Stage 3: Compete & Improve
As these players find their feet with hockey and really want to become the best player they can, you can really challenge them both mentally and physically.
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 control
Deception - Body/stick feints
Ball protection
Distribution
Reverse sweep pass
Reverse edge pass
Goal Scoring
Forehand deflection in the air
Reverse deflection
Reverse stick sweep shot
7-yard scoring (tight skills, quick shots, flicks)
Reverse stick tomahawk
Winning the Ball
Channel/double team
Delay the play
Recovery defence
Goalkeeping
Aerial saves (glove/stick sides)
Diving & sliding saves
Defensive management
Tactical Concepts
Defensive Concepts
Verbal/non-verbal communication
Zonal/numbers down defence
Marking ball side/help side
Front marking
Goal-side marking
Delaying/channelling attackers
Circle defence
Offensive Concepts
Counter-attack/transitional play
3v2 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
Skills
Small space control
Ball protection
Reverse edge pass
Reverse sweep pass
Drill Links
Reinforce Basics & Introduce New Skills
Skills
Deception - Body/stick feints
Forehand deflection in the air
Reverse deflection
Reverse stick sweep shot
Channel/double team
Drill Links
Reinforce New Skills & Add Tactical Concepts
Skills
Forehand deflection in the air
Reverse deflection
Reverse stick sweep shot
7-yard scoring
Reverse stick tomahawk
Delay the play
Recovery defence
Verbal/non-verbal communication
Zonal/numbers down defence
Drill Links
Skills
Forehand deflection in the air
Reverse deflection
Reverse stick sweep shot
7-yard scoring
Reverse stick tomahawk
Delay the play
Recovery defence
Verbal/non-verbal communication
Zonal/numbers down defence
Marking ball side/help side
Front marking
Goal-side marking
Counter-attack/transitional play
Drill Links
Add It All Together
Skills
Delay the play
Recovery defence
Verbal/non-verbal communication
Zonal/numbers down defence
Marking ball side/help side
Front marking
Goal-side marking
Counter-attack/transitional play
Drill Links
Planning a Training
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%
Warmup
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. This should be very quick and brief.
