This time each year, I begin a logic puzzle that doesn’t always have a clear solution. The task of researching game schedules, working out match-ups, and penciling in games on an already packed personal schedule fills a lot of my margin time. This year I have decided to share some of my weekly notes with you all. The perfectionist in me would love for this to be a fully researched and complete list; however, the realist in me knows this is not the season in my life for perfect. Through sharing these notes with you all, I hope this may save you some time and/or share some information you might not have known prior to reading this note. My goal is for this to be a weekly publication and we will see how that goes. As I begin the habit of sharing these games, I imagine the format of this report will change. So, thank you for choosing to read the first one and as I’m sure you’re excited to see how these notes evolve as I am too. Enjoy!

The Collab Field Hockey’s Games of the Week:

Before I get into the Collab’s Games of the Week, I need to share a little background of the Collab for those readers who are not familiar. The Collab Field Hockey trains athletes in age groups U14 through college in Central Pennsylvania (the 717) through weekly small group lessons with approximately 3-6 athletes. Training groups vary each season but we have approximately 100 athletes who rotate through on a yearly basis. These athletes come from many different schools and clubs over Central PA and occasionally from other states…hello to our Delaware and Missouri guests!

Therefore, the Collab’s Games of the Week will largely be based around the games in Central PA where a lot of our Collab athletes play. Sometimes the featured games will be chosen due to a large quantity of our athlete’s competing. Other times, games could be selected because of a long-standing rivalry or top of the division competitions.

So, without further ado, here are the Collab’s Games of the Week.

Tuesday, Sep 1

• Mechanicsburg @ Warwick — 4:00 PM

• Penn Manor vs. Manheim Central — 7:00 PM

Thursday, Sep 3

• Cumberland Valley @ Penn Manor — 7:00 PM

• Mechanicsburg vs. Manheim Township (Memorial Park) — 5:45 PM

• Red Land vs. Greencastle Antrim (West Shore Stadium) — 7:00 PM

Having been in the Netherlands for 10 days during a good portion of the pre-season scrimmages, I have not yet had a first look at some of these programs this year. One of the teams I’m really excited to see this year is Red Land. They have a strong freshman class and a new head coach, Gini Bramley. So, I had to choose at least one of Red Land’s games this week!

Sources:

Schedules-Arbiter Live

District 3 Power Rankings

A more complete list of all games considered can be found below:

Monday, Aug 31

• Bishop McDevitt @ Middletown Area — 5:30 PM

• Central Dauphin @ Conestoga Valley — 4:00 PM

• Camp Hill vs. Fleetwood Area (home) — 7:00 PM

• East Pennsboro @ Schuylkill Valley — 4:00 PM

• Northern York @ Susquehannock (Stadium 2) — 4:15 PM

• Red Land @ Chambersburg Area — 4:30 PM

Tuesday, Sep 1

• Lower Dauphin vs. Wyoming Valley West (home) — 6:30 PM

• Mechanicsburg Area @ Warwick — 4:00 PM

• Northern York @ Shippensburg Area — 7:00 PM

• Penn Manor vs. Manheim Central (home) — 7:00 PM

• Red Land @ Conestoga Valley — 4:00 PM

Wednesday, Sep 2

• Bishop McDevitt vs. Susquehanna Township (home) — 6:30 PM

• Camp Hill vs. Milton Hershey (home) — 7:00 PM

• East Pennsboro vs. Middletown Area (home) — 5:45 PM

• Hershey vs. Lampeter-Strasburg (home) — 6:15 PM

• West Perry @ Mifflin County — 7:00 PM

Thursday, Sep 3

• Bishop McDevitt vs. Central Dauphin East (home) — 6:00 PM

• Central Dauphin @ Governor Mifflin — 6:00 PM

• Cumberland Valley @ Penn Manor — 7:00 PM

• Mechanicsburg Area vs. Manheim Township (Memorial Park) — 5:45 PM

• Palmyra vs. Mifflin County (home) — 6:30 PM

• Red Land vs. Greencastle Antrim (West Shore Stadium) — 7:00 PM

Friday, Sep 4

• Hershey @ New Oxford — 4:00 PM

• Warwick vs. Oley Valley (home) — 1:00 PM

Saturday, Sep 5 (tournament day — three separate matchups)

