Tactical Principles in Team Sports
Tactical Principles of Team Sports
Principle: A general rule that you try to obey in the way that you behave and in the way that you try to achieve something.
Tactical principles: Basic guidelines or directions that may guide most of the tactical actions in order to coordinate the players of a team during a match.
Tactical principles will facilitate decision-making of players.
We need to identify clearly defending and attacking phases of the game.
Principles of Attack:
- Keeping possession of the ball.
- Progressing to the scoring zone.
- Attacking the scoring zone to score points.
Principles of Defense:
- Regaining possession of the ball.
- Preventing the progression of opponents to one’s own scoring zone.
- Protecting one’s own scoring zone.
Principles of Action (Gréhaigne, 2005):
Are starting points and guidelines that make it possible to isolate and classify the actions of players to play in a certain way.
These guidelines may help in improving the tactical knowledge of players in order to produce better decisions during a match.
Actions of Players (Action Rules):
Those specific actions of a sport that have a direct link with the Principles of Action and have to be performed to follow these principles.
- Emerge from principles of action.
- They also define the conditions to be respected and the elements that need to be considered to produce efficient action.
- Source of tactical knowledge.
Principles of Action (Gréhaigne, 2005):
Principles of Attack:
Keeping the Ball:
- Having at one’s disposal the maximum number of potential receivers or increasing the possibilities of exchange.
- Protecting the ball (using one’s body as an obstacle).
- Keeping the ball away from the opponent and close to oneself.
- Directing passes into space behind the defender and in front of the attacker.
- Moving to be at passing distance, seen by the ball owner, away from the defender.
Playing in Movement:
- Reducing the time and the number of exchanges required to reach the scoring zone and shoot.
- Varying the rhythm and intensity of the moves.
- Moving when space is free.
- Creating passing angles.
- Favoring instantaneous passes.
- Continuing movement after having released the ball.
- Receiving the ball while moving.
Exploiting and Creating Available Spaces:
- Using the depth and the width of the field or court.
- Locking the defense in one zone and playing in another.
- Alternating direct play, indirect play, short passes, and long passes.
- Changing the direction of play.
- Using spaces not occupied by opponents.
- Moving away from opponents, into the interval or to the back of the opponent.
- Creating screens or blocks and exploiting them.
Creating Uncertainty:
- Keeping the alternative direct play/indirect play.
- Changing one’s rhythm (slow/quick).
- Increasing the number of players involved in the action.
- Faking or combining the change of rhythm, space, and orientation.
- Moving in one direction and releasing the ball in another.
- Adopting a posture or an orientation that allows various actions (i.e., disguising one’s intentions).
Principles of Defense:
Defending the Target:
- Initiate pressure in the area of the ball in the few seconds following a loss of possession.
- Putting as many players as possible between the ball and the target.
- Reinforcing and covering constantly the axis of the goal.
- Organizing the team along lines of strength.
- Putting the attack off-center, towards the outskirts.
- Moving the ball away.
- Covering one’s partner.
- Preventing shots.
- Withdrawing quickly while looking at the ball to recreate the defensive line.
Regaining Possession of the Ball:
- Recovering the ball as close as possible to the opponents’ goal.
- Increasing the numerical density in the middle of the field and in the attack areas.
- Challenging every opponent.
- Looking for the interception.
- Putting immediate pressure on the player with the ball-harassment.
- Positioning oneself on likely ball trajectories to isolate the ball carrier from his or her teammates.
Challenging the Opponent’s Progression:
- Reducing the number of potential receivers.
- Foreseeing opponents’ actions.
- Understanding quickly the opponents’ system of play to stabilize the perception.
- Having explicit communication within the defense.
- Evaluating the capacity and skills of one’s direct opponent.
- Keeping both the attacker and the ball in view.
- Sticking to agreed rules and to one’s task.
- Impairing the opponent through one’s placement and movements.
- Faking to trick one’s opponent.
- Reducing the time, space, and options.
- Modifying rapidly one’s defensive system to adapt it to the game.
- Adopting an optimal position on the field.
- Keeping the attack away from the target.
- Defining everybody’s rules on set plays.
- Reducing the effective space available to one’s opponent.
- Delaying the attack whenever the defenders are outnumbered.