Learning Hockey:
Combine power and speed effortlessly for a wrong foot hit

When you want the agility and speed of a wrong foot pass, but the power of a hit, that’s when you employ a wrong foot hit to the right or left. It catches your opponent by surprise. It’s a simple enough field hockey skill to execute provided you know exactly how to go about it. Here’s what Jude Felix has to say.

Holding the Stick

Grip the stick starting with your left hand near the top, a little bit of the handle protruding out of your hand. Your left and right hand should be touching each other, leaving no gap between them. You can choose to use the short-handle or long-handle grip depending on which you’ve mastered. The ball should be diagonally in front of the right foot.

The Technique

While running with the ball on your right, make a hit pass to the left by striking the ball when your right foot is in front. The left shoulder would be facing the target. In order to make a hit pass to the right, first bring the ball to your right while running. Then crouch and with a twist or half turn of your hips, strike the ball with your right foot forward.

More on Execution

There are three alternatives as far as this is concerned. The stationary hit is simple and can be done by kids as well. The other two are one-step hit, and the run and hit. The first involves walking for about 10 steps while dribbling the ball, then bringing the ball to the right, stepping forward with the right foot and hitting the ball towards the target.

Keep the blade closed or open depending on whether you want to hit the ball along the ground or in the air. The next starts with slow running for about 5 metres, dribbling forward and bringing the ball to the right. It finishes with stepping forward with the right foot and hitting the ball straight at the target.

Hockey Drill

There’s a useful exercise to practise this hit. Place a target on the opposite side to where you’re running. On arriving at a marked spot on the ground, execute the wrong foot hit aimed at the target. If you have a bunch of players practising with you, this can also be done in two groups, spaced 20 yards apart, after all have tried changing sides.

The hit and wrong foot hit both pack quite a punch in terms of the power with which the stick strikes the ball. There are situations where you may need to execute this with the reverse stick as well. Read on to know more about the reverse stick hit.