Battle Drills: A Tougher Name for Small Area Games!
Regardless of what you call them, they work! As a hockey coach you want to lead a group of passionate, creative, skilled, teachable, and competitive players. Use small area battle drills to teach concepts, instill competitive spirit, and improve skills. Soccer coaches have been using ‘small sided games’ in practice for decades. We need to move our game forward by encouraging coaches to use more small area games that increase puck touches, simulate game situations, celebrate the chaos of a real game, and make great use of a small portion of the ice. Need some data to back it up? Check out USA Hockey’s great analysis.
A cross ice battle drill in our product that we love. Click for 25 others just like it!
Using battle drills as a key portion of practice will force players out of their comfort zone, reduce decision making time, and increase the speed of execution. Full ice drills have merit in a small portion of a youth practice. However the bulk of practice should be spent in small zone skill stations like in Hockey Drills, and teaching through small area competition. The opportunities in small area games to teach situational play, to manage controlled chaos, and to learn to compete are irreplaceable. Battle drills drive competition and skill development forward at all levels of hockey. When we ask a player to tell us his or her favourite part of practice, 95% say ‘the games we played.’
Testimonial for Small Area Games & Battle Drills:
“Young players need to make a few hundred passes per practice. This goal is unrealistic using only full ice drills. ‘Hockey Drills 2: Small Area Games’ is a great resource that makes this goal achievable. Goalies face more shots and second scoring chances, track pucks, and focus on post-save recovery. Players thrive in competition.” Glen Hanlon, Veteran NHL goalie and Head Coach on the world stage.
What You’ll Find:
Hockey Drills 2: Battle Drills
We designed Hockey Drills 2: Small Area Games to include 26 Small Area battle drills with tips to set up the drill, rules of the game, key teaching points, and hockey concepts explored in each game.
