Originally Posted by Anonymous
What's even more special is the Hawks running a zone defense at this age, and younger. Don't worry about developing athletes and the skills that come from running man to man, because it's not really about development. It's all about winning and look how smart I am with my zone.

Much of lacrosse defense is M2M on-ball and zone help off-ball.

I'd argue that as long as you are developing defensive technique on approaches, on-ball play, and slide integrity/rules, what's the gripe? If taught right, a "zone" is essentially no different that M2M with an adjacent or near-man slide. It also takes some of the stress off kids thinking they are on an island, playing defense by themselves. The old-school mentality that "zone is lazy" is wrong. It's played everywhere, at all ages. Get with the times.