Field Hockey: practice

Whenever i have the ball, and i'm moving up the field, everytime a defender comes and tries to take the ball, they always succed. This is a big problem of mine, i almost always lose the ball to a defender when i'm moving, and i usually can't recover (not that i literallyy CAN'T, the defender is just to far past me to be able for me to get the ball back)and get back the ball, and i feel really dumb because i'm a very talented player, but i'm alwayse afraid to take the ball mainly just because when i move fast and a defender comes, i try to lift the ball and it just doesn't work, and i normally can't pull the ball far enough either cause the grass is thik. PLEASSEEE help me adn give me some advice on recovering and better techniques on how to get by a defender while moving very quickly.

I can find lots of defensive drills, but am not sure which would be best for defending the left channel.

How do you improve your dribbling skills to a level of that of top players?

Hi all just wondering if there are any coach's that have any good tip for a new coach like me. I am coaching under 6/8yr olds and find they get bored very easy. How do you keep them from getting bored and what fun drills do you use? Cheer James first time coach

My daughter plays U13 hockey in the position of right wing.She gets different advice from her school coach and her club coach.I want to make sure that she is getting the right advice as she is passionate about her hockey. Firstly, exactly what is the full function of a right wing at this level of hockey (she will be going to U15 club hockey and U14 school hockey next season) She has a good understanding of the game and appears to me to read it well (I only played school level many years ago and things change) When her team is in the offensive position in the “D” she mostly waits at goal post to deflect ball into goal.  She appears to not be involved.  Comments from spectators have been made as to why she just stands there. There is a very skilled player in her team who hits the ball EXTREMELY hard.  I believe that at this level of hockey these extremely hard hits/passes do not achieve anything, they just keep going out. However, please can you advise on how to stop and control these very hard passes (that is if one can get to them) in order to move on with the game. Lastly, can you send some drills/exercises to get her eye in as well as positioning her body correctly for goal shooting.  The “hard hitter” and my daughter seem to be the main goal shooters of the team. Many thanks Lynne

I really struggle to make practice fun and useful for the GKs. My attention is naturally focussed on the outfield players, meaning most of the time I simply have drills finishing with a shot on goal to keep the GK involved. Pretty boring for them. Any ideas how I can involve them more? Thanks, Charlie

training action plan for a hockey player who needs to improve tackling

How can I help my u/12 girls to attack? At the moment they are running beside the opponent but not attacking the players.

Can someone suggests some drills for goal keepers to work on alone?

How can I teach my team of u/12 girls to "see" hockey or rather think hockey? It's if they can"t read hockey and are thinking with "netball brains" instead of hockey brains. I don't know if it makes sense to someone but it is very frustrating. I can teach them skills and practice practice practice but the moment they play a game they forget everything and can't seem to know what to do. Hope it makes sense for somebody.

Why wont this session open for me when i log in its not there ??

hockey warm up basic equipment 5 mins

I'm currently coaching a team of 18 year old girls.(Field Hockey) Some players don't show up for practice or when they do, they aren't motivated to give their best. Despite my tiring efforts to try and motivate them as a good AND bad guy. I am out of ways to punish and/or motivate the girls. What do you coaches do to keep your team committed? And when they aren't, what are your ways of handling the situation?

drills toteach a beginner on push pass

Does anyone have a practice plan template they are willing to share? Something that includes space to fill in the chose drills/exercises to work on each of the different facets of practice (conditioning, agilities, ball warmup, technical work, tactical work, etc.)?

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

I have been given my first team ever!! They are 11 year old girls and I wanted guide/ recommendation on how I should structure my one hour sessions? E.g. how long should I spend on a warm up, drill etc. .Cheers,Freya

Hi all, after "volunteering" at the last minute to coach last season, I'm looking forward to coaching again this season but would like to be a bit more organised starting the season. Last season I used drills from here (thank you contributors) and put together a practice plan each week addressing what I thought were our weakness from the game just played. This got us through the season, we were promoted after grading and finished the season in the top 4 playoffs for our grade.I wonder if there is some kind of guide to putting a more coherent training plan together for the season.I'm coaching a boys secondary school team, aged 12-18. What kind of skills should they have mastered?What should they be attempting, working towards mastering (individually and as a team)?I last played as a collage boy on grass fields, the change to turf pitches has obviously obsoleted (along with age) much of what I knew as a player.Any pointers appreciated.David

What are the best conditioning skills to practice with a junior high team? (12-14 yrs) We are limited the first few days to indoor practices in a small space. They are not in shape, so we are starting from scratch. Our first game is in 3 1/2 weeks.

I'm doing A Level PE and I need to coach a player on a weakness of theirs and I need a few progressive practices I could use for a Hit other than the basic technique. It needs to eventually lead to them correctly and consistently performing the hit. Thanks