Concepts referring to the control that a team is exercising through its game.

In this section we will analyze the meaning of three different concepts that are often used as synonyms when they are not, and that refer to the control that a team exercises collectively through its game.

  • Control of the match: Concept that manifests itself in the defensive phase of the competition units, so that no clear options of control of the ball are offered, nor of completion to the opposing team.
  • Ball control:Concept that manifests itself during the offensive phase of the competition units, so that the team does not lose possession of the ball until the action prior to the shot in the end zone.
  • Game control:Concept that refers to the team's mastery of the offensive and defensive phases of each competition unit by making the minimum number of errors possible in the aspects described.

These concepts have a generic and global component, thus differing from the concept of ball possession, which has a strictly individual meaning. We will call in this sense the "control" of the ball as: RECEPTION and PROTECTION.

All three concepts are especially important when we talk about the style of short play, since in either of the other two styles its importance is considerably reduced.