Reply To: Game Intelligence / Decision Training

[Filip Petrovic]

Hi everyone,

I've been following this forum for a long time, and have just now decided to join the discussion with far more experiencd coaches than myself. First of all, my name is Filip, I coach U10 hockey team in Serbia (Europe, Balkans – unfortunately well known for majority of other things) with previous experience of coaching U12&U8. I decided to join the forum because I find it very helpfull in understanding the best possible way for developing young kids and their passion for hockey. For the first post I would not like to write too much, but just to share yesterday's practice with these young guys.

We did not have on-ice practice three days before yesterday, and will not have them until Monday, that is another 3 days. Therefore, I decided to make a fun practice that would keep the kids positive about ice hockey despite almost one-week break. I had 12 skaters and 1 goalie in 1 zone (we split ice rink in three smaller cross-ice rinks due to the number of kids), so the space does not give you much of the opportunity. This time I had my zone split in 4 smaller zones, 3 players in each zone. For the warm-up each team played no-stick dog chase ( they crawl and chase each other), than no-stick "catch me if you can" inside 1/4 of the zone and finally Tarasov bumps. After that, they played 4 SAGs: 1-1 with the goalie, 1-1 puck protection (no shooting, only puck control), 2-man passing with monkey in the middle and finally 1-1 using small goals. Each time one player rests, except for the 2-man passing drill. Teams changed zones after 3 shifts. In the end, they played cross-ice 3 vs. 3.

My question is, with huge number of players, sometimes up to 18 skaters and 2 goalies in 1 zone, what do you think is the most efficient way of keep majority of players doing exercise at once? I've been using the traditional "stand in 1 line wait for your turn" drills, but now I tend to switch to 1-1 partner drills.

We have 4 practices a week (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday), 1 off-ice practice (Saturday) and usually we play tournaments on Sunday. I tend to focus on different elements each day: Monday – skating, Tuesday-puck control,SAGs (1-1,1-2,2-1 in focus), Thursday – passing and competitive drills, Friday – game-like drills + a lots of cross-ice hockey.

Suggestions, mentoring, I'm open for everything.

All the best,

Filip

P.S. It a long post afterall.