For those interested, I wanted to run through a session I recently put together and some corresponding thoughts.
Background
One of my friends asked me to come out and run a session for his son and some other rising U14 players. Since they are entering the age where body contact/competitive contact is legal, we wanted to focus on that.
I had not seen the group before, so it’s always an interesting challenge attempting to put together a quality session that is appropriate/optimum for the players in front of you. From a basic standpoint, you want as much action as possible and the least amount of standing around. I would demonstrate the drill then we would split up into the three zones to run the kids through each activity.
Here is what I sent out to my two helper coaches prior:
Activity #1 - Keep Away
Dump pucks into one zone and play keep away. Rough estimate: 1 puck for every 2.5 players. I really like this as it forces an awareness of their surroundings and really showcases a player’s personality. Are they clever? Bulldog? Competitive? Give up easy?
Too many pucks mean not enough players chasing and challenging puck carriers. Too few pucks, too much pressure on the puck carrier. We are looking for =‘Goldilocks’. Not too easy, not too tough… just the right level of difficulty. It’s a good warmup drill to get the player’s blood flowing and work on some basic skills.
Activity #2 - Bumper Cars
Everyone gets a puck in a tight space and attempts to initiate contact while maintaining possession of their puck.
This wasn’t as effective with this group as others I’ve run it with. If I did it again, I’d scrap this section and do a more basic drill around giving contact. I definitely went a little above their heads on this one. Although, a few players did well:
Activity #3 - Around the Boards
Pair up and swap off/on giving contact and winning the puck. Go one way for 2-3 minutes, then switch directions. The key points before demonstrating are stick under stick and butt/hip through the opponent’s hands.
Coaching hack - Explain, then demonstrate. Do them separately. Acoustics in a rink are bad enough and kids really can’t multitask that well.
This worked out really well and the kids really improved quickly.
Activity #4 - 1v1 Angle
Angling is a key item in initiating safe body contact and controlling space.
The defender passes and then goes to pressure the player attacking them. The rotation is offense, defense, and out. If you don’t stress angling and attacking, many of the players will sit back and absorb the play skating backward.
Angling is a key skill when making proper competitive body contact and most players are terrible at it or don’t do it altogether.
This worked out well. They struggled at first, but rep over rep showed steady improvement. Really happy with that.
Rep #1 - Spreads himself out and skates directly at the puck.
Rep #2 - More compact and reading the other player. Angles late and leads with his stick.
Rep #3 - Proactive instead of reactive. Great stick detail and takes away the options. Fantastic!
We did this in 3 groups, 1 in each zone
Activity #5 - 1v1 Race, Position Before Possession
This is a 1v1 race where the ‘winner’ gets a quality chance on net with back pressure.
One major thing I noticed was the lines spread further and further apart as the activity went along. That really degraded the ability to initiate contact and favored the players who were faster. I’d want to better stress and explain the importance of starting tighter. I did end up going to both sides and pushing them closer.
Ideally, their first step should be angled towards the opponent Given none of the players have had legal body checking in the past, it’s understandable as they gain comfort with body contact.
Here is a player (#13 white) winning races, but struggling to get comfortable with the physicality. It’s really neat looking at how he went down the problem-solving rabbit hole and chose his solutions.
I really enjoy this player’s tactics. While we wanted to focus on controlling the puck area, he was a smart cookie and realized that he could reach his stick out and pull the puck immediately into a spot that only he could reach.
Backhand:
Forehand:
Activity #6 - Scrimmage!
This is the summer! Let’s have some “free play.”
Another thing you could do here is run another keep-away before scrimmaging. This way you can start to see how well your teaching is being implemented.
It’s great to see which players implement the skills practiced earlier.
And our hero from earlier, in control and angling with stick detail
Final Thoughts
While it’s always tough understanding a group quickly and finding the ‘just-right’ elements, I felt this went well. There are definitely areas I’d improve upon looking back, but you can say that with any session.
The kids were moving, they had many touches with the targeted skill, and they showed improvement from start to finish. Overall, I’m happy with how it turned out.
Further Reading
Linking practice to games via practice to practice to game transfer
What causes concussions in hockey? What can be done to prevent them?
How USA Hockey is enhancing and improving their coach’s education
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