Field Hockey: team

I really have a big problem with my u/15 girls.  They just can't play as a team. Any advice please. There's always a fight between someone. Mariette

Anybody got any ideas on how to get 14-15 year old girls to treat a first time coach as a coach and not just a friend?

Would anybody like to give me a diagram of 3/4 press and half court please ?

who chooses team captain ?

How should a women team,that cannot use the scoup or an overhead,do when the oposit uses a full press at a 16yd hit??Thank you...

I want our team to make our team and hopefully get promoted, however in my opinion player personalities are holding us back such disliking position and certain players wanting to do things that other players are better at.

Hi all,I coach a school boys teams, ages 12-18.Late last season after a disappointing loss, one of the younger boys made the comment 'Its all xxxx's fault that we lost'. This was made at the end of the game while I was packing away our gear and most, but not all, of the boys had already departed. XXXX wasn't there to hear the comment. Being dumbfounded by this comment, I let it go at the time and have stewed on it during the our off season. I'm of the opinion that this type of comment is unacceptable and should result in disciplinary action of some kind. My thinking at the moment is that I would be remove the player from the game ( if made during the game, even if it leaves us short), pass them on to the school for whatever punishment is deemed appropriate with a request to remove them from the team. Am I being too harsh or unreasonable in my thinking? Are there any strategies that I could employ to stop this kind of commentary? I'm going to discuss it with the school when we get back together before the season starts.

How can I get my players to be accountable for their skills? During drills, they mistrap balls next to the sideline, bounces over, poor passing etc, and it doesn't seem to bother them. I instigate the team accountability, where the team calls them on it, but no one seems to do it.Any suggestions would be great.Cheers,Brent

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

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

Hello all, im coaching a ladies first team and im trying to motivate them to take it a lot more seriously then they currently do. They want to train hard but are afraid of making mistakes defensively. Instead of getting back behind the ball when they make a mistake they almost seem embarrassed and stand there with their arm up. I give them as much encouragement as possible without following them round with a pillow!! Also only 2/3 of the squad come to training which is frustrating as both forwards never attend training but the captain wont drop them and come saturday, they have no clue as to what we have been working on. So im having to take 15 minutes out of my pre-game warm up with the rest of the ladies to explain whats going to happen. I get paid to coach them on Tuesday nights but i do saturdays for free. It is frustrating to say the least and i would love any help you can give pleeeaaasseee!!! Mike

I have taken over a club as head coach this year and inherited a captain. She is a good player but is not my ideal captain and is used to communicating almost exclusively by email. I had a successful meeting setting objectives for the 1st team last weekend and following that meeting received lots of feedback for how well it was received. My captain yesterday sent a long email about her thoughts on the meeting and where we are and what the players should be doing in order to progress from her perspective. It is a long rambling email that I think has no objective or point to it that I think is completely inappropriate, now I know her heart is in the right place but this is really stepping on my toes as a coach as it is my place to do these type of emails. I am looking for advice on how I should be dealing with this, I am happy to pull her up but as she is very unconfident about herself I feel this might push her back into her shell even more and then she might do something daft like send another email apologising to the team! I am not sure if I should just ignore it as I wonder if it undermines me? Thoughts?

I am coaching my first season as head coach. I am confident that my team has improved on alot of skills (mostly due to sportplan.net, thank you!). The only thing that is driving me crazy that my team has not improved on is the over committing block tackle. When an opponent is coming down the field on a breakway, my defense runs up and block tackles, and the opponent shoots right past them. This will happen two or three times in a row, one defender after the other. I've told them to keep their feet moving and to keep off their toes, keeping their momentum with the opponent. I don't know how to practice this with them. We only have 9 players (this is a high school varsity team) so we can't scrimmage full field during practice. Please help! I'm desperate for a solution.

I've got some girls aged 11-14, basically made up from two different clubs. We're playing 7 a side and have a squad of 12. One club dominates in terms of numbers (75% of the squad) and although they are not doing anything 'wrong' at all, the 9 players are accustomed to their own company and there's a bit of a divide that has emerged. I can't understand why the players aren't just getting on with things but I'm getting some reactionary behaviour from some players, because of this 2 camp scenario. Any tips?Thanks.

What fun warm ups can I use with a group of 7-11 year olds with and without hockey sticks? Many thanks xx

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

Hi all- I am 37 years old. I played field hockey for 3 years only (in high school). As you can imagine, I'm not very good/experienced. I was a competitive soccer player which made me good enough athletically to play field hockey but anyway, the point is: I never played field hockey at a high level.I now find myself in a head coaching position. (Long story-I did coach some field hockey some years ago and had a blast but it was a while back). Anyway, I have three assistant coaches who aren't much more experienced than I am. Our high school program is VERY weak and so nobody really steps up to coach there.Basically, my question is: what do I do? I have some girls who have played but not much. Then I have girls who literally don't know how to hold their stick and are quite I athletic. We barely have enough girls to field a team. As for drills, I'm trying to use this site but if you were in my position, what specifically would you be doing with these girls so they don't lose 7-0 every game? Right now, I'm focusing on body control and comfort with the ball- (we are playing possession and they are so uncomfortable they just hit the ball away because they don't have the skills to hold). Any help you can give is greatly appreciated!Brooke Asked using Sportplan Mobile App

Hi allI am looking for advice on how to implement processes in my girls school hockey team. processes of setting up presses, defensive structures and counter attacking thinking. I have 14 players in the team from 15 years old to 18. we train twice a week. only a few play club hockey as well. We either play a 3-1-4-2 or a 3-1-3-3.I find it difficult for example, when you want to teach a press on the opposition 16, to simulate gameplay with only 14 players (if they are all at training). I can have my halves setup for taking the 16 and then get my strikers and links to setup, but then I still want defenders to see things from the back but they are taking the 16? Also when taking the 16 they then don't have any support in the drill because everyone else is setting up a press?I know we need to work on our basics in order for the other tactics and skills and game plans to work. However I find it frustrating with this team that on counter attacks for a few reasons which I am struggling to mend;- they only head forward. No one holds up the ball to wait for support.- they run straight and don't use angles- they pass too late and get tackled - they don't have the vision to see an early pass or pass into space- players without the ball do not run into useful positions and angles and get caught out by the person with the ball who then makes a pass to no one and it runs out of play.So suggestions please for;- open, creative but simple counter attacking- teaching processes for presses on free hits and 16s- coaching how to take 16s and work your way out- coaching vision and expecting your players to be in support. RegardsMatt

I have a team of 12 girls, many are new to the game. How do I prepare them to work together as a team and learn their positions when I can't simulate a game in practice?