Field hockey drills

8 drills coaches already run every week, each written out with the setup, the coaching points and how to make it harder — and each one animated, so your players can see it before they do it.

Add any drill to a practice plan in one tap and it prints on your run sheet with its time and its coaching cue. Free, and it does not use up a saved play. Plan a practice now, no account needed

• Age 7 and upPush pass and receive in pairsMost of the ball a junior hockey team gives away is lost in the first touch, not the pass. The ball bounces off a stick held at the wrong angle, runs under it, or is stopped on the wrong side of the body and has to be dragged round before anything can happen. This drill fixes both halves before anyone is chasing: a flat push pass that arrives on the ground, and a receiving stick that takes the pace off it on the open side and on the reverse. 10 min Pairs, one ball each
• Age 8 and upLeading and receivingA junior hockey player who wants the ball usually stands still and waves their stick at it, with a defender right beside them. Leading is how a player gets free: a sharp run one way to take the marker with them, then a check back into the space they have just left, arriving as the pass is made. This drill teaches the lead, the timing, and the first touch on the move. 15 min Groups of 5: a passer, two players leading and two markers
• Age 8 and upGive-and-go past a defenderJunior players try to beat every defender by dribbling past them, and most of the time the defender wins. The give-and-go, or one-two, beats a defender with a pass instead: draw them in, play the ball to a team-mate, run past the defender while they are watching the ball, and take the return pass behind them. It is the simplest combination in hockey and the one that opens up the circle. 15 min Groups of 4: two attackers, a defender and a goalkeeper
• Age 8 and up2v1 to the circleTwo against one is the overload every attack is trying to make, and junior teams waste it all the time: the player on the ball passes too early, so the defender covers both, or too late, after they have been tackled. This drill teaches the decision. Carry the ball at the defender, make them choose, and pass to whoever they did not choose. Then the shot has to come from inside the circle, or it does not count. 15 min Groups of 4: two attackers, a defender and a goalkeeper
• Age 9 and upChannelling defenceA junior defender who dives in to tackle gets beaten, and the attacker is through. Good hockey defenders rarely tackle first. They close the attacker down quickly, then slow down, get side-on and show the attacker one way: onto their reverse side and towards the sideline, where the stick is weaker and the pitch runs out. This drill teaches the closing run, the jockey and the patience to wait for the tackle. 15 min Groups of 4: an attacker and a support player against a defender and a covering defender
• Age 9 and upShooting from the top of the circleMost goals in junior hockey are not clean strikes from the top of the circle. They are rebounds off the goalkeeper, tapped in by somebody who was already at the far post. This drill puts a shot and a rebound together: one player takes a feed at the top of the circle and shoots, and another is already running to the far post before the shot is struck. 15 min Groups of 6: a feeder, a shooter and a rebounder, two defenders and a goalkeeper
• Age 9 and upFree hit outside the circleA free hit near the circle is one of the best chances a junior team gets, and one of the most wasted. Players rush it into the circle and the umpire gives it back to the other team, or they stand still waiting for a pass while every defender gets set. The 5 m rule decides what an attacking free hit can do, and this drill turns it into a routine: a quick self-pass, five metres of running with the ball, and a pass to a forward already leading into the circle. 15 min Groups of 5: a free-hit taker and a forward against two defenders and a goalkeeper
• Age 10 and upPenalty corner: injection, stop and strikeA penalty corner is the best scoring chance in hockey, and at junior level most of them come to nothing because one of three things goes wrong: the injection is slow or off target, the stop is not clean, or the strike is high and disallowed. Each is a skill on its own. This drill breaks the corner into those three jobs and puts them back together against a first runner, so the routine is practised at the speed it will be played. 20 min Groups of 6: an injector, a trapper and a striker against a goalkeeper and two defenders