Outletting

In PUSH Issue 9 Simon Letchford, Current England Under 16 & 21 Coach and co-founder of coaching company Hooked on Hockey, explains how your team can benefit from learning ‘outletting’ formations.

Outletting is coaching jargon for the way in which a team, having won possession, moves the ball safely from their deep defence into more advanced and potentially attacking areas of the pitch. In more simple terms it means getting the ball out from the back in a way that allows you to keep the ball and set up an attack. At all levels of the sport more goals are conceded through turning the ball over when outletting than they are when a team builds an attack from a long way out. THEREFORE THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT ASPECT OF THE GAME – OUTLET BETTER = LESS GOALS AGAINST AND MORE PRESSURE ON THE OPPOSITION.

Here we continue the feature by showing you some simple outletting drills…

In the top half of the pitch full backs and half backs transfer two balls amongst them, at the same time, in a big bowl shape. Start with a two pass transfer with half back missing the near full back to create a more acute angle to promote the half back higher on the help side. Make sure players keep the drill realistic and face the direction in which they would be attacking. Next allow the passer to deliver to anyone in the Back four (though make it game-like hence a half back to half back pass is unlikely). Players must now work on their vision and not just always play the same ball all the time. Impose penalties for two balls arriving at the same player. Finally introduce a centre half, retaining the two balls but having five players through which they can pass. Again make sure the drill is realistic. For example the right half to centre half pass would generally go behind square to avoid opposing forehands. In the bottom half of the pitch two full backs, two half backs, a centre half and two inside forwards look to outlet against three forwards and three midfielders. The object is to distribute or carry the ball through gates made by cones at left or right wing. Different points can be awarded through distributing right as opposed to left and the gates can be moved according to where a side wishes to outlet. Make sure that the drill is two-dimensional in that if the defending side win possession, they play to goal.