The guide that the FIH has released, according to the hygiene parameters demanded by the World Health Organization (WHO), involves all levels of sport: coaches, players, administration and volunteers. The objective is to ensure the best conditions when returning from hockey training sessions and thus favor the mental and physical health of all practitioners.
For this to be done, the FIH recommends that clubs promote 3 measures:
Public restriction: be on public roads and places for as little time as possible. Social distance: respect a distance between people of 2-3 meters. Travel restriction: avoid travel, except force majeure. Hockey, being a contact team sport, is considered a high risk practice and has to be under strict control. For this reason, clubs must ensure that their facilities and resources are adapted to a safe practice (cleanliness, density of players on the field, etc.).
When you go to train keep in mind that:
Avoid going to training if you think you have any of the symptoms of COVID-19. Try to use private transport or non-crowded means of transport. Go by bike or on foot whenever you can. Clubs must mark distinct zones in the entry and exit field. The training sessions must be designed to respect the safety distance of 1.5 meters at all times. You should not touch the balls with your hands. The coach will designate a single person to store and disinfect the balls and the rest of the material. You won’t be able to celebrate any success by high-fiving your teammates. You should wash and disinfect your hands before and after training. Do not touch the mouth with your hands and do not spit in the field. It is mandatory that each player bring their own bottle of water. You should not share any type of material, especially the goalkeeper.
What exercises can we design to respect the distance?
Safety measures make it more complex to design exercises for workouts. While all equal defense actions are excluded due to the need to respect the 1.5 meter distance, there are many more exercises that we can perform. We show you possible exercise structures to be able to train intensely during this special period.
Round of passes:
Start the warm-up with this fun team passing game. Place your players 3 meters apart in a circle. The players then designate a player to pass the ball to. eye! They will always pass it on to the same. The game will start with a ball and little by little the coach will include new balls. How many are you able to keep under control?
Games in pairs:
There are many skill games to play in pairs and compete, for example this hockey-tennis. Instead of a net, we will place two lines with marks or cones to leave a safety space between the two players. The rules are easy: the ball cannot bounce in this space and at most it can bounce once per field.
Technical circuits:
The technical or physical-technical circuits with the ball allow the team to work together while respecting the distances. The key is to force a pass from a distance before the rotation to the next station. In a cone located 5 meters from where the balls begin, the extra player is placed, who will take over from the starting player’s position.
Tactical situations:
Although the work of tactical situations with opposition is complicated, it is not entirely impossible. For example, we can use situations with defenders cutting a certain pass line and focus on tactical concepts such as ball speed and reading the pass lines at the exit. Here we leave you an exercise to work respecting distances at all times.
