By Casey Burdsall
High school field hockey is done and winter is officially here, which means it is time for indoor field hockey. Indoor field hockey is a way for your team to continue to work together in the off-season. Individually, it’s an avenue for you to improve and build upon your stick work and abilities, while inadvertently conditioning in the process. If you have yet to get involved with the off-season variant of the sport you love, then here’s what you need to know.
Indoor field hockey is a fast and exciting game and the skills and tactics used are similar to the outdoor version. There are certainly some skills that you can improve during an indoor season and some you cannot due to the smaller pitch of the playing surface. For example, hitting the ball and raising the ball off the ground to pass it or beat an opposing player is not allowed.
Indoor is great for the offenders to enhance their defensive skills, and for the defenders to actually get the opportunity to be a part of an offensive play. Each player must develop effective passing and trapping skills when in attack, and conversely be very effective in intercepting passes and tackling when on defense.
If you’re used to playing on grass, the indoor turf will be a drastic change, and because of the surface, the ball travels extremely fast. Keep your stick on the floor at all times as to be prepared when the ball comes your way at a moment’s notice. Work on your trapping by getting low and quickly placing your stick horizontally against the floor as a way to stop an opponent with the ball. Be conscious of the angle of your stick so as the ball does not bounce upward. Once you have gained control of the ball, keep it close on your stick. When passing to your teammate, it is rarely necessary to “slap” the ball; a simple and controlled push pass is all you need.
Keep the following tactical sense in mind when playing indoor field hockey. A player should not hold onto possession of the ball for more than a couple of seconds. Passes must not be forced through a defender, you must pass around her. Dribbling is used to set yourself up to make an effective pass. When receiving a pass, make your best effort to come to a stop or a very controlled run to prepare yourself to pass or shoot.
Indoor field hockey may take your game to a new level. If you can play on an indoor team with your high school teammates, this is optimal. If not, NCSA still encourages you to seek out a team because that may be the edge you’ll need to get the starting spot when the high school season rolls back around next year.