• Palmyra vs. Susquehannock (Palmyra Area HS) — 9:00 AM

• Camp Hill vs. Biglerville Middle/HS (Siebert Park) — 9:30 AM

• Boiling Springs vs. Selinsgrove Area (Palmyra Area HS) — 10:45 AM

The What:

On March 2, 2026, Project: Drag Flick debuted in Central PA. The first-of-its-kind in the 717, Project: Drag Flick is a self-paced athlete-led program designed to equip athletes with the corner specialist skill of the drag flick. Upon enrollment to the program, athletes are given a bag tag (pictured below) to track their progress through the sessions. Because of Holland’s dominance in this skill, the bag tag is themed accordingly. The 8 stroop-waffels represent 8 coached sessions, the 2 video icons represent 2 video analysis sessions, and the 15 tulips represent 15 independent practice sessions. Coached session opportunities are released every couple of weeks to enrolled athletes. Athletes are encouraged to complete their at-home independent practice sessions between coached sessions to maximize growth. All of these sessions consist of “Phase 1”.

At the time of publication, 2 athletes have completed Phase 1. Through analyzing their growth from the first coached session to the final video session, those who complete Phase 1 grow in knowledge and their physical ability to complete the fundamental movement pattern of the drag flick. Technically, their grip, approach, pick-up, drag and follow-through begin to consistently resemble the skill. Therefore, the retroactive goal of Phase 1 is for athletes to consistently grasp the fundamental movement pattern. Process has been the priority, outcome has not yet.

The Why:

The visual of an iceberg is often used to describe the unseen input into a particular visual output. One might observe a collegiate athlete drag flicking the ball into the goal in a match; however, the requirement of years and hours of work are only fully known to that particular athlete. We are beginning to form the unseen, the base, which will showcase itself in the future. The complex movement pattern along with the necessary physical strength, like any skill, require hours of practice for mastery. While the bag tag and coach-accountability (and some fun incentives not listed) provide some extrinsic motivation, the program relies heavily on intrinsic motivation for success. The requirement of coached, video, and at-home sessions aim at helping the athlete build habits into their life for developing this specialist skill.

The Who:

36 Enrolled Athletes ages 13 through 18.

2 Project Drag Flick Phase 1 Graduates pictured below

The Next Steps:

In full transparency, I have been growing as a coach with our athletes. So, as we venture into the next step, Phase 2, we are headed into a slightly unknown path ahead. Our current goal of Phase 2 is to continue growing in power and to begin focusing on the shot placement. These two and a few others who will join them shortly are leading the pack and setting the course for the rest!

“Why Not Us?”

“Why Not USA?”

Athletes interested in registering can sign up to learn more here.

Choosing just 3 cards from the pack turned out to be extremely difficult in this short amount of time since they arrived. So, I took a picture of my top 6. However, I will narrow it down to my top 3 and share more about each one below.

1. Small Shifts-This one was an early favorite as it is one of my core memories of Becky’s work. These “small shifts” in language reduce resistance, as Becky mentions on the card, but also normalizes the topic and creates a safer space for responding. Keeping this card nearby encourages me to consider how I can shift my language to reduce resistance and normalize a potentially vulnerable feeling, especially with my independent toddler!!

2. Redefining Success-This is huge. Managing internal expectations of success and uniting a team around a core vision of success for a season or even just a single drill or repetition is extremely important. So often each of us are carrying different expectations and sometimes unrealistic visions of “success”. Through discussing and identifying success in each drill, we can establish a clear picture and better communicate expectations and roles in order to empower each person with confidence moving forward. Clarity is kindness! Clarify what success looks like and the results will pleasantly surprise you (or not since you identified success earlier…haha).

