Hurling training - quicker striking?

curious guy

I get blocked a lot and hooked nice bit in my hurling matches especially when goin for points.

We played a team the other night and they were all very quick at getting there stick away and also quick at blocking us down.

Is there some sort of training or drills that are good to improve this aspect of your game ?

anyone have any views?

jus_tin4

Shortening your grip? that what i do....dunno any drills

curious guy

Yeah I do but doing it more than I should be. I want to get some proper distance..Thanks though

curious guy

Like some trainers are all about let it go as soon as ya get it quick ball and others are like take your four steps which is better? just being very analytical about the game

Mountainlad

curious guy wrote: »

Yeah I do but doing it more than I should be. I want to get some proper distance..Thanks though

Shortening your grip shouldn't restrict distance much, and helps you shoot with much greater accuracy. What size hurley do you use? I would advise practising dummying on one side and hitting off the other. Having two sides helps, trust me, and it's not too hard to develop your weaker side. Just make sure you practice against a wall and that you focus on using your wrists, not massive swing with your arms.

nice_guy80

Find a wall and strike the ball as quick as you can

see how many you can do in a minute on one side, then a minute on the other, then a minute switching left to right

concentrate on footwork and getting the ball from hand to stick as quickly as you can

you need to develop evasion skills to step, move, turn away from your marker so you get a clean strike

then you need to develop your striking on the run

Connorzee

Shorter hurley... failing that, never hit the ball standing. Strengthen ur wrists. There's quite a few things out there that u can strengthen ur wrists with. I recommend a Power Ball. Know a few counties and clubs are using them behind the scenes. http://www.powerballs.com/

curious guy

hey thanks il give all those a try... sounds like good advice and will get one of those powerball things..I use a 35 ..cheers

nice_guy80

curious guy wrote: »

hey thanks il give all those a try... sounds like good advice and will get one of those powerball things..I use a 35 ..cheers

save your money
lots of practice hurling against a wall will build up the wrists just as well (and will improve rip strength too)
you can strengthen forearms and wrists by just holding the hurley out and rotating it for one minute in each hand.

Mountainlad

curious guy wrote: »

hey thanks il give all those a try... sounds like good advice and will get one of those powerball things..I use a 35 ..cheers

What height are you? I'm about 6'3'' and I use a 35, but I'm thinking about going back to a 34 because it's very awkward trying to get the hurley back to a decent height for taking shots after getting a ball off the ground.

teednab-el

curious guy wrote: »

I get blocked a lot and hooked nice bit in my hurling matches especially when goin for points.

We played a team the other night and they were all very quick at getting there stick away and also quick at blocking us down.

Is there some sort of training or drills that are good to improve this aspect of your game ?

anyone have any views?

Sometimes when I have the ball I give a quick glance behind me before I hit, to see where my opponent is. If he's too close shorten your grip or if your in on goal, kick it instead of striking. Works for me most times.

Good idea though to find a wall and hit the ball off it with both sides. Do it as fast as you can.

puntosporting

A lot of different reasons for getting hooked or blocked!
Switch up you stricking style from time to time!
You can throw the ball out from you and a bit higher to avoid on the run and also use more wrsit and less shoulder in your shortened grip swing just practice it in training and see what works for you!

coillcam

Plenty of good advice here.

Imo, reasons for being hooked/blocked a lot are a combination of factors.

Striking when static, poor decision-making(shooting at the wrong time), using a big full swing when not necessary, being predictable and being one sided.

To help I suggest to try to hit the sliotar on the move, you will seldom see points scored in games from static positions bar frees obv. Practice both sides and strike while: running forward, to the side, stepping back, turning and side-stepping. Also most scores will be from inside 40 yards or so, shorten up you will not need a full swing to drive the sliotar 80 yards. Improve your striking from different body positions, ie: head height, chest height, waist level again on both sides.

