Playing Tight In Any Bunker

There is nothing worse than catching a pack hit from the opposite side of the field while you are trying to maintain dominance on your side of the field. Something that every player can always improve upon is being better at playing the bunker as tight as possible. Each bunker shape requires you to adapt, to become harder to eliminate. Players that can survive in tight situations, will have more success point after point.

A few tips I can give on this topic:

• Get into the bunkers you will most likely be playing and imagine your opponent is on your side of the field. Re-adjust in the bunker to hide from them, and take note on how you would need to play in that situation.       

• The widest part of the player is a pod pack full of pods. So push your hips into any bunker to keep that pack from being exposed.

• Have your teammates confirm that you are not exposed from the opposite side of the field.

• Refrain from playing behind the bunker, and work on playing in the bunker. This can even apply to snap shooting drills. Although it is great to see a player practice their snap shot, I see so many times they are off the back of their bunker playing the edge with no regard for actual game situations.

• When engaging the player you choose to focus on, do not drop the focus of hiding from the rest of the enemy players.

Getting comfortable playing tight in a bunker is difficult, and takes a lot of practice. The best players in the Pro division are very comfortable playing in tight positions. Watch your favorite Pros and examine how they play in each bunker, and look to reproduce this. I can guarantee this will elevate your level of play, because this is a game of survivability first, and a game of elimination second.