Field hockey play templates
7 field hockey shapes, drawn on the pitch they belong on rather than sketched. Read the setup, then open it in the designer and move the players your team does differently.
Formations
3-3-3-1
Formation · 11 players
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.
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3-4-3
Formation · 11 players
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.
Read the setup
4-3-3
Formation · 11 players
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.
Read the setup
5-3-2
Formation · 11 players
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.
Read the setup
Defences
Set pieces
Penalty corner attack
Set piece · 10 players
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.
Read the setup
Penalty corner defence
Set piece · 18 players
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.
Read the setup
Templates for another sport
Draw your first field hockey play now
It opens on a field hockey pitch, it costs nothing, and your team can watch the play animate from a link.
Open the field hockey designerShelf updated · All play templates