Also try to vary your play, when you win the ball as a forward more often than not you won't be shooting yourself. Dummy, give a handpass, take on your man, switch the play etc. Give your marker a hard decision to make on how he will defend against you and you give yourself an extra split second. Also I would say try to get close to teammates who are going to win the ball and loop off of them for a nice handy flick/hand pass and you will get better opportunities to score especially as a wing/corner forward.

Remember anytime that you set up a handy score for a teammate rather and taking a tough shot and getting blocked/hooked your team is getting 0-1 point vs the opponents clearing the ball up the pitch and scoring. That's at best 0-2 point swing or 0-4 if they get a goal. That's kind of an exaggerated example but you get the idea.

curious guy

Yeah all that advice gives me some direction. Im 6ft I might try out a 34 when im playing in the forwards at training see how I get on and I will put a lot of practise striking on the move hopefully it will become more instinctive. yeah i do practise off the wall but probably too leisurely will try and speed it up. Just another question I am right sided and have been moved to the half forward line lately would I be better off playing right half forward or left half forward ?

and im not used to playing there any general advise on positioning like should I come out and help the midfielders or hold my position upfield?

anfieldrd

curious guy wrote: »

Yeah all that advice gives me some direction. Im 6ft I might try out a 34 when im playing in the forwards at training see how I get on and I will put a lot of practise striking on the move hopefully it will become more instinctive. yeah i do practise off the wall but probably too leisurely will try and speed it up. Just another question I am right sided and have been moved to the half forward line lately would I be better off playing right half forward or left half forward ?

and im not used to playing there any general advise on positioning like should I come out and help the midfielders or hold my position upfield?

Just use your 4 steps to your advantage and you should be able to get your strike away, don't be predictable, sometimes strike in first time, other times run with the ball.

Playing in the half forward line, you usually hold your position and drop back to help midfield for the opposition puckout, otherwise keep the play as wide as possible. Backs hate the space.;)

Connorzee

curious guy wrote: »

and im not used to playing there any general advise on positioning like should I come out and help the midfielders or hold my position upfield?

Depends on what kind of system the coach has ye operating. If your backs are supposed to be hitting the inside forwards then you stay up the field a little so as to give your inside forwards space, your man will more then likely be sucked in to help out his corner back so if you stay off then the easy handpass out to you will be on and you can stick it over. If he doesnt double team then it's on the corner forward to take on his man and beat him with you playing a supporting role. Best to find out what system, if any, is being used.

Mountainlad

curious guy wrote: »

Just another question I am right sided and have been moved to the half forward line lately would I be better off playing right half forward or left half forward ?

A good question. People would say that it's easier to score for us (being right sided myself) from the left as you'd be drawing the ball back in, same as in rugby a right sided kicker has a better angle on the left. Thing for me is, it's easier to be blocked by a defender if you do that because your coming infield to hit the ball and defenders stay goal side. So, you have to create space for that to work. If you played on the right hand side, it is harder to score, but you'll get your shots away more freely.

Personally, I think once you reach minor grade, you must have two decent sides. If you don't, don't get too upset, developing your weaker side is not as hard as it seems. Four years ago, I was in my first year u16 and I could hardly hit a ball off my left. My coach told me to stop using my arms as much when swinging through, instead to shorten the grip and just flick the wrists. He told me to not try and be hitting huge distances to early, to play the ball off a wall on that side standing closer to the wall starting off. I can now hit the ball over the bar from about 40-45, I find hitting on the run on my weaker side easier for some reason the being static which I suppose is no bad thing.

My personal advice, make sure you used both sides in passing drills in training and shooting drills. Your partner might get annoyed at first but never mind that and don't get bogged down early on it takes time, just keep trying.

InigoMontoya

Both of these mentioned already but you can't beat the old wall hurling, and wrist-strengthening exercises should also help.

Also, get a partner* and, starting say 10 meters apart, do some fast, snappy passing to the hand. Do a few minutes, and then build up the distance in increments while keeping the speed up.

*Someone who'll give you grief if you slacken off! :pac:


Definitely worth putting time into as being too slow on the ball holds a lot of fellas back.