Lately I’ve had a few discussion with people about different systems that people use.  These people discuss to me passionately why their system is so much better than playing a traditional 3 striker, 3 midfield fielders, 3 defenders, 1 sweeper and a goal keeper.  Its very interesting to hear people’s rationalisation for playing these systems, some have merit and others I must admit, bring a smile to my face.

No matter what the system is, they all have strengths and weaknesses, and this post isn’t about what’s the best one to play, its about understanding that no matter what system you play you will always have to adapt to what the opposition team is doing.

I always like to think of hockey in its most simplistic form.  In the case of discussing systems, I like to think of the game from 2 aspects:  having the ball, and not having the ball.  To me it makes sense to think of it this way for a few different reasons.

First of all, if my team has the ball then we have the ability to move around the pitch at will as the opposition has ‘chases’ us to try and get the ball back. This is where whatever system that your team is playing becomes important.  As you have the ball, you can do whatever you want.  You may choose to have an extra player in the midfield, or if your game style is attacking, maybe a 4th striker, whatever the system clarity and understanding of the plan will be a major factor in your team’s success.

Without the ball, does it really matter what system you play?  No.  I can answer this quite confidently because when you don’t have the ball, you have to react to what the opposition is doing.  If you don’t you’ll get hurt on the scoreboard!  For instance there’s no use playing 3 midfielders when the opposing team has 4 midfielders and they are able to easily come out of defence and launch attack after attack.  Your team has to adapt to this challenge and there is a lot of ways to handle this, e.g play with only 2 strikers and have the extra striker back in the midfield, or instead of having a sweeper, push them forward to pick up the extra midfield.

So in a nutshell, it isn’t important what system you play, instead the importance is the ability for your team to transition from having the ball and playing your structure to not having the ball and countering the oppositions structure.  The faster and more fluent that this transition is handled, the more likely the result will end up your team’s way.

A few weeks ago I was invited along to watch Waverley’s U9 teams battle it out in a top of the table clash.  It has been some 21 years since my last game of U9 hockey so I was excited about the entertainment I was going to see. Whilst hockey may be the reason the kids are there, it’s not always the centre of attention.  Remembering back to my U9 days, when the ball was up the attacking end, I remember full backs making mud castles to fill in the time between ball appearances.  It wasn’t unusual to see a goal keeper taking a well earned break either sitting on the backboard of the goal as their team streamed forward with the ball.  So as I drove to the match, I was looking forward to a fun filled morning!

Both teams took the pitch and away they went. Well, not straight away, someone had forgotten their mouthguard in their bag, and after going through 3 bags to finally work out what was his, the game started!  The first half was an action packed game with both teams creating chances to score.  On the reduced size pitch, it didn’t take long for one team to be moving into attack and troubling the defence.  Between the hockey brilliance on the pitch, there was the occassional laughter as kid’s turned to their parents to wave and make sure they were watching them.  Those players alloted wing positions had their concentration limits tested as lines on the ground had more appeal at times than the white ball rolling across it.

Half-time struck and the score was 1-0 in favour of Waverley Blue.  Half time to me rings lollies and sports gels to try and get some sugar back into the body to replace some lost energy.  Instead I was sent out on the pitch with a gourmet platter of watermelon and oranges, another memory of my junior days.  The kids were hilarious, scoffing piece after piece of fruit into their mouths and whilst holding 2 others in each hand.  To be honest I’m not sure how some kids were able to run in the second half after eating the amount they did!

Full bellies and a pep talk from the coach saw the kids take pitch, the whistle blow and off they went!  It wasn’t long till the action again started.  Terrorising full pitch runs from fullbacks saw a fast and furious game play out.  The scores were levelled up by Waverley White and the match looked destined for a draw!  However a brilliant goal from the top of the circle saw the Waverley Blue goal scorer run up to his parents and yell something funny out! (I didn’t quite hear what he said but no doubt it was something like “Dad you owe me 5 bucks for that goal!”).

