Hockey: Hitting the ball - Importance of the arm + wrist

DESCRIPTION

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Objective: To establish the grip when hitting and role of the wrists and arms to be able to be able to generate power without reducing accuracy.

Purpose: Hitting the ball is an important skill when either transferring the ball, delivering longer passes into the circle or shooting. Being able to hit a flat, accurate and powerful pass can split defences, switch the play quickly, offering huge benefits to the team.

Structure: Pairs.

COACHING POINTS

• Begin techning the technique by making the player grip the stick with their hands close together and gripped down the stick to improve control.
• Start with the stick against the ball to give a natural position for the stick to return to.
• First get the player to hit using only their wrists to establish their role as early as possible.
• Make sure the ball position is just inside the left heel to strike through the ball cleanly in a balanced body position (get them to hold their position after the hit to test their balanced position).
• Begin to build power through a strong base and incorporating the arms.
• Focus on the rhythm of the hit - Arms, Wrists, Arms, Wrists (take the stick back with the arms, breaking the wrists before starting the down swing. On the down swing, use the arms to initiate the motion before snapping the wrists through impact).
• The final aspect to generate power is to allow your right hip to come through at impact to add power and rhythm to the hit.