Importance of Dry Land Drills??

I got into a discussion with my brother the other day on the importance of dry land walk through on team drills. Not just, set plays like advantage pucks or strike plays, but on all points of the game. Like how to bring the puck off the wall, or stall the puck on the wall, offensive corner, defensive corner, etc... Therefore, his opinion was spacing and timing and general vision of what is happening cannot be mimicked on dry land, you need to be in the pool. My thoughts are that communication and distractions are such that dry land drills should be a very large part of team training and hammering in the movements (even if the speed and spacing is not accurate out of the 3 dimensions of the water) till everyone on the team is without mistake, then moving to the water to refine the team work.

So where does everyone stand? From a players point of view or a coaches?

As a coach I use dry land drills all the time. It sets the basics to refine in the pool. Once you're on the bottom you can't say 'no bob, just a foot or two further back, dwayne you need to be closing that angle faster'. You lose all the communication. So do your talking during run-throughs on land, then perfect the movements in the water.

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Definitely for dry land drills. I have done them for more than 10 years, and always found them to be a benefit.

Obviously there are differences in speed in and out of the water, and you lose the 3D dimension. However, I have always found that it is easier for all of the players to understand the spatial relationship they have to each other in these situations when they can see approximately where the other players are. Some have difficulty visualising this on the whiteboard, and it wastes precious (and expensive) pool time doing the basics in the water.

To reduce the speed, we would do it on hands and knees, or walk with one foot touching the back foot at each step. Usually with a hacky sack or rugby ball as the 'puck'.

Every now and then we would play soccer or something like it with the team, and it is obvious that the players with good insight in the water (able to read the game) can do this with other sports as well. It can be handy playing another sport to coach players who have difficulty with anticipating where to go to block attacks and intercept passes, or how to position themselves for a pass. And with soccer you can coach while the game is going on of course.
I had one coach who had the whole team playing chess in order to try to get everyone thinking more than one step ahead. Some of the most relaxing training I have ever done.

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Faster than a speeding puck...

I used them a lot with the school team I coached, espically in their first year. Great for showing positioning, just like BFB said.

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Those who say it's only a game don't understand the situation.

So what is the preffered "puck" for a dry land drills for everyone? I know we have used water bottles and water polo balls. Whenever I see the Kiwi's as a whole team (save the party) someone always seems to have a rugby ball with them.

I'd be all for a soccer ball, but my favorite was a Frisbee.

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An aquifer is a water bearing layer of rock or soil. Aquifers are separated by impermeable layers of rock or clay called an aquitard. Aquitard, however may sound a bit offensive to some, and therefore we will be changing the name to Aquachallenge.

waterbottle, shoe, banana skin, whatever.

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it's more polite on the grating than on the subs bench

Morning there peeps....

A definite yes for land drills....
When i started hockey, doing the drills assisted with the formation in the water...
And today doing the different formations, land drills are extremely necessary...
We normally just throw around an old puck, but rugby ball or water bottle is also used.

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Regards,

Marius

"Great works are performed, not by strength but by perseverence" - Samuel Johnson

Definate yes to dry land training.
One thing I wasn't too keen on was running on our knees (on grass), passing a medicine ball. Perhaps a rugby ball would have been easier.

It's called 'training' so why would you want it to be easier? Maybe you thought you were at the dry land spa?

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Just in case you weren't sure, it's official -- CMAS sucks.
Oh yeah, and now they're broke.

The verb 'to train' doesn't mean 'do hard stuff'.

It means 'to improve a mode of behaviour or performance'.



The last thing you want when teaching people formation is for them to be focussing on physical annoyances rather than what you're trying to teach...

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