Thinking that was the ball game as we were in the final minute or 2 of the match, the team down a goal Waverley white team broke into attack along the right sideline. A beautiful cross found a snoozing centre- forward all alone in the attacking circle. As they wound up their stick to smash in the equaliser, the umpire broke the hearts of the crowd as he sounded the full time whistle.  End result saw the Waverley Blue team win by about 2 seconds!

All in all a cracking game of hockey.  Thanks to the Under 9s for inviting me down to be part of the big intra club match was great to watch.  Brought back some great memories for me and reminded me that hockey isn’t always about winning, just getting out there, having fun and most of all eating as much food as you can in the 5 minute half time break!

Whatever level of hockey you play when it comes to goal scoring, preparation is the key!

In my coaching roles recently I’ve been concentrating a lot on goal shooting and the technique involved.  To me, goal shooting is all having a rhythm: ensuring that each time you pull the trigger the ball, your body and the synchronisation between the 2 is consistently performing the same action so you ‘feel’ the shot rather than execute it.

Watching and over the years having done a fair bit of goal shooting practice, you get to a point where you can begin to tell before the ball has left the shooters stick, whether its going to be on target or not. The reason I can tell is that the player hasn’t prepared correctly to execute the shot.

I like to think hockey is a simple game, goal shooting should also be a simple skill to perform, which it is when the right steps are followed.Goal shooting can be broken down into 3 steps:
Ready
Aim
Fire

Step 1: READY
This step is all about getting the ball under control. A good starting position is for the receive to alway have their belly button pointing towards the net. This gives the best vision after making the trap so that the right decision can be made. If the receive has their belly button towards the net, when they make the trap the can see an advancing keeper, or a team mate on the post for a pass, or a defender on their way to tackle them.

When receiving the ball, ensure you stick and ball stay as close together as possible. Make sure you have a soft touch so when the ball hits your stick, its under your control straight away.  A little trick when you are receiving the ball as it comes across your body left to right, is to ensure that the angle of your stick is at right angles when you make the trap. If you find the ball is running away from you on the trap, try and tuck your left hand between your right arm and hip/leg for the correct position.

Step 2: AIM!
So you’ve made the trap, now let’s get the ball going in the right direction!  When shooting for goal the best shot is the low opposite corner of the goal.  The reasoning is that if the goal keeper manages to get a kicker or pad onto the shot, the ball is more likely to spill in to the danger zone in front of the net and offer the team another opportunity to put the ball into the back of the net.  So once you’ve made the trap and have the ball under control, take a sneaky look at the goals. Next, draw an imaginary line from the bottom opposite corner, about halfway along the side board, back to the ball. This is the line that we want to shoot the ball along.  Begin to move the ball along that imaginary line towards the goal.  Now we have all our momentum moving in the correct direction: towards the net.

Step 3: FIRE!!
The final step to putting the ball in the back of the net. All the hard work has been done, we’ve trapped the ball, got our bodies and the ball going in the right direction towards the net, all that’s left is to decide what sort of shot we use to get the ball to its destination.  If you have time and space, a hit is the best solution, but if there’s heavy traffic and lots of defenders and pressure, you’re best to pull out a quick push or flick.  A lot of people think its all about trying to score a goal with the most power, but at the end of the day, a well placed shot will have more success than a powerful one. Want proof? We’ll we’ve all seen someone having a shot on net, only to top the ball or hit it poorly, but ever so slowly the ball continues to make its way towards the net, passing out of the reach of the keeper and into the back of the net.  Quick shots catch keepers off guard. Last little trick to remember is that shooting a goal is no different to passing to a team-mate, just visual them standing there on the post and pass the ball to their stick and you’ll find you’ve passed it into the back of the net.

So there’s a bit of help for your goal scoring. Remember it’s not all about power, it’s about accuracy and preparation.  If all else fails, close your eyes and hope for the best!

Happy shooting!

Over the years I’ve seen heaps of rules come in for the Australian Hockey League.  From changing the location of long corner free hits to having 1 vs 1 with a Goal Keeper awarded instead of a stroke, there’s been plenty of ‘experimental’ rules introduced.  The funny thing is, out of all the experimental rules that have been introduced, from the best of my memory and I’m happy to stand corrected, not one of them has been introduced as an FIH rule.  Then why do we keep doing it?