3. Beware of Your Ghosts-As Ted Lasso’s coaching philosophy includes, “Be curious, Not judgmental”, this card encourages us as coaches to do so with different language. So often we take problems personally as coaches resulting in placing blame on ourselves or someone and/or limiting our perceptions of potential outcomes in a certain situation. This card encourages us to question ourselves about what biases or filters based on past events that may be limiting our ability to see the situation for what it is. Recognizing the factors informing our perspective is key to seeing our situation more clearly and determining our next steps. Stepping into the problem with curiosity and asking, “what’s behind this?” or “what can I learn in this situation”, have helped me to take things less personally and be ready to learn and act to move forward.

Link to Betsy’s Substack. Link to purchase Betsy’s Deck of Cards.

2024 High Performance Summit Takeaways

A year later is a great time to reflect upon major takeaways as the most influential takeaways are even more evident. Building connections resulting in potential opportunities continues to be most fruitful outcome of these events. I attended the 2025 National Coaches Summit because of my experience in 2024…more on that below!

My top three takeaways from 2024:

1. Attack Penalty Corner (APC) Practice

   1. Do it! We need to be better at APCs and develop those skillsets in our athletes at a younger age.

   2. Play-Corners-Play-Corners. We’ve adopted this format of playing games and practicing APCs during the rest period of the games throughout this past year. (An overview of an example Collab training session can be found here if interested)

2. Jr National Team Development and Needs

   

   1. Grant Fulton presented the above graphics (shared with permission) which I continue to use a reference points as I plan the curriculum for our small group trainings.

   2. Additionally, Grant notified us of the need for Jr High Performance Analysts which was the catalyst to becoming one of the Jr National Team Performance Analysts. As I mentioned in the introduction, building connections and finding opportunities in the moment have the potential to impact a professional trajectory!

3. Technical Work and Reset Points from the USWNT Practice

   1. In my perspective, since graduating college in 2013 and entering the coaching profession, there has been a shift away from technical development in “drills” or “exercises” to solely teaching through games. This has been evident to me through the various coaching seminars I’ve attended over the years as well as the Nexus (USA Field Hockey’s Olympic development pathway) curriculum. Since 2022, I’ve noticed more of a balanced approach to technical development demonstrated at coaches seminars. As the USWNT trained, I recognized inclusion of technical drills such as the “Reset Drills”.

   2. Coach Passmore’s “Reset Drills”

      1. When the USWNT was returning from an off-day, Coach Passmore would use “Reset Drills” with “reset points” to quickly refocus the team and sharpen their technical skills. In various exercises, he would have the groups compete for 2-minutes. The goal was to go as long as possible during the 2-minutes without dropping below the level of or breaking one of the pre-established “reset points”.

      2. Since returning from the Summit in 2024, I’ve since learned about J.P. Nerbun’s method for “No More Bad Practices” and how to establish and maintain high standards via his “Quick-Set” which I believe is similar to and potentially the origin of Coach Passmore’s “Reset Drills”.

      3. J.P. Nerbun’s podcast (linked below) has been extremely influential over the past year, especially this winter when we applied the steps to his “Quick-Set” process to our warm-ups. I will continue to use this process at the Collab next winter when our traditional weekly small group trainings return.

2025 High Performance Summit Takeaways

It is currently about a week after the 2025 Summit concluded. While it is too soon to determine which of the following will endure the test of time, here are some immediate reflections.

My top three takeaways from 2025:

1. Affirmation of all of the ball carrying position work we’ve been doing at the Collab.

   1. “Touch, Eyes Up”-This was Coach Passmore’s language on the field to his team to encourage vision as a ball carrier in the moment.

   2. At the Collab, we have coined the term “Triple Threat” to represent the general ball carrying position that provides the most vision and options. This past winter, we trained our “Triple Threat” position for about 8 of the 12 weeks of training.

2. Accelerators with Thomas Tichelman (more to come in a future post)

3. Individual Development Plans. I’ve experimented with individual development plans over the past couple of years at the Collab. While I have not yet found a model that works well for both myself and our young people, I’m still developing various iterations for the future. Each of the following presenters left me with some insight for the future.

