with a lot of trial and error and match experience. Besides right and left drags, the jink and toss and go are also part of drag.

To execute the left drag, move at your opponent’s left leg and do your best to convince him that you will pass the ball to the right side or keep moving in this direction. This initial dummy will set you up to make the best of your drag to the left. The right drag move is exactly opposite to the left drag but here you have to make a dummy towards the right foot of your opponent before executing the drag.

If the defender is square in his stance and your vision and timing is right, you can toss the ball through your opponent’s legs or behind him and accelerate. In this case you can beat your opponent in pace because he has to turn and chase.

In the jink you lift the ball slightly or jink it over the opponent’s stick when he tries to make a tackle. You can learn it by simply sliding your hockey stick under the ball as you run while using the momentum of the ball. The more you practise the more comfortable you will be with every technique and it will eventually help you in becoming a confident hockey player, in attack as well as in defence. –Aamir Bilal

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