I look at the setup in Europe with the hoofdeklasse in Holland and the European Hockey League that is now the premier competition in the world, and notice that they never toy with the rules of the game.  People love watching the pure form of the game and when you’ve got tv rights, major sponsors for the competition and individual teams, you’ve got to admit that maybe they are doing something right.

But here in Australia, we struggle to get people to an AHL game, infact I’ve played in front of bigger crowds at club matches than what was present at some AHL games.  We also continue to change rules so that those new to the game or even ‘veteran’ players/watchers of the game, come along and spend the first half of the game confused as to the rules that are being applied.

So when I heard that the there was going to be a new penalty corner rule for this upcoming AHL, I thought to myself, here we go again.  To me the penalty corner is the highlight of a game of hockey.  It’s like someone having a shot for goal in AFL, it’s like a free kick outside the box in soccer.  It’s a moment of the game that gets people on the edge of their seats because it’s a moment that can influence the outcome of the game.  Now the excitement and spectacle associated with a Penalty Corner has been removed! For AHL season 2010, the penalty corner will be a 4 vs 3 (including Goal Keeper) with the ball having to travel outside the 23 metre line and then it’s normal field play from their with the attackers obviously having the number advantage.

I’ve heard various reasons for the change in this rule (am sure there’s more):

• for safety
• to reduce time wasting of defence having to put on protective equipment like masks and gloves, etc.
• for innovation

Whilst this rule may bring in one or more of the above points, if these are the reasons then there are other measures that can be brought in to address these issues. Like for safety, let’s make the shot have to go below the backboard, or that the ball has to be stopped dead, or maybe there needs to be a pass before the shot.  In terms of reducing time wastage, why don’t we get the umpire to stop the clock, or add a shot clock like basketball or the 30 second rule applied in Aussie Rules.  Lastly for innovation, well this really isn’t innovation. This rule has been changed previously where the ball had to come outside the 5 metre broken line circle before coming into play.  So its not really innovation, its just a re-hash of an old idea.  Of all the potential areas of innovation in the great game of hockey, why would we change the one part of the game that is a spectacle of the sport.

Rumour has it is that the FIH aren’t even looking at changing the penalty corner rule, then why are we?  Australia just won a world cup on our ability to score off of one.  I can remember riding the ball from the edge of my seast into the back of the net as it left Luke Doerner’s stick in the final.

Let’s just leave the game how it is and if we really need to look at changing rules, lets look at the rules that non-hockey people fail to understand and try and make it easier or more simple for these people to ensure that this great game of ours can be enjoyed by more.

It’s been 24 years between drinks but finally the Kookaburras have won the world cup again!

It was a fantastic game to watch, lots of skill followed by many a tense moment as the scores were tight throughout.  The game was a great showcase for the sport of hockey.  I always thought going in to the game because of the style of hockey the Germans play, there wasn’t really much hope of it being a high scoring affair. Whilst 2-1 isn’t a boring game, you have to remember that the Germans won the Olympic final 1-0. How many games these days in hockey since the removal of offside as well as the added ability to score on both sides of the body, is the result 1-0?  Still if you can play games and win them that way, why not!

This was the 3rd World Cup final in a row Germany and Australia which is an amazing statistic given the widespread participation of hockey countries.  One thing to note though is that the Kookaburras know how to ruin a party! What am I talking about you may ask, well the World cup was similar to the 2004 Olympic Games in the fact that the Germans, like the Dutch going into the Athens Olympics, were going for their third straight win in their respective events but the mighty Kookaburras stood in their way and came home with the chocolates.

Good times for the Kookaburras, looking forward to the London 2012 Olympics and seeing the boys bring home another gold medal!

Good Luck Kookas!

Ventured up to Shepparton mid February to run a coaching session for the guys and girls of the U17 Goulburn Valley team. They are currently being trained by good mate, Matthew Higgins who has moved back there to help with the family business.

