Attack / defence sequence

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Organisation:

4 to 6 ball for 8 pupils
1 full court
Half court A: workshop
Half court B: ball distribution

Aim of the task:

Link up defence attack.
Successful attack starting from continuity.

Rôles et consignes :

Court B:

  • Thrower: throw the ball into the court at the moment of the attack hit (generally the third).
  • Collector: feed the thrower with balls continuously.

Court A:

  • Build a counterattack

Here the first throw is done to enable the attack and the following throws must solicit the immediate abilities to reorganise after attack into a direct counterattack.

Further on we will find some work similar to this but based on a slower opponents attack.

This work is based on anticipation. Focus is on the action to come and in particular on the direct counterattack represented by the immediate throw. The gathering of visual information is underlined in this situation: what dos the player look at after ha hit? Whether they did hit or not most players are spectators of the trajectory.

Anticipation consists in shifting the look immediately on the player about to intervene in the next action whether he is partner or opponent and not to follow the trajectory of the ball.

Continuity and "timing" of the moves away and back are essential and show the quality of the information gathering.

The thrower manages the difficulty of the task. When the mechanics of the exercise are well in place, he must not hesitate to highlight weaknesses in the reorganisation by throwing the ball at the "spectator" player.

The role of the thrower will be preferably taken by the teacher or by a competent pupil. The quality of the work depends on hom to a large extent.

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See the video

The role of the teacher here is to centre the assessment of actions on the anticipation of information gathering and on the rhythm of the actions rather than on the technical "errors". All the more as the thrower constantly pushes the players to the limits of their adaptability in order make anticipation necessary.

A technical error can be analysed as a consequence of a lack of anticipation in the information gathering.

What do the players look at?

  • The setter after his pass should look at the opponents' counterattack. In case of a block for example, he must look at the position of the blocker, and not at the action of the spiker.
  • All other players should look at the next phase instead of admiring the current action.

This empathy with the current action instead of anticipation is often shown by mimicking (lifting a leg, a shoulder etc.). This behaviour is typical from the spectator player.

In order to observe and intervene, even the teacher must refrain from a natural tendency to follow the ball with the eyes.

Throws create a problem due to their earliness, and not due to their speed. At a higher level, we can accelerate the trajectories.

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