What Are Some Defensive Strategies That Would Help Prevent A Team From Scoring I

A sport that is closely related to basketball and soccer, team handball is played with seven or 11 players on a court. The main objective is for one team to score more points than the other by throwing a cantaloupe-sized ball past a goalie and into a goal.

With scores sometimes reaching in the 20-30 range in very competitive matches, playing solid defense could help any team be more successful on the court.

Owen McFadden is the director of recreational sports at Furman University. Of the 22 years he has held the position McFadden has coached and played the sport of team handball since 1997.

McFadden has years of experience and understands how teams may attack other teams defensively.

"A lot of it just depends upon what type of team you are playing," he said. "There is a six meter line on the court. It's kind of like a three point line in basketball, but the six meter line is six meters away from the goal. No one can go inside that area except the goalkeeper."

"There is one exception, if you are an offensive player you can jump from behind the line," he added. "And while you are in the air and before you land inside the six meter line, you can shoot the ball."

In any sport, defense is always going to be the key to being successful. It may not sound like defense means a lot in a sport that scores at such a rapid rate, but key defensive stops can mean the difference between winning and losing.

McFadden said that team handball teams have several different types of defenses that they run with assignments for each player.

"There is what they call a six-o defense or a zone defense where all six defenders are around that six meter line," he said. "You can play a five-one or four-two or three-three. What ever defense you are playing, you are just trying to create a turnover along the line."

McFadden also mentioned that each player on defense has a responsibility to help the team keep the offense from scoring.

"Five-one defense is one person up in the middle closer to the court players to disrupt the flow of the passes," he said. "So the team has to do something differently."

"Typically what happens is, depending on where you are, you are assigned a person on defense," McFadden added. "But as the ball transitions from either the left side to the right side of the court or vice versa you have specific responsibilities."

So who are some of the players that the defense has to worry about?

"One person is called a circle runner," he said. And that's what they do. They run around that six meter circle all the time, either setting picks or just trying to get open to get the ball."