   1. Coach Passmore briefly mentioned and described the USWNT’s individual development plans. I loved envisioning the format; however, the biggest “Aha!” moment was when he mentioned including the athlete’s college coach in the process. For me at the Collab, that would mean including the athlete’s high school and/or club coach. I know this little comment will spark a future of solid conversations and a more whole and supportive environment for our young people.

   2. Mark Egner, U18 Jr National Team Coach, presented on the U18 program successes. In his talk, he referenced the TedTalk below and briefly touched on the pipeline to the National Team looking very different for each individual. As a coach assisting individuals with their long-term development, I know I will continue to connect with Mark and his resources in the future.

And as previous years, I’m grateful to have connected with more individuals and look forward to continued conversations and collaborations!

Warm-Up: Spring 2025 Warm-Up

• I referenced this new warm-up in the “What’s New” section in a previous Substack Post regarding Spring 2025. I know I still haven’t shared exactly what it is but maybe it’ll come soon!

• Coaching Constraint: Coach Danielle cannot use her voice to lead the time transitions or announce what we are doing.

• Purpose: Emphasize the importance of communication and its connection to defense, especially man-to-man.

• I’ve been enjoying adapting the warm-up slightly from session to session to emphasize an area or skill we will be using throughout the session. Everything has a purpose and is connected!

Lock & Key Analogy: Here’s a throwback to a video I made about the “Lock & Key” analogy years ago. I still use this analogy whenever I teach a team defense concept.

Intro Game: 2v2 Endzone Game

• Purpose: Introduce individual defense and establish how to have a “secure” man-to-man defense (lock aspect of our lock & key analogy above).

• Coaching constraint: You cannot play against anyone else besides your girl.

• Level Up: Once the attack scores, you must switch your “man” that you’re guarding. This constraint makes defense more challenging and more game like as there are more transitions increasing the need for communication.

• Questions:

  • What are some keys to playing man-to-man defense well?

  • When you were on attack against a man-to-man defender, what did it feel like? What did it look like? What did it sound like? What did it smell like? What did it taste like? (These last two questions are more for fun. However, I love this tool as it helps them create a vivid picture of the scene. In this case, I used these questions for them to describe the “golden standard” for man-to-man defense as a reference for the future.)

Technical Work: Man-to-Man Breakers (2 min drills)

Purpose: These are the “keys” to breaking the “lock” of the man-to-man defense (the “key” aspect of our “lock & key” analogy from above).

Each 2 minute drill aims at equipping our athletes with a tool to use when they face man-to-man in the future.

1. Give N Go

2. Drop N Go

3. Post Up

4. U Shaped Lead with Aerial into Space (Space Balls)

Application Game: 2v2v2 Transition Game in Attack 25

• Purpose: A final game to apply man-to-man defense and to work on beating the man-to-man defense when on attack.

• Peer Feedback: This game is a great opportunity to practice the skill of giving each other peer feedback. How did it feel to play against your opponent? When was your opponent strong on defense? Where could your opponent have improved their defensive pressure?

Corners: To maximize our hour long session and to replicate some game environments, we use our rest between game sessions to practice corners!

Notebook Recap:

Lock-What is important to having a strong man-to-man defense?

Key-How do you break or “unlock” man-to-man defensive pressure? What are the keys?

Location-When have you faced this defense before? Who plays it? When have you played this type of defense? (The goal of these questions are to have the athletes think about when they might have faced man-to-man before now that they have a clearer understanding of what it is and what it feels like to play against it. Can we be quicker to recognize it so that we can break it sooner and create better opportunities earlier in the game?)

Pros & Cons-What are the benefits to man-to-man? What are the challenges?

P.O.P. (POP) is an acronym representing three actions necessary for successful transition from defense to attack or simply remaining in the “with ball”/possession phase of the game. Essentially, POP is the off-ball prepwork necessary prior to receiving the ball in order to have the most efficient and threatening on-ball presence.

