MarkItUp

This exercise is good with a small group and is designed to:

1. Help forwards to become more dynamic in the circle
2. Have a strategy on set plays taken within 5 yards of the top of the 'D'

The reason for wanting dynamic movement within the circle when you have a set free just outside is that you want the defenders to be moving.  Allowing the defenders to remain static gives them a much better opportunity to trap the ball and clear it out.

In the drill you have an attacker (A1) positioned a couple of yards outside of the top of the circle.  You also have 2 attackers within the circle (A2 and A3) who are positioned where they want to ultimately receive the ball.  When A1 is in place, the two attackers move quickly out from their position to a cone that is positioned about 5 yards away and then they dart back to their original position to receive the ball.  Attacker A1 will hit a hard ball to either A2 or A3.

Stress the importance of knowing where the zones are and work the drill until there is confidence by all players that they know where to aim for.  This drill is about:

1. Knowing the zones
2. Practicing the timing of the runs

This exercise is good when you have a small'ish group:

Attacker (A1) delivers a firm ball to attacker (A2) who has the defender hot on his tail.  As soon as A2 receives the ball he peels off and it becomes a 2-on-1 against the defender (D2).  The goal of this exercise is to have lots of repetitions to try different ways to defeat D1. 

1. Ball starts with defender (D1)
2. D1 passes firmly to attacker (A1)
3. A1 dribbles in an arc around a small group of cones
4. Attackers A2, A3, and A4 are released to support A1 and make attacking position
5. The drill becomes a 4-on-2.

This drill requires good possesion skills by the forwards and also introduces a high level of competition between the backs and the forwards.

Attacker A1 hits a firm ball at Attacker A2 and they link up.  Defender D1 cannot move until Attacker A2 makes his first pass.  Attackers A1 and A2 link up with Attacker A3 and it becomes a 3 on 2.

The point of this drill is to encourage good, firm, ball transfer between the three attackers to eliminate the 2 defenders.

The defender D1 passes to attacker A1 who then passes to attacker A2.  When D1 makes his pass he runs around the top cone before joining defender D2.  Attackers A1 and A2 head towards the goal and link up with Attacker A3.

I've started taking a much more senior role both at work and also for the hockey club that I play for this year and it's interesting to draw the analogies between work, life, and play.  One of the most interesting parallels that I've been focussed on lately is that of having a game plan.  Consider how often you see talent-laden teams have a good run through the season only to fail during their finals campaign.  Often I put this down to the losing team simply not having the right game plan to pull of the victories that count.  I see the season as a time to perfect the game that you plan to execute when you make the finals and not simply a time for staying fit.  In fact, I argue that, if you don't have a winning game plan ready for execution when it comes to be finals time that you might as well lay down your hat and wait for next year to come around.

So much do I value the importance of building a game plan that I'm more than happy to suffer a losing streak - even a season long one - if it means getting everything lined up.  Achieving the right game plan requires a great deal of attention to detail.  You must identify players strengths and weaknesses and put them into positions where they can compliment one another.  You need to have a strong senior group who have the stamina and the focus to assist in ironing out weaknesses and looking for new strengths.  You must have the right training drills that keep the players sharp and their skills honed - and the drills should be interesting and varied too so that they prepare the players for a wide variety of situations that they will encounter during a game.

Building a champion team requires all of this and it also requires time too.  If you've been given the role of building a finals-winning capable team then you should set yourself goals. 

The first goal should be to instill what I call "the game plan" upon the team.  This means that the team will have formed habits that are deeply entrenched and these are the habits that form the basis for everything that sits above them.  This includes things such as each player knowing and owning their position and also the fundamental way that the team communicates. It also includes some standard patterns of play - such as how to transfer play from one side of play to retreat and attempt an attack via the other flank.  From having this game plan as a base the team gains a mental strength that comes from knowing that they will never be in unfamiliar territory and when they are under pressure they will know to fall back to the basic game plan at all times.  The basic game plan should be constantly re-iterated to the team through drills, mentoring, and basic coaching means such as whiteboard sessions until it is so ingrained that the players would feel naked and clueless without it.

The second goal is to build the strength of the team.  Even a team with a great game plan will come unstuck when all reserves of energy have been depleted.  Fatigue can easily remove a players ability to execute their role effectively and so it is important that the team has enough reserves of fitness to last out the entire game.

Finally, when the team is fit and focussed you should introduce new thinking.  This new thinking can come both from within the team as well as from external sources.  In the last great team that I was associated with we brought in current and former Olympians to talk to us and to monitor our training sessions.  Having these kinds of people assisting helped us to stay focussed in striving for excellence as they were able to work with us to iron out minor deficiencies and also because they served as a source of inspiration to us.

Almost everything that I've said in this post relates as equally to work as it does for hockey.

This drill requires good possesion by the forwards and also introduces a high level of competition between backs and forwards:

2 defenders start with the ball and they begin the exercise by hitting the ball very firmly to the group of 3 attackers who are located near the half-way line.  When the attackers receive the ball, 2 of them take off and attempt to dribble the ball through a set of gates (shown here as dark blue circles).  One of the defenders try's to prevent the 2 attackers getting the ball through the gates.

The remaining attacker and defender have "peeled-off" into the wider field of play.  When the 2 attackers successfully beat the defender and get the ball through the gates a 3-on-2 situation arises. 

The goal of the 3 attackers is to beat the 2 defenders and score a goal.

Do this exercise for 10-15 minutes and then swap over to the other side of the field.

This exercise will really get the intensity up early in the training session and can be run for anywhere between 10 and 15 minutes.

You have groups of players at each of the hats marked 'A' and 'B'.  The ball starts with the players on the 'A' hat and is passed alternately to the next player at the 'B' cone.  The emphasis of this drill is for the passing to be very firm and accurate and for the finishing shot to be direct and hard.

This drill is a good way to start a training session because it get's people moving around a lot and brings the goal keeper into play on every run through.

You have two group of players lined up on the hats labelled 'A' and they run either in a straight line or through hats, dribbling the ball into the circle.  When they enter the circle a firm pass is given to a player standing at 'B'.  The player receiving the ball initially pushes or flicks the ball at goal. 

Eventually, when the goal keeper is warmed-up, the receiving players start to take a firm shot at goal.