Happy New Year everyone, wishing you all a happy, healthy and prosperous 2026!  We’re going to start the year talking about a topic I haven’t focused on enough yet - Defending!

With the skills of modern hockey attackers constantly evolving and the increasing effectiveness of penalty corner routines, defending in our sport has never been tougher.

The requirements of a defender today are extremely high, any small mistake in the circle is now regularly punished with a goal conceded.  The stakes of, especially, circle defending have never been higher.  Physical, technical and mental skills from defenders need to be almost perfect.

The physical & technical aspects such as footwork, stick position, hand speed, body angle, field position are all very important and most likely will be subjects of future emails from me, however today I’m going to focus on (in my opinion) the two most important mental skills required in modern defending.

Patience and Discipline

Watching back the Bronze medal match of the Men’s Junior World Cup between Argentina and India brought this to the fore for me.   Argentina were the better team for much of the game holding a 2-0 lead going into the fourth quarter.  From here India mustered an incredible comeback, scoring four unanswered goals in the fourth and taking home the Bronze medal.

Now, I am not taking anything away from the skill and determination of the Indian team. They increased their level and executed almost flawlessly at the end of the game.  However I think the Argentinian defending contributed and without some mental lapses from them, maybe they could have stemmed the tide.

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Let’s watch the first two goals Argentina conceded.

Both are penalty corners which were given away when the umpire saw a flailing reverse stick tackle.  Now the first corner is potentially an umpire error, it doesn’t look like much contact was made by the defender but this is the risk you always take trying to take the ball with a reverse stick tackle in the circle.  The second tackle is a stone wall, bad foul.

Both of these reverse swipes show a need for a little more discipline and patience.  Firstly, reverse stick tackles in the circle are extremely risky, even good ones can get called against you as the first goal proves, umpires are much more likely to blow a penalty when trying to take the ball with this technique.  I think even this close to goal, staying in the contest on your forehand side and backing your keeper to make a save from a wide angle is a much higher percentage play than giving away a penalty corner.   This requires a lot of patience, not trying to win the ball, even close to your own goal, and a focus on protecting space, your feet and trusting your Goalkeeper.   If you stay in the contest longer, there is often a chance to jab the ball when the attacker winds up to shoot, this is the best time to be aggressive, not during the dribble.

Now let’s watch the last two goals.

Goals from a Penalty Stroke and a Penalty Corner, both decisions the result of the defender running straight through the ball carrier with very little attempt to play the ball.  Understandably, tensions and emotions were running high at this stage of the game, but this result shows how important discipline is and the high cost of losing it when the game is on the line.  

The higher the level of the opponent you play against, the more patience and discipline that is required to defend properly.  Defending in the modern day requires a calm head at all times and these are really important mental skills.  The patience to ‘stay in the contest’ as long as possible is almost always rewarded with better outcomes.  The price for ill-discipline has never been higher.

“Master your mind to master your opponent.”  

I’m sure some Zen Master in a martial arts movie has said this before, i can’t recall, but I think it makes my point perfectly.