Korfball drill: free running with quintuplets
Suitable for the following techniques: attack
Free running with quintuplets
In short: exercise with the emphasis on turning away from the opponent.
Organisation: Each team of five or four players has a ball and an area of about 20 by 20 metres. The players are numbered.
a ) Number 1 is attacking, number 2 is defending and numbers 3, 4 and 5 are playing together with the attacking player. Everybody can move freely through the area. The attacker always gets the ball back from numbers 3, 4 and 5. The defender's task is to intercept the ball. Can the attacker manage not to lose the ball a single time? The ball may not fall on the ground either! After about 30 seconds the players change tasks: number 3 attacks, number 4 defends, etc. until everyone has been attacker and defender once.
If necessary, extend the task next time:
b ) As a., but give the instruction that the attacker always has to turn away from her defender: that way she can both pass and receive the ball back easily. I call this: 'cutting and turning', others call it 'keeping your opponent on your back'.
c ) As a., but now the team-mates 3, 4 and 5 stand still in a triangle with a distance of about 15 metres. This makes it more difficult for the attacker.
d ) It becomes even more difficult if the attacker is instructed to pass the ball to the other players in a fixed order. She now has to run in circles, so that the defender knows exactly where the ball will go, or where the attacker wants to run to. Many balls will now be intercepted, or at least touched.
e ) Again part c. Show that the attacker has an easier time of it now because of the freedom of choice By turning away from her opponent, she creates a sea of space for herself!