Field hockey drills at home for 8 year olds

At a glance

At 8

28 field hockey drills the app opens for an 8 year old work at home, across 6 skills.

How long

One home session of about 25 minutes; SSTracker never plans more than 30 minutes for an 8 year old.

How often

At most 3 training days a week, with rest days between. Organized sport in all: no more hours a week than the child's age (NATA), so at most 8 hours for an 8 year old, with two rest days a week.

What you need

Most used: stick (22 of the 28 drills), ball (21), cones (8), goal or cones (3), plastic bottles (2), stick or broom handle (2), wall or partner (2), bucket (1). 1 drill needs nothing but space. 8 are for two, and a parent can be the partner.

Safe at home

One child and one parent in a room, garage or yard. Never tackling, contact, diving or head-first falls, no stunts or loaded lifting, and nothing that needs a coach, rink, pool or court. Stop when anything hurts.

28 at-home drills

Field hockey drills for 8 year olds to do at home

Every drill below is one the app opens for an 8 year old and one that works at home: a room, garage or yard, one parent as the partner, no venue. Each drill's page has the steps, a diagram where the setup can be drawn, three ways to make it a game and a log to print.

dribbling

Dribbling

• Straight Line DribbleAges 7 and up · 8 min
• Traffic Lights DribbleAges 7 and up · 8 min
• Dribble the SquareAges 7 and up · 8 min

passing

Passing

• Push Pass Through a GateAges 7 and up · 10 min
• Push Pass to a WallAges 7 and up · 10 min
• Push-Pass ShadowAges 7 and up · 8 min

receiving

Receiving

• Soft Hands ReceiveAges 7 and up · 8 min
• Stop and ControlAges 7 and up · 8 min
• Stop the Roll GameAges 7 and up · 8 min

shooting

Shooting

• Push Shot at GoalAges 7 and up · 10 min
• Shoot at Bottle TargetsAges 7 and up · 10 min
• Tap-In at the PostAges 7 and up · 8 min

speed & fitness

Speed & Fitness

• Ready Position FootworkAges 7 and up · 8 min
• Stick and Ball Relay RunsAges 7 and up · 10 min
• Cone Collect RaceAges 7 and up · 8 min

A 23-minute session

A home field hockey session for an 8 year old

A warm-up, 1 drill and a cool-down, 23 minutes in all. Do it up to 3 days a week, with rest days between.

1. 1Field Hockey Warm-Up, Ages 7 to 10An 8-minute moving warm-up for field hockey players aged 7 to 10: easy running, moving stretches, balance and soft landings, then field hockey moves. Before practice, never still stretches first.8 min
2. 2Receive on Both SidesFlat face to the ball every time.10 min
3. 3Field Hockey Cool-Down Stretches, Ages 7 to 10A 5-minute cool-down for field hockey players aged 7 to 10 after training: an easy walk, then gentle stretches for the legs, hips and inner thighs, each held for a slow count of 10.5 min

At 8

What changes in field hockey training at 8

The app opens the same 28 at-home drills at 8 as at 7; the ones below are a different selection from that list.

Organized sport in all: no more hours a week than the child's age (NATA), so at most 8 hours for an 8 year old, with two rest days a week.

The week

Fitting field hockey into a week at 8

At 8 the limit is 8 hours of organized sport a week. If you count home sessions against it to be safe, 3 sessions of 25 minutes is 1.25 hours, which leaves 6.75 for team practice and games. Even 3 days at the app's longest, 30 minutes, is 1.5 hours.

The research behind it

• Ages 6 to 12 are the "sampling years": high play, low deliberate practice.

  Côté and Vierimaa 2014

• Organized sport should total no more hours a week than the child's age in years, with two rest days a week.

  NATA youth sport specialization recommendations

Questions and answers