Hockey Session (Transition Phase): First Touch Passing Circuit

Reseller-Club: Premier Users' Club

Becca Main

Profile Summary

Name:	Becca Main
City:	Lebanon, NH
Country:	United States of America
Membership:	Adult Member
Sport:	Hockey

Interface Language

Share this Session

Link Session

Hockey Session Plan Drill (Colour): Beginner

See the guidance at the top of this page to understand why you are not seeing interactive Hockey images.

Save Image:

Create Video:

Beginner

Objective: Allow field players to warm-up their passing and receiving skills in a continuous passing drill.

Beginner Level Set up:

Place two cones 15 yards apart

Set up two, five-yard gates in the middle of the drill with approximately seven yards between them

Separate your team into groups of four, placing one player at each gate and one player at the top cones

Beginner Level Drill:

1. Player A starts with the ball and passes counter-clockwise to player B

2. Player B prescans (looks at player C) receives the ball with their toes pointed toward either player C or player D (but not player A), allows the ball to come across their body, and completes a pass to player C

3. Player C passes the ball to player D

4. Player D prescans (looks at player A) receives the ball with their toes pointed toward either player B or player A (but not player C), allows the ball to come across their body, and completes a pass to player A

5. The passing continues for six successful circuits, then players rotate to a new position, after a full rotation, switch passing directions

Recommended:

It is important to talk to your beginners about the importance of prescanning — knowing what they are going to do before they get the ball or knowing what is ahead of them — encourage them to practice this skill by looking at destination of their next pass before they receive the ball. This is a challenging skill — give them permission to make mistakes while giving it a try!

The goal of this drill is to never let the ball stop dead and never have to take more than two touches on the ball. Your players should be practicing receiving the ball on the move, to help make it easier, have them position their bodies so their toes are pointing at the player across from them or at the player who will receive their pass — by NOT pointing their toes at where the ball is coming, they are already allowing themselves to move in a more advantageous direction.

This drill is all about the receptions — if your players are struggling with passing accuracy, feel free to make the drill smaller so that they can really focus on trapping the ball.

Hockey Session Plan Drill (Colour): Intermediate

See the guidance at the top of this page to understand why you are not seeing interactive Hockey images.

Save Image:

Create Video:

Intermediate

Intermediate Level Set up:

Place two cones 20 – 25 yards apart

Set up two, five-yard gates in the middle of the drill with approximately seven yards between them

Separate your team into groups of four, placing one player at each gate and one player at the top cones

Intermediate Level Drill:

1. Player A starts with the ball and passes clockwise to player B

2. Player B starts on the inside cone of their gate, prescans (looks at player C), leads to the outside cone, and receives the ball with their toes pointed toward either player C or player D (but not player A), allows the ball to come across their body, and completes a pass to player C

3. Player C passes the ball to player D

4. Player D starts on the inside cone of their gate, prescans (looks at player A), leads to the outside cone, and receives the ball with their toes pointed toward either player B or player A (but not player C), allows the ball to come across their body, and completes a pass to player A

5. The passing continues for six successful circuits, then players rotate to a new position, after a full rotation, switch passing directions

Recommended:

The intermediate level requires that players in the gate do several things nearly simultaneously, they must prescan, lead for the ball, and position their bodies in a way that they can get their pass off quickly.

To help them do all of this, talk about when to prescan: preferably when the ball is two passes ahead of them. Also, discuss the importance of their body positions — being open to the middle of the field or to their pass's destination — this will allow them to place the ball in a more advantageous direction with their first touch.

The goal of this drill is to never let the ball stop dead and never have to take more than two touches on the ball.

Hockey Session Plan Drill (Colour): Advanced

See the guidance at the top of this page to understand why you are not seeing interactive Hockey images.

Save Image:

Create Video:

Advanced

Advanced Level Set up:

Place two seven-yard gates 20 – 25 yards apart

Set up two obstacles (preferably tires or boards) in the middle of the drill with approximately seven yards between them

Separate your team into groups of four, placing one player at each obstacle and one player at the top gates

Advanced Level Drill:

1. Player A starts with the ball and passes clockwise to player B

2. Player B starts on the inside cone of the drill, prescans (looks at player C who can move anywhere within their gate), leads to the front of the obstacles, directs the ball around or over the obstacles, and completes a pass to player C

3. Player C passes the ball to player D

4. Player D starts on the inside cone of the drill, prescans (looks at player A who can move anywhere within their gate), leads to the front of the obstacles, directs the ball around or over the obstacles, and completes a pass to player A

5. The passing continues for six successful circuits, then players rotate to a new position, after a full rotation, switch passing directions

Recommended:

The advanced level requires that players in the middle of the drill do several things nearly simultaneously, they must prescan, lead for the ball, and position their bodies in a way that they can get their pass off quickly to a target that may have moved since they prescanned.

The focus for more advanced players should be on vision and prevision (prescanning) — they need to know where the player they are passing to is going to lead, they need to have an understanding about how to get over the obstacles efficiently, and send an accurate pass with as few touches as possible.

Allow your advanced players to be imaginative and use a wide variety of game-like skills. Players should vary their passes — use sweeps, hits, bouncy passes, or maybe throw an aerial across the drill. The onus is on the players to make this drill advanced — creativity and ball speed will take it to the next level.

The NFHCA Drill of the Week is sponsored by FieldTurf®.