HOCKEY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23859, 13 July 1939, Page 4

HOCKEY

By Centre-half FIXTURES July 15.—South Canterbury v. Otago. at Timaru (Seniors and Juniorsi. July 15.—Eastern Districts v. Otago. at Dunedin (seniors and juniors). August 26.—Canterbury v. Otago, at Dunedin (Seniors and Juniors). NO MATCHES The snow of last week and subsequent rain left the hockey grounds :u such bad condition that both associations found it necessary to postpone ail matches. In the case of the women’s competition, the matches held over will be decided this week, when the principal fixture will be the meeting of University A and Training College, the result of which can scarcely fail to have a bearing on the competition With representative matches against South Canterbury and Eastern set down for this week, the men’s association will have to leave over the unplayed matches in the meantime. NOTES The Southland Association has advised the Otago Association that it is not prepared to visit Dunedin on August 5 as it has a Norden Cup match to play the following week. In any event, it is Otago’s turn to visit Invercargill, and arrangements are now in hand to send Otago teams to Invercargill on July 29, the occasion of the Ranfurly Shield match, and to have the hockey match played early.

There is also some possibility of a return match between Otago and North Otago at Dunedin, and the present intention is to arrange this for the latter part of the season. It was reported at the meeting of the Otago Association on Monday evening that two grounds at Robin Hood would be available for the rest of this season. This may serve to give more suitable accommodation for primary schools matches. FOR CAPTAINS In the last Bulletin, received this week, the editor devotes space to an article which he directs mainly to team captains. Perhaps, in this column, it will reach more of them than otherwise. ' I am not asking you to take m> word for anything, but 1 do want captains to go through this, give it some thought, find out where I am wrong, and then put the better method into operation. If they do that they nmy come to the conclusion that it is not just because some of the players are not great individualists that their team has not been getting on better. To watch some captains on the job you would think their duties consisted solely of deciding which end of a coin is likely to come up on top and to call for cheers for the opposition at the end of the game. ■ ■ A captain can make a team, but he cannot do ife. without giving the subject some thought. In clubs, the captain is usually elected by his team mates. If so, he has the confidence of the majority. It is his first duty to obtain the confidence and co-operation of the whole eleven, then to weld 11 individuals into one unit. A lot of teams do not appear to have any plan of campaign. It is worth while preparing one. When you know the opposition. plan your game to attack at their weak spots and to keep the ball away from their strong attack. If you do pot know them the first five minutes’ play will probably disclose a weakness somewhere. Thrash that weakness, with, of,course intermittent changes. Before you go near the field take a sheet of paper, a pencil, and half an hour, and mark out where the players of both teams are likely to be under given circumstances. Each player must have a complete understanding with his immediate neighbour, and if you look at your plan of where the players are situated when. say. attacking, you will find that any player has a good many next door neighbours. For instance, the centre-half (not half-back) will have at least five—three inside forwards and two wing halves. He must have thorough co-operation' with every one of them. That goes for everv other man on the side. too.

Other useful jobs with that sheet of paper and pencil are to mark out the position to be occupied when either attacking or defending a free hit from positions all over the paddock. Similarly with a roll-in. If this is done thoroughly you may find that it is a bigger penalty for the opposition to have a roll-in from the side line than to be awarded a free hit, when the latter is properly guarded. Effective plans can also be made for the attacking and defending of penalty corners. An effective plan on attack will bring immediate results here. After vou have made a thorough study of positional work, get a book on hockey and study the different types of passes recommended and the different phases of varying the play Mr Masud dealt with these matters thoroughly in the article he wrote for me, which was later published in book form by the New Zealand Hockey Association. Get something like that study it. and imbue your team-mates with the idea that it is right. Convince them that it is only team work with a planned campaign that will bring success. The wrong emphasis is often placed on hockey by newspaper reporters who feature the man who scored the goal. Often his job is the easiest, the clever work is done by someone else, and the “ newspaper hero” simply has to hit the ball into an open space.

Arrange what practice is possible in groups of two or three and watch the difference in your results Saturday by Saturday.