Improve your defense
Defending in Oztag is half the game. Many people would argue that in all sports, defense wins games, so it is very important to be good at defending. It took me a while to get used to defending in the game. Coming from a Rugby background I understood the dynamics of attacking but struggled in defense as there are less people and the art and skill of ripping someone's tag off is surprisingly difficult.
Best way to rip someone's tag off
USE BOTH HANDS! I don't mean use both hands to go for just the one tag, but use one hand to aim for one tag then use the other hand to go for the other tag. This is possibly the most effective way to be an absolute iron wall for your team. The reason as to why you should use both hands is because by using both hands you force yourself to get closer to your opponent making it more difficult for the attacker to run away from you. Also if the opponent attempts to avoid you by twisting or spinning, because you have both hands around their waist sometimes the tag can just land in your hand, meaning all you have to do is just close that grip like an eagle and pull. As you get better and play more Oztag, you will notice that you don't really have to look at the tags when you want to tag them but you can accurately put your hands on their tags and when this is combined with using both hands, it becomes very difficult to attack against you.
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| Defender using both hands to go for both tags. This creates more chance to tag the attacker |
But what if they're out of reach?
I'm glad you asked. If they are out of reach, diving for a tag to get into range can also be very effective (however this should only be used when the attacker is just out of reach, diving towards an oncoming attacker is dangerous for both players). This skill does require a lot of practice and will take a lot of time to master or even get decent at it, so don't worry too much if it's too hard, there are not that many people that can do it well anyway. The basics of performing a diving tag is to first spot the target (the tag), the dive and making sure that your whole body is fully stretched including your arms and legs to reach your maximum range. Then you grab onto the attackers tag and rip it right off.
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| Great diving tag...much wow |
I'm still no good at tagging :(
That's ok~ more experience playing the game will get you better, but in the mean time defending as a team is the most crucial way to be a good defender. To be a good team defender communication between your teammates is paramount. If there are more attacking players on one side than defending players, it is so important for you to communicate to your team to slide across to help each other out. Also communication when the attacking team is attempting to use a play is crucial as players will cross over each other and switch, this means that as defenders we need to see what is happening in front and adjust. Defenders need to talk to each other and mark up on the correct players when a play is occurring to nullify it.
Defending as a line is also a crucial part in being a good team defender. If the defensive team is in a straight line, it becomes very difficult for an attacking player to run through. This is because they need to run in between two people and worry about both of those players tagging them, however if the defense is not in a straight line, the attacker can run around and evade one player at a time which is much easier than evading two defenders at a time.
Staying on your toes is also very important in defending because there are a lot of quick and agile players that will be able to step or juke you, so by staying on your toes and being in a position to change direction is important because there will be players that will be very good at changing their running direction very quickly.
Simply put, to get better at defending is just play more Oztag!
- Tim
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