YOUR APPROACH TO YOUR TEAM AND YOUR SEASON DETERMINES SUCCESS

By Al Mattei
Founder, TopOfTheCircle.com

Field hockey is a game in which its best athletes can cover up to three or four miles over the course of a game.

Many coaches have therefore emphasized fitness as a key to success. The emphasis, however, has often been oversold on most players.

Because of an emphasis on off-season play, most teams succeed because of an emphasis on skill, not fitness.

For this, let's take a look at a couple of examples starring Lorraine Vizzuso, who was not only one of the top field hockey players in the country in the 1997 recruiting class, but was probably the nation's best pure female scholastic athlete.

Vizzuso, forward for North Caldwell West Essex (N.J.), often would overrun opposing defenses with her sprinter's speed, leaving sweepers and goalkeepers looking dumbfounded as she scored seemingly at will.

At least, until the New Jersey state final against Belvidere. In that game, the Stateliners put all 11 players behind the ball for the balance of regulation, hoping for a quick counterattack or a West Essex weakness somewhere.

With regulation over, the teams reduced to 7-on-7. Less than 30 seconds into overtime, Vizzuso sprinted up the left-wing side of the field leading a 2-on-1 breakaway.

At this point, Vizzuso had a decision to make: pass or shoot? Without the skills and confidence she had to pass the ball to an open Therese Dinallo for the game-winning goal, Vizzuso and her teammates might have been playing for a lot longer.

Fast forward four years to the finals of the 2000 Atlantic Coast Conference tournament. Vizzuso's Virginia Cavaliers met the host Maryland Terrapins for the conference title.

Over the course of the game, through a superb defensive game plan on the part of Maryland, Vizzuso touched the ball exactly twice over the course of 70 minutes, perhaps for the grand total of a tenth of a second. She did, however, manage a shot at goal after working extremely hard to get into position for the ball.

In this case, again, it was Vizzuso's game skills that worked to her advantage more than her superior fitness.

So, what kinds of skills are the most important in field hockey? Obviously, there is ball-striking, and there are many theories out there on the best ways to hit a hockey ball.

Carrying the ball is also an important tactic in many areas of the game, but it is one which is often overemphasized. In the mid-1990s in central New Jersey, a pair of the best ball-carriers never made an impact beyond their high-school hockey years.

Erin Layton, the fine midfielder for Hamilton Nottingham (N.J.), actually went on to play softball for the University of Connecticut. But she was a tremendously fluid player who dribbled around opponents.

The same went for Sharon LoPriore of Princeton Junction West Windsor-Plainsboro (N.J.). She was a 60-goal scorer in high school who played one season at Villanova before transferring to Penn State.

LoPriore's best attribute was her ball-carrying in the midfield, where she could push the ball forward five or six yards and catch up to it like a soccer player. On turf, however, those tactics didn't work with quicker opponents.

What happened? The thing to realize is that the best teams and players let the ball do the work. Running around for 60 or 70 minutes may be good for the soul, but if you can let the hockey ball carry the team's energy, not only can a team be fresher for those last five minutes, they will play a lot better as a team -- using space, working triangles, making the simple pass.

One final important skill to learn is one which is often the most overlooked: the art of receiving the ball. Some players know exactly how to let the ball deflect off their stick so that they can run onto the ball at speed to take advantage of open space.

Note that we aren't talking about merely trapping a ball hit hard at a player: we're talking about using the momentum of the ball, rebounding off the stick, to the advantage of the receiver.

These skills can be enhanced by the use of technology. Video cameras, radar guns, laptop computers with digital video editing capabilities, and ball machines are available at much lower cost than even two or three years ago.

A video camera (you don't need a top-of-the-line HD camera; an inexpensive palmcorder will do) can help a coach point out tendencies and mistakes, helping a team do better in the long run. There is no reason for a scholastic field hockey team not to have one in its arsenal, especially if it is a digital camera which can be attached to a computer through a USB port. With the universal acceptance of the DVD format and the proliferation of DVD recorders, the editing and creation of specialty DVDs for players is a quick and inexpensive teaching tool.

Ball machines and speed guns can be seen as luxury items, but to help in shooting and defense, these items are invaluable.

Now, once skills are imparted to the players, there is another factor which can affect a team's approach to the game: the season schedule.

Naturally, if your team is in a sizable league, a good chunk of your season is already spoken for. However, the non-conference games are an underutilized opportunity for a team to gauge itself.

If you are a coach, there is no reason for you not to go to your athletic director and demand the most difficult schedule with which you feel comfortable.

This is not meant for an 0-17 team to go out and play Walpole (Mass.), Moorestown (N.J.), Emmaus (Pa.), and Severna Park (Md.) every year. By the same token, non-conference games should not be a chance for an easy win.

Indeed, one way to bolster your schedule is to enter an invitational tournament (again, if your state allows participation in one outside of your state tournament) against the best competition with which you feel comfortable.