Youth Defensive Skills

[Darkstorm05]

I have a daughter that plays ball hockey on a deck both on foot and roller, typically on defense. She's only played for 2 years, and is about to transition from U10 to U12. Though she's behind in handling and finesse compared to the kids that have been playing for 5+ years beside her, she is currently probably the fastest in pure speed in her league games, and one of the tallest, most physical players.

At her team practices they don't have much time to go into positional specifics, so I'm looking for advice on what skills will get her the biggest improvements on defense, and what drills I can run her through on our own time to improve them? The only solid plan I have currently is having her practice taking chip shots and one timers from the point.

We can work out on the decks she plays at most days, so I'd like to get a few sets of drills figured out to let her run through a couple days a week outside of her team practices. Ideally things we can do with just the two of us, or maybe include a third person as a helper if I can get a friend to agree to help out.

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[Yukon Joe]

My thought is that it is hard to work on positional play by yourself - those are really team drills. As a D man there's no point in working on a breakout drill, for example, if there is no forward to then take the puck and skate it up the ice (err, run it up the deck, since you're not on ice).

 

[Golden Puppers]

-Simple D retrievals. Throw the puck/ball in the corner and have her retrieve it and quick up it to you or your buddy like she was going back for a loose puck to transition. You could act as the quick up option on the boards and have your buddy be the swinging center/middle ice option to more simulate what you might see in a game. Or you could have your buddy simulate a forechecker.

-Basic 1 on 1 drills, like defending the rush and keeping the man between her and the goal.

-For roller hockey, Skating drills like backwards crossovers, pivots and transition turns.

-Working on getting the shot on goal from distance

Those are probably some of the things I would look into.

 

[TheDawnOfANewTage]

-Simple D retrievals. Throw the puck/ball in the corner and have her retrieve it and quick up it to you or your buddy like she was going back for a loose puck to transition. You could act as the quick up option on the boards and have your buddy be the swinging center/middle ice option to more simulate what you might see in a game. Or you could have your buddy simulate a forechecker.

-Basic 1 on 1 drills, like defending the rush and keeping the man between her and the goal.

-For roller hockey, Skating drills like backwards crossovers, pivots and transition turns.

-Working on getting the shot on goal from distance

Those are probably some of the things I would look into.

^^Good ideas.

I like the 1-on-1. It's fun, it can help with stick skills, and it can help with positioning. I'd say especially focus on breaking down the boards and having her keep you from the net. Throw a pass across sometimes just so she gets used to the idea of angling her skates/stick to deflect it.

As Joe said, breakouts are tough, but you can work on them a bit. Dump the puck in, have her get it and look up ice. Play either winger or center from there and have her work on hitting you in stride. If you can get another person one of you can forecheck, the other can show up as a random position. Still not the whole thing, but it can help with things like "don't throw it across the middle."