Push pass and receive in pairs

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Field hockey drill · Age 7 and up

Most 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.

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Time
10 minutes
Players
Pairs, one ball each
Equipment
  • 1 ball per pair
  • A stick, shin guards and a mouthguard for every player
  • 4 cones to mark the ends of each pair's channel

Setup

  1. Pair players across the pitch about 10 metres apart, one ball per pair. Younger players start at 5 to 6 metres.
  2. The left midfielder (LM) pushes the ball flat across the ground to the right midfielder (RM), who receives it on the open side, to the right of the body.
  3. Between passes, the receiver shuffles a stride up or down the pitch, so the next pass arrives at an angle and has to be taken on the other side of the body.
  4. Alternate: one pass received on the open side, the next on the reverse, with the stick turned over so the flat face still meets the ball.
  5. After two minutes, swap which way each pair shuffles, so both players receive on both sides.

Coaching points

  • Push pass: no backswing. Stick and ball start together, the weight moves from the back foot to the front, and the stick follows through low towards the target.
  • Receive with the stick angled over the ball, so it stays down, and give with the hands as it arrives, like catching an egg.
  • Reverse side: turn the stick over so the flat face meets the ball. Never use the rounded back of the stick.
  • Get the body behind the ball and look up before the next pass. The pass should go where the partner will be, not where they were.

On the run sheet: Push, do not hit: feet set, ball in front of the left foot, sweep it along the ground and follow through to the target. Receive with soft hands, the stick low and angled over the ball, on the open side and then the reverse

Progressions

  1. Receive and move the ball across the body in one touch before the return pass, open to reverse.
  2. Count clean passes in a minute, and only count the ones that stay on the ground and stop dead on the stick.
  3. Put a cone gate between the pair, so every pass has to go through it at speed.

How it runs

The left midfielder (LM) and the right midfielder (RM) stand ten metres apart in midfield. The LM pushes the first pass flat across to the RM, who receives it on the open side. The LM then shuffles a stride up the pitch, so the RM's return pass arrives at an angle. The animation ends when the RM has also shuffled and the LM has passed again, so each player has received once on a square ball and once on an angled one, which is where the reverse-stick receive comes in.

Keep the passes on the ground. A push pass is the safest pass in hockey: it is accurate, it is quick to make, and it cannot rise at a team-mate. Players who learn to hit before they can push spend months unlearning it.

The rule it is practising

The back of the stick. The ball may only be played with the flat face of the stick and its edges. Playing it with the rounded back is a foul, and it is the commonest one in junior hockey, because a player receiving on the reverse side who does not turn the stick over will meet the ball with the back. That is why every reverse-side receive in this drill is made with the stick turned over.

It is also practising the raised ball rule: players must not raise the ball from a hit except for a shot at goal, and a ball raised at another player is dangerous play. A push along the ground can never break it. Junior formats such as England Hockey's Rush Hockey, Hockey Australia's Hookin2Hockey and 7-a-side add their own restrictions on hitting and lifting the ball, so check your association's rules for your age group.

The mistakes to watch for

A backswing on a push pass, which turns it into a hit. A receiving stick held upright, so the ball pops up off it. Receiving on the reverse with the back of the stick. And a receiver standing flat on their heels, who has to stretch for every pass instead of moving their feet to it.

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