There are a few different schools of thought when it comes to how best to defend. Both of these styles have strong points and weaknesses. It absolutely depends on how your team works together. What are your team’s strengths? Are you great communicators or is that something you need to work on? How is your team’s spatial awareness? These are important factors in zone defense and something to keep in mind.
What is Zone Defense?
If you’re familiar with basketball and how zones work on the court, you probably know more about zone defense than you think. Think of the 8-meter as being an impenetrable area and you are the wall. Each defender acts as a post in that wall, and will hardly move from their mark. The defenders typically fan out in between the 12 and 8-meter arcs, with two girls anchored at each side of the goal. As offense players run around the zone, the defenders will pass off the girls they are marking to the next defender instead of following them.
As with man on man defense, communication is vitally important; I really can’t stress this enough! When you are marking offense, the defender guarding the ball carrier should always be calling out that they are covering ball and where ball is, regardless of which style you use. In zone defense, you should also be communicating with your teammates as you hand off or switch attackers. By communicating, you are lowering the chance of missing a player going to goal. This will help girls, who might be on the other side of the 12-meter, stay in the know.
What is Man on Man?
Man on man, or man v man, is when you guard the same girl the entire play. If she constantly runs all around the 12-meter then so do you! If you are new to lacrosse or defense, this might be the easiest option to start with. There are fewer factors to keep in mind, and you simply have to focus on marking one girl.
However, this might lead to a lack of communication on the field. There’s a chance you might be distracted or caught up in guarding this one player, that you lose sight of the whole zone. When you are on defense, doesn’t matter if it’s zone or man on man, you should always have your head on a swivel, checking on the location of ball every now and then.
Zone Defense vs Man on Man Wrap Up
Typically, man on man is the easier of the two defending styles. It helps you get a feel for how defense works when you’re first starting out. You can work on your personal positioning as a defender, without having to worry about switching off attackers. However, the better your team works together and the smoother your communication becomes, the more likely zone defense will be easy for you.
Zone defense, in my opinion, can be more effective since it forces your team to work like a well-oiled machine. Every player must pull her own weight and the constant communication means there are fewer chances for an attacker to break through. Every team is different though. What works for your team, might not have worked for mine! The end goal is that you prevent shots on goal, so whatever method you use, if it works for you and your team, that’s all that matters!