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Footwork
by Miranda Roth
The skill I've used most and tried to teach my players more than any other part of getting a layout block (aside from the obvious WANTING IT BAD part) is the footwork required to get a layout block. The obvious problem about getting a layout D is that you are trying to get to something that is being blocked by your offense's body. I think getting a layout D without getting called for a foul/hurting anyone is huge.
So how do you do it? Think about your footwork—it's all about angles. In soccer, the goalkeeper thinks about closing down the angles—as the person with the ball gets closer to her in a breakaway, she does not want to take steps backwards because that just opens up more of the goal to the shooter. Instead she takes steps toward the dribbler to close down the angles. I think about angles similar to these when preparing to get a layout D.
Imagine a situation in which you are a defender trailing your offense by a step on an in-cut on a diagonal toward the sideline. This is a very common occurrence, especially if the offense is playing a vertical stack offense. If you are able to make up two steps on that offense, you can get a layout D. Here's how:
- Second to last step on a diagonal to the inside of your offense (parallel to the sideline)
- Last step forward into your layout lane (parallel to the offense's running path)
- Get the layout D
The beauty of this is that the thrower doesn't see you as a threat so they will throw this throw. You also can continue in your same speed instead of slowing down to get around someone and they often don't feel you since you are taking an inside lane a step away from where they are running. This works particularly well for people who get layout Ds with speed (doing this footwork fast) or tall people, like me, who can gain a good deal of ground with the layout (getting into the lane so as not to dive into the receiver).
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Wednesday, May 27th, 2009 |
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