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Small Area Games
Coaches,
Small-area games are game-like competitive drills that utilize a playing surface that has been reduced in size. According to Paul Willett, hockey instructor and consultant, small-area games typically include the following features:
- Small-area games are played on a reduced ice surface: often 1/3rd of the ice or across the width of the rink. Some games are played in even smaller areas, such as the corner or inside a face-off circle. The size of the surface depends on the skills or tactics being taught.
- The number of participants is lowered in small-area games. Teams can have anywhere from one to four (or more) players and will compete against other teams that may or may not have the same number of players. Coaches may add support players or station themselves in particular positions to provide support and create odd-man situations.
- Special rules and conditions are applied to small-area games that are designed to enhance the development of particular skills or mimic different situations that are seen in regular games.
Small-area games focus on multiple skills and situations, increasing puck touches and situational repetition. While a player in a regular game might have the puck on his/her stick for 20 seconds, the number of puck touches and puck-time-on-stick goes up dramatically in small-area games. Goaltenders also benefit from small-area games. Unlike many drills, which provide shots in unrealistic situations (e.g., dozens of one on none situations), goaltenders in small-area games see more shots, with more traffic, and from more angles than in most traditional drills.
Small-area games have been shown to:
- Increase the pace of practice
- Promote creativity and experimentation
- Encourage quick decision-making
- Enhance skill development
- Teach passing and puck-handling in tight situations
- Make for a more competitive practice
- Make practice fun
The practice plans below include nothing but small-area games. These games have been adapted from a number of sources, including Flexxcoach, various USA Hockey publications, and games I created while coaching high school hockey. The games in the first two plans focus on basic skill development, including skating, stickhandling, passing, shooting, and goaltending. Those in the second two plans continue developing basic skills, but are also designed to teach hockey tactics such as cycling, zone entry, offensive and defensive play in front of the net, breakouts, and regroups. The games in the fifth plan focus on special teams play. By utilizing these, or other small-area games, you will encourage fun at your practices and accelerate skill development.
If you have developed any small-area games of your own, feel free to send them to me and I will put them into future plans. I’ll credit you by naming the game after you.
Jim DiSanza
Idaho Coach-in-Chief
disajame@isu.edu