Individually, the letters within POP represent:

• P for pre-scan. A necessary first (and continual) step in order to gain information to inform the next actions.

• O for open reception. Based on information from pre-scan, as much as possible orient the body in a position to play multiple options in the direction of the goal. A closed reception may be necessary at times.

• P for present. Once in a beneficial location, use body language and voice to ask for the ball.

As a whole, POP represents a sharp quick movement. Think about a bag of popcorn. Once the plastic is removed, the flat bag of kernels is placed in the microwave. As the radiation from the microwave causes the molecules in the kernels to heat up, one by one the kernels “pop” out, pushing the boundaries of the bag. When the time is up, the once flat bag is now completely expanded to the boundaries. Similarly, a team playing defense begins condensed in order to reduce space. Once the team wins the ball, individuals need to break out to gain width and stretch, touching all boundaries of the field in order to create as much space as possible.

I am always searching for ways to simply the concepts for teaching and understanding as well as ways to make the principles memorable. Most of the time, I am not on the sideline with our Collab players on game days. They need to be able to know and apply these concepts themselves. The bag tag at the beginning of the article is one way I try to remind the players of these concepts when they are with their individual teams. Toys like the one below are other examples of simple and memorable teaching tools.

POP has been a priority at the Collab since the beginning two years ago. However, this spring, maybe because I have a toddler, a flashback to my childhood with this expandable ball clicked as a key way to quickly and memorable demonstrate the concept of transition. Immediately, I purchased another from Amazon and it arrived 5 min before my departure for the first lesson of the week!

When contracted the ball represents the team on defense. The individual points represent the players. They are in a strong condensed shape with very little space for the attack to penetrate. When expanded, the ball represents the team on attack. Each individual point has “POP”ed out to gain as much width and stretch as the boundaries allow; yet, they are still connected. While both conditions of the ball demonstrate an important team picture, the most beautiful aspect is the unified transition from a condensed shape to an expanded shape. Of our four weeks of spring training, I’ve used this ball as a visual to demonstrate key moments of game play. It’s simple and memorable and fun!!

What’s New?

• No more “Roberto” for warm-ups. Since Spring 2024, our 6-min warm-up was centered around “Roberto”, our affectionately named OBO Training Rekeep Bouncer (pictured above). Similar to the classic game of “Wall Ball”, our small groups would spend their warm-up collecting the ball off of “Roberto”, completing a task, and sending it back to him. For the first 2-minutes, the task was to receive the ball completely dead and pass the ball off-of a dead ball. The next 2-minutes consisted of receiving the ball on the move, carrying the ball on an angle, and passing the ball back to Roberto. Finally, the last 2-minutes was a competition very similar to “Wall Ball” and “HORSE” in basketball in which a letter of an agreed upon word such as “HORSE” was given if an individual was unable to complete the task. The goal was to avoid collecting letters and to not be the first to collect the entire word. We kept this warm-up for a year in order to consistently developing the various technical components as well as to allow familiarity, leadership, and ownership opportunities. (For those thinking a year is a long time, keep in mind, I only train seasonally with the groups and see them a max of 1x per week. Therefore, the maximum number of times an individual might have completed this warm-up was probably around 20-25 times over the course of the year.) Our new spring 2025 warm-up requires less tools and set-up and more decision-making, communication, and movement. Overall, it is more game-like, easily customizable and adaptable for the various groups’ ages, skill levels, numbers, and weekly themes. I might share it on here in the future!

• More consistent (and intentional) engagement with each other and the content outside of training. Primarily through Google Forms and our Heja App for team communication, I have been trying to better incorporate my coaching philosophy, “engage, equip, empower, and encourage”. These tools have been used to collect important information about each person and to create more opportunities for ownership of training time together. Additionally, a max of two-hours of training each night has allowed me to prepare for, reflect upon, connect with, and meet the needs of each group more consistently.

What’s Staying the Same?

