your coaching checklist
Below is an overview of the skills and tactical concepts you should be coaching players at this stage of their hockey journey. If you need help with understanding these skills, there are several videos that can be found here!
Fundamental Skills
Ball carrying
Small space controlDeception - Body/stick feintsBall protection
Distribution
Reverse sweep passReverse edge pass
Goal scoring
Forehand deflection in the airReverse deflectionReverse stick sweep shot7-yard scoring (tight skills, quick shots, flicks)Reverse stick tomahawk
Winning the ball
Channel/double teamDelay the playRecovery defence
Goalkeeping
Aerial saves (glove/stick sides)Diving & sliding savesDefensive management
Tactical Concepts
Defensive concepts
Verbal/non-verbal communicationZonal/numbers down defenceMarking ball side/help sideFront markingGoal-side markingDelaying/channelling attackersCircle defence
Offensive concepts
Counter-attack/transitional play3v2 attacking strategies
Weekly planner
Below are some suggestions for what you might want to run on week-to-week to help develop your players, as well as some drills to give you some ideas on how to do it!
BASICS - BUILD & IMPROVE
WEEKS 1 - 4
Skills
Small space controlBall protectionReverse edge passReverse sweep pass
Reinforce basics & introduce new skills
WEEKS 5 - 8
Reinforce new skills & add tactical concepts
WEEK 9
WEEK 10 & 11
Reinforce new skills & add tactical concepts
WEEKS 12 & 13
Planning a Training
As seen in the Westie Sticks document, it's often preferable to structure your trainings in a way that builds progression of the skills or tactics you're developing. We do this through games or drills that grow in complexity or demand as the session goes on
10%
Warm-Up
20%
Individual skill focus
30%
Modified games
40%
Small games
Where possible, it's also a good idea to spend a few minutes before training talking about last week's game, or what you might be doing this training Feel free to tweak these percentages to accommodate set plays like penalty corners
