Field Hockey: individual skills

individual skills DRILLS
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individual skills ANSWERS
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Can you give me your ideas of a one test only assessment to split a large mixed ability group of players (20 to 60) into the right ability groups in less than 2 hours?

Here is one example I use.I put out this slalom as the test whenever confronted with a large group of mixed ability players that need to be put into equal ability groups to play a game or to be coached. The slalom incorporates lots of the aspects of the techniques required by the individual players to play the game of hockey. I.e. running with the ball, fast and controlled, changing direction with the ball pivoting, stopping the ball etc.I normally set up 2 - 4 identical slaloms, see attachment, and have 4 coaches or helpers with a stopwatch (mobile phones are great for this).To record the score I normally put a label on the stick of each player so they can write down their time. Once all players have recorded a time, ask the players to stand in time order on the sideline. Once the players are in order you can put the 10 fastest times to play a 5 aside game across 23 meter area and the next 10 in the next 23 meter area and so on up to 40 players playing on one full pitch. The last few changes you might now need to make are the players that perform better or weaker on any particular pitch (should not be to many).

Bram van Asselt Coach, England

Best Drills to develop team play

What are the best drills to get a group with good individual skills to develop team play, like passing in triangles and moving the ball around the pitch?

Dave Merrell Coach, Switzerland

Individual drills for players to do outside of team?

Individual drills for players to do outside of team training times to improve their ball feel and control etc.

Archived User Coach

Im looking for demonstration video clip for correct?

Im looking for demonstration video clip for correct technic for a spin turn. Also where and when to use it description.

Archived User Coach

What are the key skills in individual defending?

What are the key skills in individual defending and what are the best ways to practise them?

Jayson Hood Coach, England

How can we coach key defending skills?

How can we coach young players (U18) to get better at individual defending skills such as closing down, tackling, marking and covering? I'm looking at all these areas and I'm coaching at the JRPC in Leeds this season and one of our sessions needs to be on individual defending. What I want to do is ensure that I am providing a training session (or set of training sessions) which cover the key skills involved in being a good defender and then build drills or constrained games around these key skills. Any advice much appreciated! Best wishes, Jayson

Jayson Hood Coach, England

Would hands-on goalkeeping knowledge make better field players?

Many players shy away when asked to try goalkeeping as part of individual skills development. Is there a stigma associated with this position?

Ejaz Syed Coach, United States of America

How to be a good captain

How to be the best captain for your team?

Archived User Coach

How to coach school team with novices and experienced players?

Hi,I perhaps naively, expected to have most of our team from last year carry over and only have a few new comers to integrate and get up to speed with the rest. However meeting the team at our first practice last night i find I have five players still at school from last year and the rest all new comers, most of whom had not held a hockey stick at all till practice.This being only my second season coaching (year 9 to year 13 boys) has left me feeling a little blindsided, and feeling quite unsure how to prepare practices that target both groups of boys. Do i lump them both groups together, keep them separate? What drills/exercises to best bring the new comers up to speed.I don't want to neglect either group, keep practice worthwhile for the experienced boys, but also bringing the new comers up to a level were they can mix in with the others and learn organically from them while practicing as a team. David

David Smith Coach, New Zealand

Individual stickwork skills

Does anyone have good drills for players to progress their individual ball skills and stickwork from medium to advanced

Dave Merrell Coach, Switzerland

What are the key skills in ind...

What are the key skills in individual defending and what are the best ways to practise them?

Jayson Hood Coach, England

Best Drills to develop team pl...

What are the best drills to get a group with good individual skills to develop team play, like passing in triangles and moving the ball around the pitch?

Dave Merrell Coach, Switzerland

How to coach school team with ...

Hi,I perhaps naively, expected to have most of our team from last year carry over and only have a few new comers to integrate and get up to speed with the rest. However meeting the team at our first practice last night i find I have five players still at school from last year and the rest all new comers, most of whom had not held a hockey stick at all till practice.This being only my second season coaching (year 9 to year 13 boys) has left me feeling a little blindsided, and feeling quite unsure how to prepare practices that target both groups of boys. Do i lump them both groups together, keep them separate? What drills/exercises to best bring the new comers up to speed.I don't want to neglect either group, keep practice worthwhile for the experienced boys, but also bringing the new comers up to a level were they can mix in with the others and learn organically from them while practicing as a team. David

David Smith Coach, New Zealand

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