Learning Hockey:
Improve your versatility by adding the reverse stick hit technique

Since you’ve progressed till here, you’ll be quite familiar with the field hockey skills of hit and wrong foot hit. There’s another variant known as the reverse stick hit which is a little different. The differences will become quite clear as you read on.  

Posture

This is similar to the one you’ve learnt and already practised while hitting the ball. That is knees slightly bent and feet shoulder-width apart. Your upper body should be bent forward slightly from the back. 

Position of the Ball

The ball should be placed in the middle, equidistant from both feet and in line with your forehead. Choose an optimum distance which can be as far as the blade of the stick can reach.  

Holding the Stick

With both hands touching each other and gripping the tip of the handle, the front of the stick should be facing upwards (to the sky), while slightly angled towards the ground. Ensure the ‘U’ formed between index and thumb of both hands faces the back of the blade’s tip – that’s the curved part of the blade.  

Executing the Shot

With posture set, grip in place, and ball in position, it’s time to execute the hit. Place the blade of your stick near the back of the ball and begin a backward swing. Make sure it doesn’t go above your left shoulder. Using the same momentum, switch to a forward swing towards the back of the ball and hit the ball just above the blade of your stick.  

The swing should generate strength from your shoulders and through rotation of the hips. Just when the stick is about to make contact with the ball, it should be slightly angled towards the ground, such that the portion of the ground below the ball cushions the hit.  

While the stationary hit is for beginners, there are two more executions – the step and hit, and the run and hit. Stand diagonally behind the ball, step with the right foot and hit the ball. With that bit of clarity, go ahead and practise the technique further.  

Practice Exercise

This can be done solo or in a group. If you’re with a bunch of players, you could split yourselves into 3 groups or 1, depending on the number. The target in this exercise case is scoring a goal. Running with the ball in a slightly leftward direction, proceed till a marked cone on the ground, and hit to the right straight into the goal post. 

The rest is up to you in terms of practising and perfecting the shot. In the upcoming posts, you’ll come across elimination skills in hockey. This is basically evading a defender during your run, in order to set up goal-scoring opportunities.