• The overall flow of our one-hour training block. We have 1 main theme each day and 6 components of training: warm-up, high intensity game/drill, technical work, application game, corners, and notebook wrap-up. Each takes approximately 10 minutes. Yes, there are days where we will linger on a section if the task/group needs require it! However, most days we try to keep to this flow.

• Emphasis on the standards of warm-up. One of the most influential works on our warm-up has been J.P. Nerbun’s episode, “No More Bad Practices: Establishing Excellence with the Quick-Set” (attached below). This episode provided me with the tools to handle those practices where the standard feels lower as soon as warm-up begins. In summary, Nerbun provides a method to teach and clarify the behavioral standards of excellence of warm-up and leads to eventually empowering the athletes themselves to recognize and take ownership when those clear and agreed-upon standards drop. The first couple of minutes are non-negotiable and set the tone for the rest of practice. If the standards cannot be reached, Nerbun provides a tool to handle that as well. I highly recommend coaches listen to this quick and transformative podcast.

  J.P. Nerbun (TOC)

  No More Bad Practices: Establishing Excellence with the Quick-Set

  Every coach has experienced those practices where, within just a few minutes, you realize it’s going to be a rough day. No matter how much you encourage, urge, or even beg your team, their effort, focus, or attitude remains poor. By the end of practice, you’re left questioning whether anyone improved at all—you feel like you’ve wasted the last hour of y…

  Listen now

  2 years ago · J.P. Nerbun (TOC)

GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING

• Keep your eyes peeled for the new “Green Whistle Project”. Green signifies new and fresh. This project will award newly trained umpires with a green whistle upon completion of an on-field and classroom mentorship components with a local field hockey umpire assigner. Hopefully spectators, players, and coaches will extend more grace to that individual as they recognize the distinguishable green whistle.

MOLLY GRISHAM KEYNOTE: Becoming a Leader

• “First Follower” Concept. Often coaches and teams need a first follower. This is someone who will initiate action and gets things in motion. A coach may suggest a good plan but ultimately someone from the team must step up and implement it. Often others will join in once this first person begins. An example of a first follower can be found in this Tough Mudder video where a stranger helps this father-son combo up the slippery wall and then others join once they see someone start.

MOLLY GRISHAM PART 2: Team Building Best Practices

• I am looking forward to Molly’s new project she previewed to measure the temperature of our groups/teams and engage at a deeper level than the typical “How Are You? Good” conversation. One category of tools in particular is the “Floor and Mapping Exercises”. This category of tools offers different pictures scattered on the floor and once a question is asked, individuals stand next to the picture that best describes their feelings around that subject.

ALYSON ANNAN: Building a Winning Legacy

• “Who is your translator?” Messages are lost in translation…even if you speak the same language. Simple short messages are best. Simplify! Shorten! If you speak different languages, learn their language.

CHRIS FRY: From France to the Fall Season

• I have the most notes from this section. Choosing one point is challenging as there were so many little nuggets of information that will inform my processes and thus, growth. However, the most memorable and important point to me was the clarification between “data-driven” and “data-informed” decisions. Honestly, I have used them interchangeably and imprecisely. However, the difference is important as you shouldn’t solely rely on the data to determine your next steps as humans and sports are not robots. In sport, we must recognize there is an important subjective element to decision making as well; thus, data informs decisions and isn’t the sole determinant.

NAVIGATING THE NEW ERA: College Sports Panel

• There are a lot of myths out there regarding the impact of NIL and other recent NCAA rule changes on colleges, student-athletes, and their sport. For example, it is a myth that DII and DIII aren’t interested in NIL. Do you work to research and learn more about what is actually going on. Kristi Dosh created a Facebook group for parents to provide information and assist them with questions called “Parents NIL Playbook” and another panelist, Karen Weaver, hosts the “Trustees and Presidents” Podcast on college athletics.

