Four forwards against four defenders usually means a midfielder pushing up to match the opponent’s outlet, each forward taking a man while the player in front of the ball carrier generates most of the pressure. Sticks move up and down to create doubt. With a free man behind, the press is aggressive but low risk; without one, a lost individual duel is close to unsolvable. Watch the full masterclass: How to train the press in field hockey.
Rather than settle on one definition, Garcia lays out dictionary, sport and hockey readings of pressing and lets coaches build their own from the common threads: aggression, intensity, winning the ball back and closing space. He then narrows the session to the technical and tactical behaviour of forwards, since covering every line would take far longer, and moves into video examples from his own Polo side. Watch the full masterclass: How to train the press in field hockey.
Training the press should move from individual behaviours to collective ones, and the two have to be tied together. He gives the example of drilling how a forward approaches a defender in a simple exercise, then carrying that straight into a competitive game situation where the approach is one of the conditions the players are held to. Isolated work that never reaches the game is wasted. Watch the full masterclass: How to train the press in field hockey.
Pressing breaks down into physical, technical, tactical and mental components, plus the specific work of the defence, midfield and forward lines. On top of that he sets out three ways of classifying a press: by where the first defensive line starts, full, three-quarter or halfway; by tactical behaviour, such as a running press or the Australian press; and by the number of forwards involved. Watch the full masterclass: How to train the press in field hockey.
Asked why Rio and the Amsterdam final were won by zonal teams while EHL clubs pressed individually, he offers no firm answer. His view is that individual marking suits sides who are technically and mentally stronger than the opposition, which describes most EHL teams. It demands a very high physical level but is easier to coach, and he treats these as cycles that keep turning over. Watch the full masterclass: How to train the press in field hockey.
When both wide forwards are tied into individual jobs, one striker is left facing two centre backs and a great deal of space. Garcia is clear that this forward is not there to win the ball back. His job is to steer the attack to one side and push it towards the areas where his own defence is strongest, with the midfield sitting much deeper behind him. Watch the full masterclass: How to train the press in field hockey.
With three forwards against four defenders the press works at one pass, and the target is again to isolate one defender, in this example the left back. The centre forward runs a diagonal: a curved run invites the ball carrier to break inside. Pressure has to be direct and explosive, with the second forward covering space first and the third reacting to the man in front of him. Watch the full masterclass: How to train the press in field hockey.
Two forwards against three defenders comes up more often now that back lines stretch wide on the outlet, and the aim stays the same: isolate one defender so he cannot join the play. Approach runs are straight rather than curved, with timing, aggression and body language doing the work. One clip shows a forward arriving late, which lets the isolated defender back into the game. Watch the full masterclass: How to train the press in field hockey.
His teams default to individual marking responsibility, but he does not hold it at full intensity throughout. When the aggression needs dialling back he shifts towards mixed, and occasionally zonal, planning matches as individual-mixed or mixed-individual so the first label tells the players where the main responsibility sits. He admits that in six seasons at the club he has almost never used a purely zonal press. Watch the full masterclass: How to train the press in field hockey.