Coach Shiv Jagday: Teach young players the hockey technical skills in the right way if you want to create great players!

“My intention is not to undermine or criticize any coach or player personally, for that matter. I just like to show and share the things, without prejudice, from a different angle and perspective.”

– Coach Shiv –

Knowledge Gap: Recently England and Great Britain Goal keeper expert retired coach John Hurst, gave advice to his former student, who had launched a coaching academy, to teach his youngster’s the proper technique to score field goals via hits, rather than just only implementing the Tomahawk

According to Derrek Pappas, knowledgeable and passionate hockey coach & teacher, “Junior players are fascinated by the drag flick to the point that they do not learn the basics such as hitting and dribbling. There are only 1-3 drag flickers on a team. Junior coaches tell me about is that players who are not drag flickers are playing with drag flicking sticks or sticks with extreme bends. It is not possible to hit the ball correctly with a drag flicking stick. It is also difficult to dribble the ball”.

It is time to Shift the Focus towards Tactical Creativity:

It would be nice, if coaches and players would now, start spending more preparation time upon offensive creative tactical plays, while utilizing the soft skills, in the opponents third quarter. Rather than, employing “Hit and Hope Tactics” and looking for deflections. I am deeply concerned as this is not hockey at its best. And neither the wisest step in the right direction. Please Think about it. And bring a positive change.

Derek Pappas, also analyzed and commented on the Indian Women’s national team player’s hitting technique. “I don’t like to pick on individual players. This is directed at this player’s coach. Let’s analyze the hit in the picture below.

What simple things could the player do differently in order to have a more consistent hit that under pressure will deliver the ball on target, on the ground, without spin”.

Put both hands together with the v formed by the thumb and forefinger pointing to the right chin.

Naked Fact: After referring to the above examples and observing the top international players in action, it is apparent that “we as coaches have not developed the fine art and science of hitting the ball smoothly and accurately” in the current generation of hockey players.

Your feedback will be most appreciated. Email: coachshiv@aol.com
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