- Monkey In The Middle

Monkey In The Middle

Description
1. Three teams A, B, C. Team ‘A’ and ‘B’ attempt to keep the ball away from ‘C’ by:
• Possessing the ball using their own players
• Passing the ball over or through the middle zone to other team.
• Team ‘A’ can pass to team ‘B’ as shown in the diagram.
2. The defending team (Team ‘C’ in the diagram) is able to get out of the ‘middle’ by:
• Replacing the team that looses the ball out of bounds
• Dispossessing a team and making a pass into the other grid to the waiting team (e.g. stealing from ‘A’ and passing to ‘B’.
3. The defending team is only allowed to send 3 players into one of the grids at one time. The remaining players must be back in the ‘middle’ before the ball is sent into the other grid. They cannot enter the grid until the other team does.
4. If a ball is lost out of bounds, the coach immediately puts a ball into play in the other grid area.
5. Make the grids bigger to allow the attacking team more success, smaller to challenge them more.

Coaching Points
• Transition
• Attacking principles: Long passing, attacking shape, receiving long passes, support.
• Defending principles: pressure, cover, balance, compactness, immediately chase.
***** Make Sure *****
• If teams are not even, it is okay for a team to play one player down.
• Keep the game flowing. If a ball goes out of bounds, immediately call out who is in the ‘middle’ and put the next ball into play.
• Defending team defends as a unit and keeps compact.
• If an attacking team looses possession of the ball, they try to win it back before the defending team plays it out of their grid.