Hockey Session (Foundation Phase): Rock, Tree, Bridge 2.0

Description

Objective: This game has all of the perfect ingredients for a good warm-up drill: a dash of fun, a side of competition, and a generous helping of technical skills!

Set Up:

• Divide your team into equal groups, this drill works best if there are two to four teams competing against each other
• Establish a finish line

The Drill:

• When coach says go or blows the whistle, player 1 dribbles three yards in the direction of the finish line, passes the ball to player 2, then crouches down to be a rock
• Player 2 dribbles the ball to player 1 (rock), carries the ball around them, dribbles three more yards, then passes back to player 3, player 2 then becomes a tree
• Player 3 dribbles around player 1 (rock), does a v-drag around player 2 (tree), carries three more yards, then passes back to player 4, player 3 then becomes a bridge
• Player 4 dribbles around player 1 (rock), does a v-drag around player 2 (tree), executes a y-dodge through player 3 (bridge), then carries three more yards and passes the ball to player 1 (who was a rock), player 4 then becomes a rock
• The rock, tree, bridge pattern continues until the whole team is over the finish line
• First team to get their whole group over the finish line wins!

Points of Emphasis:

• Make sure their passes are going all the way over the starting line while there are still players waiting in line
• Keep an eye on the area between obstacles (three yards can get bigger and bigger when a team is behind!)
• Emphasize speed with the ball, accurate passes, vision, and safety
• Communication! Who's a rock? Who's a tree? Who's a bridge? When does someone have to transform from their shape to receive the next pass?

Recommendations:This is supposed to be fun, first and foremost, so don't be too strict with the rules!
Only allow one ball per team to encourage accurate passing.
Any size team will work, you can have as many players in each line as you want, just make the finish line farther away and keep repeating the pattern.

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