Are blocks worth it?

This topic has been spinning around my head for a while. I think this topic is a macro topic, worth some thoughts for a better hockey understanding more important than any analysis I can do or anyone can do.

Roller hockey nowadays is based on space. How can I get some advantage which will give me a few metres of space? How fast can we do a transition so we can have some extra space? This sport is played in a given space and it is fast, well, you know.

All the defence setups are built on how we can secure specific areas such as 9 or 3 that can be really dangerous. And the attack tactics are developed for the opposite. How can we get in there with some advantage so we can get close to the cage, score a goal, and win?

I’m going to think about the attack mindset today. I have been living in Australia for a while now, and as soon as I arrived, I acknowledged something: they play a different hockey compared to the hockey I grew up with. I travelled a little around Asia-Pacific, stayed in New Zealand for a few weeks with a local club, and was invited to the first Kiwi national training camp preparing for this year’s WRG. I even participated in the Asian Games and saw the same thing. I’m talking about blocks.

If you are reading this, you probably know what a block is, but just in case, we can define a block as the action of one attacker stopping next to the mark of one of his teammates. Now we know the basics, we can start adding different adjectives like direct or indirect, double block, and many others. This is off topic though.

Why do we use blocks? We use blocks to give some extra advantage to our teammates. Over this thought, I understand blocks as a tool being part of a bigger thing called tactics. What I saw really commonly in this side of the world is that blocks are used as THE tool and most of the time as a tactic itself. Sometimes they are used as a KPI for attack performance.

Blocks are a tool because they are not always suitable or the best option. It can get to a point where you can ruin your teammate's play trying to help them.

The reason is simple: in a game based on spaces, which can be translated into advantage, sometimes getting out of the way and dragging your defender out is a better option than blocking a defender that is already out and getting another defender close to the ball. Which, in my opinion, is not worth it.

Let's get some examples:

Even Situations This situation can be a great tool. We can make some space in congestion in a small space and release it. See the board below:

Advantage Situations At specific times during the game, we sometimes have a numerical advantage. I’m going to the easiest one: a counterattack 2 on 1. As seen in the pic below, there is already a numerical advantage, which means space. One of the attackers is going to block. Is it worth congesting an area and releasing it afterwards when there is already space?

Hope these thoughts help you to realise how important this conversation is to yourself and to your teammates as well.

Grab a stick & keep skating!!