How do we beat a press off our own free hits and 16s?

Use the calm of the restart to set your shape before you release the ball. An aggressive press wins possession on predictable triggers: the sideline pass, the backwards pass, the receiver with their back to goal and the poor reception. As Russell Coates explains on The Hockey Site, deny those cues, build a plus-one behind the ball using your goalkeeper or a dropping defender, receive on the move to win separation, and aim to reach the second zone of the pitch under control rather than just clearing your lines.

What is the difference between a pressing trap and a pressing trigger?

Russell Coates draws the distinction clearly. A trap is where defenders close off passing lanes to make the sideline look like the only option, but the trap on its own does not commit the press. The trigger is the moment you actually play the pass they wanted, such as the ball down the line, and that is when the whole press commits. The lesson for the team in possession is to stay patient when a restart feels tight, because the trap is bait, not yet a press.

Why does the second pass matter more than the first when beating a press?

As covered in Winning the second pass on The Hockey Site, the first pass only gets you out of the press, while the second pass turns that escape into real progression because defenders are still recovering and lanes are still open. If the second pass is not there, teams tend to force a risky ball, drift sideways while the press resets, or carry into a tackle. Coaching a simple forward-first decision script, backed by support in waves and a cover player behind the ball, is what turns clean exits into circle entries.

How do we beat a press in field hockey, especially off free hits and 16s?

Quick answer. Stop feeding the press what it wants. An aggressive press wins the ball on a short list of predictable triggers: the pass to the sideline, the backwards pass, the receiver with their back to goal, and the poor reception. Off a free hit or a 16 yard hit you have a rare moment of calm to set your shape, so use it. Build a plus-one behind the ball, receive on the move so your marker never arrives on time, protect the central lane the press is trying to shut, and treat the second pass, not the first, as the one that actually breaks the press.

The coaches on The Hockey Site would be quick to add that a clean restart is rarely about the outlet pass itself. It starts a beat earlier, in what your team understands about the press it is facing, and it only really counts once the ball has travelled two passes clear of the trap.

Start by knowing what the press is hunting. On Outletting, Russell Coates makes the point that a good press is not improvised, it is built around triggers that apply to almost any system. He lists them plainly: “a pass towards the sideline, a pass with a player with his back towards goal, a backwards pass and something that’s less common but can be used is a bad reception.” Read that as your list of moments to avoid off a restart. Coates also draws a distinction most attacking teams miss, that a trap is not a trigger. The defenders shuffle across to make the sideline look like the only option, but the press only fires when you actually play the pass they wanted. The moment a free hit feels tight is the moment to be most patient, because the trap is bait, not yet a press.

Win the plus-one before you win anything else. Coates is direct that “one of the main objectives of outletting is creating a plus one situation, so that you can progress towards the midfield with a numerical overload.” Off a 16 that usually means using your goalkeeper or a dropping defender as the spare body, so that somewhere on the pitch you always have one more than the press. A restart taken quickly before that extra number is in place is a restart taken into the trap. Set the count first, then release the ball.

Run diagonals, not a flat back line. Coates prefers running diagonal lines rather than square passing across the back, and his reasoning is tactical rather than tidy: “the big reason I prefer running diagonal lines is that it means that you can play between the lines.” A square ball off a free hit invites the sideline trigger. A diagonal into a pocket between the opposition lines splits the press instead of skating around its edge, and it gives your receiver an angle to turn and face the game.

Receiving beats passing. In How to train outletting vs man to man marking, Robert Noall builds everything around dynamic receiving. You do not stand and wait for the ball to arrive off the restart, because if you do, your marker arrives with it and your first touch becomes a tackle. You move as the ball travels, you receive on the half turn, and you win a yard of separation before the ball even reaches your stick. Against a tight press the quality of that first touch matters more than the quality of the pass that follows.

Read the marking before you pick the outlet. Noall draws a clear line between man marking and man responsibility, between a defender glued to a shirt and one who defends a player while reading the game around them. Off a free hit, knowing which you face changes your solution. Against tight man marking, separation and dynamic receiving unlock the outlet. In Outletting vs zone marking, Noall stresses that a zone marks space rather than bodies, so you attack the gaps, and a ball played first time into the space between lines is worth more than a ball played to feet where a defender can close.

Refuse the sideline the press is begging you to use. From the defending side, in Training Half Court Press Coates frames a low block as a way to protect the central lane and guide the ball outside, where the pitch shrinks and help arrives fastest, and in How to Train Pressing Triggers he shows teams using the touchline as an extra defender. So keep an inside option alive off every restart rather than committing down the line as a last resort. There is a related lever worth stealing too: both Noall and Fede Tanuscio talk about attacking the defender’s weaker side, and receiving so you can turn onto the side that opens the field, not the side that walks you into traffic.

Treat the second pass as the real exit. The idea that ties the restart together sits in Winning the second pass. The first pass gets you out of the press, but the second pass is the one that turns an escape into genuine progression, because by then defenders are recovering and lanes are closing. When that pass is not there, teams default to one of three losing outcomes: forcing a risky ball, going slowly sideways while the press reorganises, or carrying into pressure and getting tackled. A simple shared script helps. If a forward pass is on, play it. If not, carry to commit a defender and ask again. If you cannot carry, play a short lateral to reopen a forward lane, and only then go back and rebuild. Support has to arrive in waves, with someone offering depth, someone offering width, and someone holding as cover, so that the brave forward pass never becomes an immediate goal against.

Play what you see, zone by zone. Fede Tanuscio gives the outlet a map in Get more circle entries from your outletting, built on a principle he keeps returning to: “Play what you see. That’s a really important principle to see what we have in front of us and what will be our decision making.” He splits the pitch into two outlet zones and measures success by reaching the second zone with the ball under control, not merely clearing your lines. Against a half court block he positions the link midfielder on the far side of the ball to leave the central channel free to be played into, a detail that turns the press’s own compactness against it.

None of this is a script to drill on repeat, and that is the point the coaches keep circling back to. Beating a press off a restart is a reading, not a pattern, and it grows by putting players in the real problem again and again, letting the trap form, getting caught a few times and finding their own way out. The masterclasses below are where those ideas are worked through in full, with the sessions to match.