In…Out

Yellow Goal Posts…Goals without a Crossbar (makes it challenging to move solo)

Capelli…Osaka (USAFH switched uniform suppliers)

Whole Person Growth…Winning at all costs

Corner Masks AT ALL LEVELS…Facial Lacerations

Substack…Tiktok (Is it even allowed anymore? Ha)

Data and Research-Informed Coaching…"That’s the way we’ve always done it.”

Dragflick Practice…”That’s only for international players” Mindset

Taping your stick…Naked stick!! Bad First Touch?

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Most recently, I watched this game live and immediately had to get my hands on the film to clip these examples. The player to watch is #50 in white. Watch it. Enjoy it. And watch it again with a few things to observe:

1. Body Position-In the screenshot below, her upper body is facing the center of the field and her eyes are up. She is able to pass, eliminate or escape (the three “Threats” to be discussed at later posts suggested to me by A Good Coach) AND she is able to execute these options in almost any direction (back, flat, or through).

2. First Touch-The image below demonstrates the first touch of one of the above examples. #50’s first touch is one that “Threatens Direct”. The defender must mark the line to goal so that the Route 1 pass is denied.

3. Ball Carry Position and Route-Additionally, by choosing to carry the ball along the direct route to goal (green path), the defender has less of an idea as to what #50 will do as she has multiple threats available to her. The green route gives her the ability to pass, eliminate or escape the situation in multiple directions. The green route is contrasted by the red route which is the most common path I see when watching games, especially at younger levels. The problem with the red route, AKA the “fishhook”, is that it is predictable and the ball carrier’s options are limited. In indoor especially, as 3D skills are against the rules, a smart defensive unit is able to set up confidently and deny shots and passes across the goal. I am not saying fishhook is bad, it just needs a slight adjustment in order to be more effective against more mature defenders. The green route actually allows for a better fishhook as it causes the defender to hold inside longer and creates more space for a pull right into the fishhook.

I hope you enjoyed watching these examples of Triple Threat on the right side as much as I did. If I’ve convinced you that Triple Threat is THE term for the most ideal situational ball carrying position, I hope you’ll let me know! If you’ve found yourself teaching it intentionally and/or using the term accidentally, I’d love to hear as well. AND finally, I am always up for learning how you term and teach it. So, you’re always welcome to share your differing ideas and view points with me as well. Iron sharpens iron!

Previously, we explored the power of carrying the ball in a position with maximal vision and options over the relevant playing field and the benefit of taking a touch and glance to “threaten” the direct path toward goal! The example included in the Nov 17 Substack demonstrated this principle from an attacker/midfield position. But, what does it look like from a defender’s standpoint?

Threaten Direct: Backfield Example

If you don’t watch this clip closely, you may miss the subtle but meaningful ways “threaten direct” changes the game. When the German defenders (in black) receive the ball, they often receive and change the angle of the ball, meaning they take a touch in a different direction than the path the ball is traveling. With an open body position and a meaningful touch, they force the defense to maintain integrity in their pressure

Specifically, let’s look at the German left back. She receives the ball and often “threatens direct” toward goal with both her touch and her eyes. When not able to play that ball, she pulls back and plays the ball to an open teammate. She does this over and over again. Receive, touch forward and eye up, pull back and pass. She would be ready to split the defense right down the center if they weren’t maintaining their pressing shape.

In contrast, further on in the video, there is an example of the Austrian Left Back (in white) who does not “threaten direct” and has almost no opportunity to get out of the corner. Yes, she has some pressure on her; however, she invites more pressure as her back is turned toward the goal and she receives her ball and takes it back to “Coffin Corner” (the back left corner of the field). Her only option is to protect the ball and wait for a risky escape across the face of her goal.

I love these contrasting clips of body positioning and therefore first touch of the left back. As noted, the pressure certainly changes the Austrian defender’s options but I have to wonder if she would have had more options if she faced the opponents and allowed herself to threaten gaps and spaces. Instead, by turning her body prematurely, she limits her options and one could say she invites more pressure in by doing so. The opponents could close her space more confidently since they no longer had to worry about her ability to play to the spaces behind them in that moment.

