Coaching Beginner's Hockey!

[knittingonskates]

Well! I've been entrusted to coach 5 beginner inline players. (that's allt he beginners we have at our small club) and I'm kinda lost on what kind of drills and stuff i should be teaching them.

I struggle a little as I"m actually a goal keeper andi 'm teaching them to play floor and also i'm noly 16 but... i've a level 1 certificate and i'm the only people person really with one at the club (the others all being six foot tall and scary australia players).

Does anyone have any advice on what i should concentrate on? What drills? and where would i find some more advice? I'm in desperate need!

Thanks, Sasky.

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[Seth Lake]

Here is a good site with over 50 drills for all ages and skill abilities. Some of the drills might be advanced, but you can pair them down into the basics as needed.

http://www.whockey.com/work/cirsa/drillbook/

Personally, I would stick with the fundamentals and really work on skill development, concentrating particularly on skating (the foundation for everything), stickhandling, and passing. At the end of practice (as they progress), you should think about having some relay races using obstacle courses (cones). Nothing too elaborate, but the races give the players some competition, while also reinforcing the skills learned at a higher level of speed.

Stopping on inline skates is a particularly tricky endeavor for many new inline players. Make sure to spend time working on stopping/maintaining control on skates.

Good luck with your program.

 

[RedK]

Check out www.hockeycoach.com. Lots of coaching strategies and drills. The BB is an amazing place to ask questions of other coaches. The best resource on the web that I know of.

 

[Qui Gon Dave]

I'd agree with whats been said so far. I play for a small roller hockey club and every now and again we get people coming down who haven't played before, i tend to coach them. It might be worth your while talking to them before hand about how much they like hockey, how often they watch it. If they are huge fans of the sport then they will already have some idea of what is expected of them and recognise some of the terms used (point, slot, toe, heel, stepovers, etc). If they are trying it out for the first time and dont know the sport, you may need to explain some of this.

The main thing to start with would be skating. Help them develop a good stride, show them how to position their body weight when skating (keep back more upright, bend the knees, that kinda stuff) and then work in turning, stoping, going backwards, stoping when going backwards. Also, when skating, try to get them to think about keeping their stick on the floor and their heads up as early as possible. Helps stamp out bad habits.

Stick handling is not too bad. All you want to start with are the basics and that requires concentration more than skill. Get them pushing the puck side to side, not hitting it side to side. Try this standing still and moving. Then work in more stuff like using the heel and toe of the blade, body rotation. I have a link somewhere to a site you can download videos of stickhandling drills, once i get home from work in a few hours, ill look it out for you. Goes from basics to some pretty advanced stuff.

As for passes, get them doing some simple passes close to each other and then make it more difficult. Move them further apart, make them move when sending and receiving passes and using the backhand. Or if you want to be evil, get them trying backhand saucer passes straight off

I'll try post some more later, including the link but now i must go and earn the money my boss gives me. Either that or find a new job. Best of luck with the coaching.

 

[Qui Gon Dave]

Here is that link i mentioned. It was posted in an old thread about stickhandling by 'dcsmrgun'. If you wanna see the whole topic, click here

If you want any further information on anything, let me know and i'll try my best to help you out.