3v2 Tight Keep Aways are a great warm up!  Have the girls in a an 8 yard x 8 yard box.  The space should be tight enough that the off ball defender could pick off a pass and jump the receiver, but not so tight that it's impossible to complete a pass.  The tight confines will teach the player with the ball how to pass under pressure, faking her own defender's stick out of the way while keeping an eye and faking the off ball defender  enough to complete the pass.  

Although there are no nets to shoot on in this keep away drill, it is actually a great finishing drill.  Passing the ball around the stick of the on ball defender requires fakes and angles that are exactly like those in a 1v1 with a goalie!

Encourage your players to utilize all swing angles for passes AND fakes:

  • Side arm
  • Underhand
  • BTB
  • Twister
  • Backhand / Twizzler
  • Around The World

Discourage your players from switching hands under pressure.  There is certainly a time and a place for two handedness, but most players have been trained to switch hands for every catch and every throw to a particular side and this reduces optionality particularly when the play is relative to a goal where we want to be able to have our sticks to the inside ideally!

Encourage your players to wrap their feeds around the defender.  This screen pass concept is very deceptive and realistic to playmaking situations.  You will see players wrapping their passes with sidearm and backhand/shovel passes and you will see the defenders stepping towards the wrong player!