What do your defenders look like when they receive the ball? Are they truly able to play a split ball down the middle of the field if the defense is out of their pressing shape?

Last week, "Triple Threat” was proposed as a name to succinctly refer the best ball carrying position for the situation. Part of the appeal of choosing “Triple Threat” is its ability to rhyme with “Threaten Direct”, an important subprinciple of “Triple Threat”. This subprinciple refers to taking a touch on the line to goal in order to be able to threaten and actually play the “Route 1” ball to goal.

I love this clip as there are two “Threaten Direct” opportunities beautifully executed.

1. USA (in red) #51 wins the ball, finds the “triple threat” position and takes an important touch DIRECT to goal. This important touch allows him to have multiple “threats” rather than the typical straight dribble down the right sideline that is so prevalent. He is unpredictable and has options.

2. USA #5 (in left forward role) receives the flat ball and is already in a body position that allows him to see and play the Route 1 ball immediately to his teammate #6 for the far post finish. He is set and is quick to play his direct option.

While the purpose of “Triple Threat: Threaten Direct” is to threaten the direct ball to goal, if that direct ball is not open the “threaten direct” touch is not in vain. As #51 takes the direct touch toward goal, notice both RSA defenders step toward the center. He draws the defenders in and creates clearer passing lanes to his his teammate #5 and ultimately completely opening #6 for the finishing touch!

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In basketball, the term “triple threat” describes how you hold the ball. In this position, the ball is at chest-height with the dominant hand on the back of the ball and the non-dominant on the side. From this position, it is possible to shoot, pass, or dribble. Chances are, if you played basketball, you would learn this position at one of your first practices.

In field hockey, there isn’t a term to qualify how to hold the ball to maximize opportunity. On the left side of the pitch, the ball carrying position to align the visual field with the most important playable areas and maximize options for the ball carrier is holding the ball at a 3 o’clock position relative to the body. On the right side, in order to have the same opportunity, the 11 o’clock position (or 1 o’clock with hips facing goal) is best.

After teaching this concept a handful of times, it becomes a mouthful even after simpflying language. What two things do we always want? Options and vision. How do we hold the ball in order to have these two things? On the left side, 3 o’clock. On the right side, 11 o’clock. How do we remind our people quickly to find these ideal spots?

Position of Maximal Opportunity (POMO) is a catchy term that accurately describes the purpose of carrying the ball in various locations. Unfortunately, it is taken in the game of field hockey. POMO refers to the area between the stroke and goal line in which the most goals are scored.

So, what about “triple threat”?

Principle of Play: “Triple Threat: Always Threaten Direct”

In summary, we always want 2 things: options and vision of those options. A “triple threat” ball carrying position will allow the ball carrier to maximize both options and vision. In order to teach it, we have to name it. POMO is taken. So, why not “triple threat”? Term it. Teach it. Increase the quality of ball carriers and decision making in the USA.

Moving forward, “triple threat” also rhymes with “threaten direct”, another aspect of successful and threatening ball carriers.

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Learn More from James Clear below or click here to go to his article on continuous improvement.

So, what does this look like for you?

For us, at the Collab, this is a concept we have explored each season in our training groups. This winter it looks like “Blue Sparkle Ball” reps. Each night, there is a special ball at practice. The “Blue Sparkle Ball” is distinguishable from the rest. The small group’s collective task is to get as many touches on that ball as possible throughout the hour long session. Values may range from the thirties to over 200. Each group will track their weekly numbers for a cumulative end of season score. While 200 extra touches in one session may not seem significant at the moment, over the course of 2 months, this number will be in the thousands. The small group with the highest number will be the champions for the season. The goal is to demonstrate in a very visible and tangible way how extra little actions here and there add up significantly over time! It’s also a good way to have the training groups to use a few occasional down seconds productively and look for opportunities to find extra reps. And…maybe we will even begin to see these individuals implement small changes outside of training too!

If you want to learn more about the 1% mindset, I highly recommend James Clear’s book, Atomic Habits. It’s one of the most influential books I’ve read on behavior change.