ADVANCED DEFENSIVE SYSTEM

• In the 3-2 east-west zone defense all players are designated a specific area, with specific responsibilities; first of which is that players should be facing the side-boards where the ball is located, at all times.  

• Start in this defense time permitting.  If players are unable to run to their designated area by the time the ball has entered the defensive zone, due to a fast break by the opponent for example, sometimes it's best for the coach or an aware defender to call off this defense and switch to a "man" defense, aka Helping Player-on-Player Defense, for that particular shift.

• Depending on whether the ball is on the strong-side or weak-side, defenders will cover:  high, low or middle areas, on their side of the defense. 

• Whenever the ball is in a defender’s area, that defender should apply aggressive pressure.  High defenders on-ball should attempt to funnel offenders low while pressuring and low defenders on-ball should funnel offenders high, with all ball-side adjacent defenders showing help (where possible).  This defense can also be played in a more conservative style, using all of the same principles except with contain/controlled pressure.

• Off-ball defenders should be in line with the off-ball goal-post defending against back-door passes (head on a swivel), with the low defenders on the off-ball side locking off the crease player at all times, as team rules.