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Coaching for six a side u9 girls team.

We need to talk about the basics of hockey but any advice re coaching them on not bunching and drills to help with this would be much appreciated. Thank you.

Kathryn HallockCoach, South Africa

2 answers

ANSWERS

Tom BeanCoach, England

Hi Kathryn,

Have you thought about separating the pitch into three areas to get your players to hold their positions to make the pitch as big as possible and to encourage them to not bunch together. Put in place some rules that says one player must be in each section at all times which will teach them about how to utilise space as well as how they need to cover in defence so that when they lose the ball, the risk of conceding is reduced.

I hope this helps and good luck!

Tom

Mick MasonCoach, Australia

The never ending battle to get players to play the spaces rather than chase the ball.

Players have to be available to each other during play and that requires they keep a spacing that allows them to pass away from tackles but not that far that the opposition can intercept the ball. One way to instil good habits is to always have the players warm up in threes instead of the traditional twos. Have them always moving so that they are always having to think "where is the player I am passing to going to be". If one player misses a trap and has to chase the ball they all chase the ball but in the formation they were in when the trap was missed (one will be chase the ball, one following that player and one off to the side keeping pace). This all encourages heads up play and quick reaction to changes. Start it slow with younger players but make it part of your warmup every week and they will soon be racing away with it. Introduce them to a game of piggy in the middle by putting a "defender" with each group. They will soon learn the importance of keeping good spacing if they want to keep possession of the ball. If you have 8 players then set up 2 drills, give bibs to 4 and have one bib in the middle of 3 non-bibs and one non-bib in the middle of 3 bibs. Make it a competition and losers get to run a lap. You can do it with 4 on 2s as well so you can involve any even number of players. Join in yourself if you need to make numbers.

I hope this gives you some ideas

Mick