Any tips for the new hockey self pass rules

Hockey CoachCoach

Having played a few games with these rules, I can say that the focus should be on speed of thought and speed of play... It can be broken down into two areas. In attack, a player that is fouled should be ready to take the free hit as quickly as possible with a self-pass, to catch the defence on the back foot. When outside the D, everyone needs to remember to stay 5 yards away, and there should always be a player for the 5 yard pass... In Defence, players need to retreat 5 as quickly as possible. When defending a free hit outside the D, a defender should always be ready to block an attempted self pass, by sstanding on the edge of the D... Anything else will come from experience of playing it...

sue shelswellOther, New Zealand

In NZ we've been playing these rules now since beginning of our season. They make for a much faster, active game. We find the release from the back has meant very quick getaways - often taking an auto pass from the back line rather than bringing up to the 16yds, cuts out presses and opens great quick breaks. On infringements inside the D if the defensive hit out is taken from anywhere the ball has rolled to after the foul (ie still inside the D), you can often be 3/4 of the way up the turf while the other team are still lining up for the 16yds! The 5yd attacking pass is still very messy, with younger teams finding it difficult to know how to gain advantage - and it's very weird if a long corner is an auto pass, dribbled into the D and a goal scored without any other player necessarily having touched it! It's made for a great, quick game!