What can I do for approx 5 hours with a field hockey team?

Question

The team I coach was entered into a tournament for TOMORROW which I JUST found out today it is cancelled!!!!!!!!!! We were scheduled for the hottest part of the day so I do not want to run a hard practice with them at that time. What else can I do that would be fun and creative for the girls to do? They are jv age (14 and 15).

Answer 1

chuck the chicken. awesome game. http://dragon.sleepdeprived.ca/games/chi...

we use a soccer ball instead of a rubber chicken

http://www.essortment.com/hobbies/coachi...

we like to play the goalie game too. this one is to train the goalie and the fieldplayers. the team, except for the goalie, lines up on the circle, each with a ball. they take turns from one end of the circle dribbling in and then taking a shot on the goalie. if the goalie kicks it out and a player on the circle stops it before it passes the circle, that person joins in. you can have as many people join in until the ball is scored or cleared. if the ball gets out of the circle, the goalie gets a point. if the ball scores, the team gets a point. if the ball goes over the endline, no one scores. when one play is done, the next person in line takes their turn.

another fun one, used to train goalies in blocking and the players in different ways to score: seperate the team into three lines, one at the top of the circle, the other two on the side. the line at the circle drives the ball to the goalie, and whether they block it or not, the play is done, and the player who hit goes to another line (you can make the rotation whatever you want.) immediatly after the first line hits, one of the side lines scoops it at the goalie, and again, whether it's stopped or not, the play is done and the player goes to a different line. the other side line does the same, and rotates.

you can also practice strokes, flicks, scoops, block tackling, any little things that don't require much energy.

you can also do three man weave: http://sam.dev.uen.org/Lessonplan/previe...

with this one, once the ball enters the circle, the person with the ball tries to score against the goalie, one other player covers post and the other pulls back behind the one trying to score, so if the goalie tries to clear it they can keep going.

games like bulldog are fun.......i'm sure there are a million names for it, but what you do is contain all players with a stick and a ball in a small area (usually from the endline to the 25 yard line, but cut it in half horizontally) and each player tries to keep their ball while knocking out other players'. the last person with a ball wins.

this one doesn't have a name, but is similar to red rover. again, contain all the players with a ball and a stick into a small area, and get all the players to line up on the endline of the boundaries. have 3 volunteers wait in the middle of the area. when you blow a whistle, the players on the line have to get around the people in the middle trying to get their ball. if your ball is captured, you stay in the middle too. keep going until 3 people are left with a ball. once there are a lot of people in the middle, have a line that they have to wait behind to give the people with a ball a chance to dribble in first.

air dribbling is fun too......each person has their stick and a ball. they hold the stick horizontally in the air and try to hit the ball repeatedly. they can try to scoop the ball into the air to start dribbling or they can just hold it on the stick.

steal the bacon is a fun one too. you can do it one of two ways- 1) split the team in to across the field, and have eachplayer count off by 15 or so, depending on how many people you have on the team. you place a ball in between the two lines, then call out a number or two. let's say you call 12 and 4. any player whose numer is 12 or four tries to get the ball and back to their line. in the end, there's no winner, but it's fun anyway. 2) the goalie is in the goal, and you split the team in half and have them line up vertically with the goal posts, but the lines are about 10 -15 feet away from the cage. again, count off, place a ball in the middle, call out numbers, but instead of trying to get it back to their line, designate on line to be defense and one to be offense. the defense line earns a point when they capture the ball and clear it, and the offense earns a point when they score. the goalie is part of the defense, but if you want to make it more fair, don't have a goalie.

you can basically make anything into a game........how many pulls you can do in a minute, how many passes a team can get, who can hit the farthest drive, who can do do the best stroke, have two people sprint against eachother and see who finishes first, defense verses offense drills, and any other things you can think of to benefit the team without wearing them out.

that's all i can think of..........you can try googling it for more ideas

have fun! :)

Answer 2

do a walk thru with it set up with like a dance line with louyd music.....

like on the dance shows let them take 4- 5 shots each  dancing along .