Free field hockey play designer
Field hockey, drawn on a pitch with a real shooting circle and a real 23 m line. Set the press, draw the corner routine, animate it, and send your squad the link.
Free forever, no signup, nothing to install.
A hockey pitch, with the circle in the right place
This is field hockey, not ice hockey. Playmaker draws the attacking half of a full pitch — 55 m wide by 45.7 m deep — with the shooting circle struck at 14.63 m from the goalposts, the 23 m line where it belongs at 22.9 m, the penalty spot at 6.4 m and a 3.66 m goal.
The circle is the mark every hockey diagram hangs off, because it is the line that decides whether a shot is a shot at all. Drawn by hand it is a rough semicircle in the middle of the D; drawn properly it is two quarter-arcs from the posts joined by a straight line, and where it meets the baseline is exactly where your post runners and your defenders are arguing about position.
What you can draw
- A structure. Place your eleven, or start from a template — 4-3-3, 3-4-3, 3-3-3-1, 5-3-2 — and adjust the lines you actually play.
- Runs and leads. Drag a player and the path becomes a timed run, so a lead into the circle arrives with the ball rather than before it.
- Passes. Tap the receiver and the ball travels to where they are standing at that beat — an aerial into the 23, a slip past the first defender, a switch to the far post all draw the same way.
- The shot. Mark the finisher and the ball animates into the goal.
- The opposition. A second team, as squares, for a press you are playing against or the defensive corner set-up you are trying to beat.
Penalty corners, which is why most coaches are here
A short corner is a set piece with six jobs and about two seconds to do them in: injector, trapper, striker, both slips, post runners — and on the other side, the first runner leaving the line the moment the ball is injected, with the rest of the defence held beyond the 23 m line by the rules.
Two templates ship for exactly this: an attacking penalty corner with every attacker but the injector starting outside the circle, as the rules require, and a defensive set with the keeper and four defenders on the line and the remaining six back beyond the 23. Load one, draw the drag flick or the switch you want, and press play — the timing of the trap, the injection and the first runner is the whole routine, and playback is the only way to see whether the version in your head actually works.
Pressing, and where it breaks
A full press is ten outfielders moving as one shape, and it fails in the gaps between lines rather than at the front. Draw the press with the opposition's outlet options on the same picture, animate the first two passes, and the pass your structure is inviting shows up immediately. The full press template starts you from a 2-3-3-2 with the keeper deliberately off screen in your own half, where they really are.
7 field hockey templates, ready to draw on
Every one of these opens from the Formations button inside the designer. Load it, move the players your team does differently, and draw the runs from there.
3-3-3-1
Formation
The Dutch structure — three lines of three behind a single striker. Short passing distances in every direction, which is what makes it the shape most possession-based hockey is coached from.
3-4-3
Formation
Three at the back, four across midfield stretched to both sidelines and a front three. Attacking by default: the wide midfielders give you five in the front line whenever you have the ball.
4-3-3
Formation
Field hockey’s workhorse shape: a back four, three through the middle and a front three holding the width. Drawn defending the goal at the top, with the forwards up on the halfway line.
5-3-2
Formation
Five across the back with three in midfield and two forwards. The extra defender covers the width of the pitch and lets the outside backs join the attack one at a time.
Full press (2-3-3-2)
Defence
Pressing high in the opposition half: two on the circle edge forcing the outlet, three behind them, three across midfield and two holding. Ten outfield players — a full press leaves the keeper in your own half, off screen.
Penalty corner attack
Set piece
The injector on the backline 10 m from the post, with the trapper, striker, both slips and both post runners lined up on the edge of the shooting circle — every attacker but the injector has to start outside the circle, and these do. Ten outfield players; the keeper is back in your own half, off screen.
Penalty corner defence
Set piece
The legal defensive set: goalkeeper plus four defenders on the goal line ready to break, and the remaining six beyond the 23 m line where the rules require them. Shown against a full attacking penalty-corner set-up.
Field hockey play designer: common questions
Is this field hockey or ice hockey?
Field hockey. The pitch is 91.4 m by 55 m with a 14.63 m shooting circle and a 23 m line, and all seven templates are field hockey formations and set pieces. Ice hockey is not supported — the rink and its markings are a different sport.
Is the field hockey play designer free?
Yes. Drawing, animating and sharing plays is free and unlimited, with no account needed. A free account keeps three saved plays; the paid plan lifts that limit and removes the export watermark.
Can I draw penalty corner routines?
Yes, and it is one of the things it is best at. An attacking and a defending penalty corner both ship as templates drawn to the rules — attackers outside the circle, the defence's six beyond the 23 m line — and every runner's timing is animated rather than implied.
Why is the goalkeeper missing from some templates?
Because the pitch drawn is the attacking half. In a full press or an attacking penalty corner your keeper is genuinely in the other half of the pitch, so a template that put them on screen would be showing you a picture that never happens. You can always add a keeper wherever you want one.
Which formations come with it?
4-3-3, 3-4-3, 3-3-3-1 and 5-3-2, plus a full press and the two penalty corner set-ups. The 3-3-3-1 is the Dutch structure most possession hockey is coached from; each template is a starting point rather than a fixed shape.
Can my squad watch the play on their phones?
Yes. Every play has its own link — send it to the team chat and it opens and animates on any phone, with no app and no account. Pinch to zoom into the circle when six players are in it.
Coach another sport?
The same designer draws every one of them — and plenty of PE departments need two or three.
Draw your first field hockey play now
It opens on the field hockey pitch, it costs nothing, and your team can watch the play animate from a link.
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