All-in-One Hockey

Joining a new hockey club this season?

It can feel awkward at first, but you already have one thing in common with everyone there:

You all play hockey.

Off the pitch, keep it simple.

One of the easiest questions to ask is:

**“How long have you been at the club?”**

That naturally leads into:
• Have you enjoyed it here?
• Where did you play before?
• Why did you join?
• What’s the team like?

Then on the pitch, don’t shrink because you’re nervous.

Work hard.
Go into tackles properly.
Take your chances.
Play with confidence.
Give people a reason to respect your hockey.

I’ve trained at or played with six different clubs over the last two years, and one thing I’ve learned is that integrating into a team becomes much easier when you make an effort both on and off the pitch.

Play properly during the session.

Then stay afterwards, speak to teammates, talk to the coach, and get to know people.

Don’t turn up, play timidly, and disappear immediately afterwards.

Make the effort and you’ll feel part of the club much faster.

Want to know the real way to get good at hockey?

Consistency.

I went from my university 4th team to the 1st team in one year.

For 18 months, I trained for at least an hour every single day.

Christmas.
Birthdays.
Rain.
Snow.
Busy days.

It didn’t matter.

If I couldn’t get on a pitch, I’d train in the garden.

If I couldn’t train in the garden, I’d find a way to do something inside.

The biggest lesson wasn’t that you need to train for hours and hours.

It’s that you need to build a habit you can actually stick to.

Showing up when you’re motivated is easy.

Showing up when you’re tired, busy, or don’t feel like it is what builds consistency.

Pick something manageable.

Do it again tomorrow.

Then keep doing it.

That’s how you improve.

This is one thing you’re always going to need to work on if you want to master the drag flick.

I’ve scored 40 goals in the last 12 months, and I’m still working on it.

Stay lower for longer.

The goal of a drag flick is to accelerate the ball as much as possible before release.

And you can only accelerate the ball while it’s still on your stick.

So the later you release it, the more time you have to build speed.

If you come up too early, you shorten that acceleration phase and lose power.

Instead:

Stay low.
Keep the ball connected.
Keep accelerating.
Release as far in front of your front foot as possible.

Even once your drag flick is good, this is something you can keep improving.

Stay lower for longer and give the keeper less time to react.

Rotation is a huge part of generating power on your drag flick.

If you film yourself, here’s one simple cue to look for:

Can you see your left elbow over your back at the end of the flick?

A common mistake is letting the stick finish on its own while the body stays facing forwards.

That disconnect costs you power.

Instead, your stick and body should rotate together through the finish.

When you do that properly, your left elbow will come up and become visible over your back.

It’s a simple video cue, but a really useful one.

Film your drag flick.
Watch the finish.
Check the left elbow.

Want to know one thing that can get you dropped very quickly?

Your reaction after a mistake.

Everyone makes mistakes.

You lose the ball.
A skill doesn’t come off.
You make the wrong decision.

That’s not the problem.

The problem is what you do next.

If you stand there, blame the umpire, blame a teammate, or get frustrated instead of working back, coaches notice immediately.

As a coach, I can accept mistakes if you’re trying to do the right thing and trying to improve.

What I won’t accept is laziness or a lack of accountability.

So when you mess up:

Work back.
Win the ball back.
Help your team.
Make up for it with your next action.

You can’t always control whether something goes wrong.

You can control how you respond.

That attitude is what makes you someone a coach wants in their team.

These are the 3 most common drag flick mistakes I see.

I get hundreds of DMs asking me to review drag flick clips, and after scoring 40+ goals last season, mostly from drag flicks, these are three things I had to fix in my own technique.

1. Not getting low enough

If you stay too upright, you end up pushing the ball rather than properly dragging and whipping it.

Getting low helps you:
• Bring the ball up the stick later
• Generate more power
• Rotate more explosively through the finish

2. Your stick and body aren’t connected

If your stick finishes high while your body stays facing forwards, you’re leaving a lot of power behind.

Your stick and body should rotate together through the finish.

3. You’re missing the whip

This is one of the biggest power killers.

Push your left hand forward first, then whip your right hand through afterwards.

That helps you hold the ball longer, release it later, and generate much more speed.

So next time you practise:

1. Get low
2. Keep your stick and body connected
3. Use the whip

Fix these three and your drag flick will start to feel completely different.

Want to throw your aerials further?

The key is keeping the ball on your stick for longer.

Why?

Because the longer the ball stays connected to your stick, the more time you have to accelerate it.

Most players lose that connection because their stick face is wrong.

Too open:
The ball rolls over the top of the stick and you lose power.

Too closed:
The ball rolls off the bottom before you’ve properly lifted and accelerated it.

The goal is to find the angle that keeps the ball on your stick for as long as possible throughout the action.

That gives you more time to build speed and ultimately throw the ball further.

Next time you practise aerials, don’t just think about throwing harder.

Experiment with your stick face and focus on keeping the ball connected for longer.

If you’re trying to learn a new skill, start filming yourself.

Every rep should give you feedback.

What went wrong?
What changed?
What needs to be better next time?

The problem is that when you’re learning something new, you often don’t yet have the feel to know exactly what happened.

That’s where video helps.

Maybe you’re drag flicking and opening your stick face too much.

You might not feel it in the moment.

But when you watch it back, you can see it.

Then you do another rep.
Try to change it.
Watch it back again.

Rep by rep, you start connecting what the movement looks like with what it feels like.

Eventually, you won’t need the video as much because you’ll know instantly when something feels wrong.

But first, you need the feedback.

Film.
Watch.
Adjust.
Repeat.

That’s how you actually learn a skill.

Drag flick tutorial.
If you want to become your team’s number 1 flicker, you need to master the 4 stages.
Run up
Start three steps behind the ball.
Left, right, then plant the left foot in line with the ball or slightly in front.
Do not step behind the ball.

Transition
Transfer momentum from forward into sideways.
Choose what suits you: crossover behind, crossover in front, or hop.
You want to end with the front foot set, facing the goal.

Drag
Left hand pushes away, stick goes horizontal behind the ball.
Keep it horizontal as you bring it forward.
Stay low so the ball can climb the stick and you create power.

Flick
Push the wrist forward while the stick head stays, then whip it off the end.
Drive with the right hand and rotate through, pushing off the back foot.

Save this and take it to the pitch.
Follow for more 💪

3 basic elimination skills you need for pre-season.

1. Right to left

The skill itself is simple. The hard part is the timing.

Too early and the defender has time to adjust.

Too late and you run straight into the tackle.

Get close enough that they think you’re staying on the same line, wait for them to commit, then move the ball around them.

2. V Drag

Sell the fake with your body.

Step in the direction you’re pretending to go, pull the ball back, then accelerate away the other way.

If your feet give away the direction too early, so will the skill.

3. 3D Skills

Don’t just lift the ball over the stick and hope for the best.

Keep the lift controlled so you can stay connected to the ball and make your next action immediately.

The skill is only useful if you’re still in control afterwards.

Work on these three before the season starts.