Had a ball there with the kids, they were a great bunch, enthusiastic and willing to learn. The amount they improved from the start of the session to the end was quite impressive given that at that age it’s almost too late to get kids out of their bad habits.

I concentrated on goal shooting as well as some elimination skills and being a fan of making hockey as simple a game as you can, I gave the kids some pointers on how I go about doing these skills and it was pleasing to see them all pick it up quite quickly.

Really enjoyed the session and its great to see the game I love being enjoyed by many in the country areas. In other states such as Queensland and NSW, country players make up a large amount of players in their representative teams. From my experience going through I haven’t seen the same happen in Victoria. From the era I went through I can only remember 3 guys from regional areas being part of state teams. I’m hope that its changed now!

The disappointing thing, and this isn’t just referring to country areas either, is the fact that the kids don’t get access to quality coaching. For the 2 hours I spent with these kids, I was able to see them improve quite a bit and know that they are in good hands with Higgo to take them forward and continue their path to improvement. Unfortunately this isn’t always the case and many kids will go away from a camp or a session with a quality coach and go back into bad habits that become engrained in their game.  Quality coaching is hard to get but the importance of this can make someone’s experience of playing a sport either a bad one or a great one and their enjoyment of the game is normally a direct reflection of this.

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged so thought I’d update you with what I’ve been up to!
After having the year off last year to refresh and get over some operations, I’ve thrown myself into preseason down at my club.

Let me just say, it use to be a lot easier, that’s for sure, but I have certainly enjoyed getting back into the swing of training. Not playing last year and standing on the sideline made me realise just how much I miss it. I have always hated training and loved playing, I guess that’s something that a lot of people feel when it comes to sport, but getting back into training this time, it was more enjoyable as I wasn’t out to try and beat previous fitness results, just get myself into reasonable nick so that I can run around on the weekend with the boys.

A lot of people asked me last year did I miss it? At the time I said no, but after watching Waverley go down in the semi-finals to Greensborough (in what some may term as a flogging!) the competitive juices got flowing again and with the body hopefully healed I thought I’d have a couple of good years left in me before I hung up the stick.

All in all though, have had a ball being back with the guys that I’ve played with for the last 10 years or so and looking forward to hopefully being part of Waverley give the SL1 premiership a fair shake.

Just spent the last 6 weeks down at Southern United Hockey Club running a coaching clinic for their junior unit.  Initially I thought that 6 weeks would potentially be a bit long to conduct a coaching clinic for the kids aged from U11s through to U15s but I was wrong. Maybe it was their enthusiasm for the clinics, but each week the kids were a credit to themselves, taking on the challenges of learning the game that I threw at them.

I ran the clinic in a mixed format where for the first 3 weeks, the coaches took their group of kids and ran through the schedule I had layed out. At the 3 week mark I decided to change the format where I brought in the groups to a centralised area and I ran through the basics of the skills. I then sent the kids back to their coaches where they would teach the kids, in slow motion, how to perform the skill, then place the kids back into a game where they placed an emphasis on performing that skill during the match in their small group of 6-8 kids.

All seemed to work well and was pleasing to hear feedback from the coaches as well as the kids that they all learned something and most importantly they enjoyed the clinics.  Whatever I’m doing, I place an emphasis on enjoyment as with enjoyment comes the enthusiasm to get better and continue challenging yourself.

Looking forward to the next coaching clinic!

Just went through a season review with my local club here in Melbourne and all in all was a great experience.

After going out in the first round of the finals series in a less than impressive fashion, it was a great time to sit back and have an honest look back over the year whilst licking our wounds from our poor final performance.

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Got out of bed early last Sunday morning to go along and take part in a program called “Coach the Coach.”  The program is run by one of my old coaches, a man who has had success at all levels of hockey and is highly regarded as a coach around the world, Jim Irvine.   Having been coached by Jim for a number of years I wasn’t expecting to go in and learn a whole lot, but I always expected to learn a little bit from the great coach. Well how wrong was I! (more…)