Page 64 - Jim Stone Book Beginner

Beginner Level 1 - Individual Defense

At this level, the coach should focus primarily on the defender's posture, reading the visual keys,
and moving efficiently to the ball. All activities should include these three items. To encourage
efficient movement, the posture should be "medium." With good intentions, a typical coaching cue is
"get low on defense." Besides the vagueness of the term, getting low on defense inhibits movement.
At this level, most attacks can be successfully played by observing visual cues and moving to the
ball. To promote the development of seeing visual cues, ask the defender "what did you see"?
Where were the shoulders facing? Did the attacker show a tip or roll shot? Was the attacker close to
the net? All of these are cues that might be indicators of the attack. I would encourage the
development of the shuffle step when playing balls that are relatively close to the defender. Lastly, I
would encourage that the ball is always played to a target area or a person. The defender should
only consider the attempt to play the ball successful only if the ball goes to the target area.