1. look before you leap? "Control and Risk"

I think it is very important that a coach reflects on his vision and his approach every year.
At the moment I think a lot about the tension between control and risk taking in the korfball game.
Actually this topic has played in my head for longer time, but it has become more of an issue because of the Dutch soccer style; the so called “circulation football”.
The Dutch soccer game is characterized by ball possession and controlling. In this game-type the ball is played often wide or even backwards. Teams in the Netherlands take hardly any risks; they avoid losing the ball. They don’t play straight to the “16” of the opponent; they forget that you can fight for the ball and hunt the so called "second ball". It seems that this kind of risk taking have been banned in the Netherlands game-style.

But taking risk by playing with depth and with more players before the ball is actually quite natural, for several reasons.
- In soccer the ball is always playable; the ball is never really untouchable for the opposite party.
- Scoring goals is rather difficult; in the Netherlands they call a soccer match that finishes with more than 8 goals a “korfball result”.
- Relatively there are only a small number of real shots on goal. Compared to sports like korfball, basketball and handball scoring chances are scarce in football.

But “circulation football”, the modern Dutch style, is boring and annoying.

In korfball it seems that control is also starting to dominate in favor of taking risks. Moreover, controling the ball is something that is even part of the player-rules, because korfball has protected ball possession. Moreover, control while in ball possession is also reflected in the attack tactic. Because a shot is only taken when a fellow attacker is in a rebound position.
Just like in soccer, control in the korfball game also leads to boredom and boring patterns.

The tactic “only shooting if there is a rebounder” seems to have a reason, when one considers that shots from about 8-10 meters under the pressure of the defender has a 14% success rate (Source: distance shot season PKC 09/10). Besides that, the rebound from a failed distance shot has a higher success rate. Moreover, a defense with multiple shots per attack also creates a greater pressure.

But there is another consideration that may lead to a different tactic.

In the korfball game both parties get the ball around 80 times into an attack mode. The number of shots from distance in a match is about 70 to 80 attempts, of which about 14% is scored. So there are plenty of attempts from distance. The success rate of a distance shot is low. This is why the tactic “shoot if there is a rebound” sustains. When every player of a team can improve, the quality of the distance shot, for example 20 to 25%, the tactic of “just shooting with a rebounder in position” devaluates. So: the quality of the distance shot determines the balance between taking risk and control on ball possession.

It is clear to me:
Good shooters from distance can make the korfball game more attractive.
Shooters with talent are the key players.
This is why the distance shot with the “pressure” of the defender should get more attention in training.
The quality of the distance shot must go up!