Field Hockey: ball out to side

My team have asked for drills to help them at 16s, can anyone help me

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.

My team are constantly allowing oppositions to score from penalty corners we do 1st runner 2nd runner amp; 2 players on the post, what can I do.

My son has been given the role of sweeper in a team that has only won  twice in two years.  He is probably the weakest player in the team.  What advice can I give him to think about when playing, so that he can improve and enjoy a personal sense of achievement. In training sessions I have never seen any drills designed to organise the defence which is amazing since the teams ambition is usually to keep the goals against to single figures! Are there standard apporoaches as to how close to be  to the player you are marking or which side to stand to stop the attacker getting free with the ball on his open stick?.

1-2-1 coaching with u12 son (forward-JDC level) need to keep it fresh and fun any ideas? Andy Batch

What are the best methods to teach Junior 8 aside hockey players their positional roles and responsibilities?

Can you please assist me, I am coaching the 1st school team (0/18). we are playing 3-3-3-1 but there is a big gap between the forwards and links and also between the links and the backs. How can I change that. Is there any excercises that I can do with them or must we rather change the system??

I am looking for 6 a side hockey formations. We have been playing 3-1-1-1. Worked very well, however sweeper was so good, goalie never touched the ball. I want to move sweeper to goalie/ sweeper but our mid field player is too good to just play right. What to do? 2-2-1-1 or 1-3-1-1?     

How do you encourage positional play and spreading out on hockey field U9 girls level?

Does any one have any ideas on structure for the new 5 v 5 indoor format?

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

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

We practice weekly about staying in position, widening the field and using outletting to move the ball up field. They execute in practice, but when it comes time to play most players do not stay disciplined and crowd the ball on one side or another.............How do I fix this Players are U19

How do I get the right timing for a jab im trying to step up my defensive skills and i just cant get the right timing and technique for it Asked using Sportplan Mobile App

I'm looking for a simple and basic way to teach and encourage children to press. Asked using Sportplan Mobile App

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.)

hi there I'm using 4-4-2 and on sometimes 3-1-4-2 with a lower level hockey team.I've chosen this over other formations, simply because the hockey experience and ability of my players is not of a high level (and most people have an approximate understanding of 442). Also, I believe that one must choose a formation based on players traits and what they can deliver. For example, I'd ideally prefer to have 3 forwards, to help with more height and width but then would have to either play 3 in the middle or 3 at the back... and my player strengths don't permit this. In short, I simply don't believe I have a strong enough CH / CM to handle 3 in the middle and I'm not convinced that the off-the-ball support from other players is strong enough to allow 3 in the middle. OFFENSIVE PLAYS Anyway, I'm not 100% where to get my centre mids to stand when we have a 16 yd hit to take (i.e. our possession). Obviously one of the CMs comes deep to offer a potential direct outlet from the centre backs or offer an overload option if the ball goes out to the sides (which is more likely, since I've pretty much banned the high risk play of releasing up the middle - we've had far too many turnovers in our final third or quarter because we tried to play up the middle). My players are 'aware' of posting up and leading runs. However, I'm not sure about the 2nd CM. On the one hand I'd ideally like the 2nd CM to come deep as well, in order to potentially help break up the opposition press but by doing so, I distort the midfield and if we do manage to get the ball to one of the CMs, he won't have the 2nd CM in a higher position to release to, etc. DEFENSIVE POSITIONING Can someone suggest, again, about midfield positioning using 4-4-2 or 3-1-4-2, when we are setting up a general press? I have traditionally encouraged man marking, simply because our general positional awareness is weak (which makes zonal play a no-no IMO) + our tracking and attitude to committed defending (i.e. you don’t give up if one tackle fails) could be better! However, looking at suggested presses on Sportplan, some zonal positioning seems a necessity and I think if I can help my players make the step, success will come because they've been forced to become more aware of their pitch positioning, etc. Also, looking at some of the presses, it looks like the midfield can go 'flat' to create a barrier... and as I encourage a diamond shape in midfield, I need to explain to my players what to do and when. Sorry for the wordy question. I hope this all makes sense. Regards, Gary

Recently been working hard developing the use of the dish around the back to create space. Working great but would now like to develop this with more drills.We have discussed decision making, leading runs and movement but I'm now looking for ideas of exercises that will develop these thoughts amongst the guys. All ideas for exercises we could use at training gratefully received

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 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