Field Hockey: ball carry

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

What are the best drills to get players to release the ball quickly?

When teaching the self-pass rule to my team, are there any tips in terms of when to hit and when to carry, depending on the situation?

What are the best things to get your players to do when you come up against a full press / 3/4 press, anything that's putting a lot of pressure on high up the pitch?

I have a team of 14 year old girls who mostly want to run with the ball rather than pass. A lot of them are strong ball carriers and so often achieve success this way but am concerned that this strategy will not work once the other teams get bigger and stronger, and that it is too one dimensional. What are the best ways to change this approach?

I need a good drill to help the girls move to the ball faster? we arw slow to the ball need a drill thanks

Have a team of older group of ladies who need to learn to pass the ball back, any good drills for this?

Is there such a new skill in hockey called a solo where you are allowed to scoop the ball up on your stick and run with the ball on your stick ? Thanks.

I would like to see the distances between the cones shown for most of the exercises

could someone comment on the 5 yard rule when entering the scoring area? There always seams to be a lot of wrong information regarding this rule.

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'm in the U.S., coaching a team of 11-12 year olds, with 1-2 years of experience. Defending the circle, when the ball is loose, my players are not getting control of the ball to hit out of the circle. It's congested with opponent and my team's players. If my players get control, they lose it quickly. If the opponent has control, my players aren't very good at taking the ball or stopping the opponent from taking a shot. Luckily we have a good goalie but she can only do so much. (Full disclosure: I didn't play FH but have a decent understanding of the game. No one else in my community would step up to coach so it's fallen to me.)

I just became the head coach of a middle school field hockey team and would like some pointers on how to coach. I have experience with goal keeping and defensive drills, I was a keeper, so I would like to learn more about offense as well. Any help is appreciated!!

How should a player run with and carry the stick when they are off the ball?

Anybody any ideas on a conditioned game to encourage receiving the ball in a forward facing position?

What is the difference between a "Steal" and a "Shave" in defence techniques? A lot of different explanations are given on the internet, and I want to give the right information to my students. Both are used in Tackle Back situations.I always thought that a steal is taking over the ball when it is "loose" - like the opponent wants to give a pass -and a shave is taking over the ball when an opponent has the ball on the stick.