Field Hockey Rules

maria1985

Hi all,


I'm a post primary teacher and been given a hockey team to train. I have never played and have gone through lots of the rules online and drills but am still confused on one or two aspects.

1. Rules regarding tackling
2. short and long corners.

If you could help me with this I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks.

dragonkin

maria1985 wrote: »

Hi all,
I'm a post primary teacher and been given a hockey team to train. I have never played and have gone through lots of the rules online and drills but am still confused on one or two aspects.

Good luck! If possible you should try to go to one of the IHA coaching days for teachers. Maybe give them a ring and ask when the next ones will be on. If there is a local club near you I would also suggest contacting them as the coach could go over a few basic drills with you and maybe you could attend a few training sessions to see how things work.

1. Rules regarding tackling

This is pretty similar to tacking in football, when tackling the stick needs to make contact with the ball and if you don't and hit the stick first without hitting the ball it's a free. Called a 'stick tackle'.

long corners.

Long corners are basicly identical to corners in football and are given if a member of your team unintentionally touchs the ball before it goes overthe endline. Only major difference is that long corners are taken about ten meters up the field on the sideline and not in the corner of the pitch.

On a long corner or any free inside the 25 metres line the ball cannot be played directly into the circle until it has gone five metres, so the player taking the free can run five metres with the ball or pass it to another player who is five metres away (all players must be five metres away when the free is inside the 25 metre line).

short corners.

Short corners are given for a foul inside the circle or a very bad foul inside the 25. They are also given if one of the players on your team deliberately pushes the ball over the endline.

If your team is defending a short:
Defensively four players and the keeper are all required to stay behind the endline until the ball has been pushed into play by the attacking team, generally all four will be in the goal and the two players nearest the posts only run out a metre or two, their job is to try and stop the ball going into the corner of the goal. They leave the centre of the goal for the keeper. The player immediately to the left of the keeper tries to run out as quickly as possible to stop the opposition taking a shot on goal, the player to the keepers right runs out to stop one of the attackers at the top of the circle from taking a shot if it is switched to them. They run to the right as this is the 'open side' of the attacking team, meaning they can hit the ball harder and more accurately as it is much more difficult to hit the ball swinging from left to right.

However there are no set rules here except that all players must be behind the endline until the ball is pushed into play, there are numerous variations including having three players to the right of the keeper and one to the left, one player outside the goal posts etc.

If you are the attacking team:
You need to put one player to the right of the goal (looking from behind the goal) who injects the ball to another player who traps the ball at the top of the circle, the ball must travel outside the circle. Now you can pretty much do what you like however the shot must be taken inside the circle, often the trapper will push the ball a meter into the circle and another player runs in and takes a shot on goal. Sometimes the trapper will switch the ball to another player who takes the shot, often there are elaborate routines. First shot on goal must hit the backboard (the wooden board about half a meter high in the goal) unless it's a drag flick in which case it can go anywhere. However if you are coaching at school level it's very unlikely anyone can drag flick. I suggest watching this video which addresses all the attacking positions and shows a few samples short corners at the end.

ANy other questions?

wonderboysam

also similar to ice hockey, if players want to fight each other you allow them once they drop their sticks, 5 mins sinbin after one eventually floors the other

kebris

maria1985 wrote: »

Hi all,


I'm a post primary teacher and been given a hockey team to train. I have never played and have gone through lots of the rules online and drills but am still confused on one or two aspects.

1. Rules regarding tackling
2. short and long corners.

If you could help me with this I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks.

Apologies for delayed reply - just seeing this now!
Have you considered contacting either your local Branch (as they have full-time Development Officers available to assist schools); or a local club - who should be only delighted to assist .. as it should help feed young players into their club?

pandaboy

I'd recommend checking out an umpiring course as well if you can. Because you'll more than likely fill in for some games and it also gives you a bigger perspective on the game. It helped my coaching out big time.