Positioning and Rotations

Positioning is the single most important aspect of Doubles, and unless both teams are on the same skill level of positioning, the victor is clear. The flow of the match requires constant evaluation and as such positioning should be always done in advance, not according to the current situation, but the most likely scenario from future-oriented perspective. Skill in positioning typically comes over time to every player, but even on the highest levels there are typical mistakes which players should avoid; The first being over-aggression of the defending team via positioning, where both members of the defending team are too high on the field, allowing a direct shot towards the goal which cannot be physically blocked by either of the teams members. As such it is required that the other defending teams member remains in the vicinity of the goal in a way that the player is capable of blocking any potentially incoming shot, as such blocking the scoring attempts and enforcing the opponents to move towards your goal, allowing the other defender to challenge the ball control. This is most easily done by sending the other team member back on the field in case your team has no ball control.The second mistake is to place both defending players on the same position, where their only choice of defending the goal is to challenge the same ball, this typically leads to high disadvantage for the defender. This is most easily avoided by the other defender securing the goal whilst the other challenges the ball.Rotations for defense is a crucial aspect. Rotations in this text describe a situation where players switch positioning and their intended roles for the positions. Immediately where a defending team’s member gets out-positioned in a way that challenging the ball is no longer feasible, the player should retreat to the goal in order to allow the other defender to challenge the ball whilst the defending team’s goal remains secure. Secured goal in this text is used to describe a situation where any incoming shot from that current situation can be reached and blocked by the defending team’s member.The offensive teams positioning can be categorized into two roles: The ball controller and the support. The ball controller keeps positioning in order to maintain the ball control until a pass or an attempt for goal can be made, the support aligns in order to be capable of reaching a pass to either become the ball controller, attempt a goal or in case of potential loss of ball control retreats to defense in order to secure the goal. The supporting offensive members positioning is the most difficult role, as player must predict correctly the future situation or their team is placed on disadvantage. As such in case the supporting player is not sure of the outcome of the situation, the player should always remain in position which allows securing of the goal in case ball control is lost. Rotations for offensive team typically happen via a pass of ball control or if the ball control is not challenged players can switch the roles via passing of the ball control. The ball controller always becomes the support when in no longer in close vicinity of the ball.