Push-Pass Reps
Ages 7 and up · A stick, a ball, and a rebound board, low wall, or partner 5-10 yards away; two cones as a target gate
The push pass (the ball swept along the ground off the flat face, no backswing, the stick staying in contact through a long push) is field hockey's foundational distribution: it is the pass the game runs on, it is legal everywhere and safe at every age, and its mechanics (low body, ball level with the back foot, the long push through toward the target) build beautifully through backyard volume.
A rebound board, a wall's base (with an appropriate ball and permission), or a partner completes the setup: push, receive the return, push again, the two-touch loop that midfield play is made of. Accuracy targets and the receiving touch (the ball killed soft with a giving stick) ride along from the first session.
How to run it
- The shape, checked: sideways-ish to the target, knees bent, ball positioned toward the BACK foot, both hands on the stick, the stick's face behind the ball.
- The push: the ball swept along the ground with a long push (stick in contact throughout, no backswing, no hit), the hands driving through toward the target, the stick's face following the ball low. Ten pushes at the gate, firmness building.
- The receiving touch: returns (or a partner's passes) met with a giving stick (the face angled slightly over the ball, the hands soft, the ball killed within a step). Ten receives.
- The loop: push, receive, adjust the feet, push again: continuous two-touch rounds. Twenty-touch rounds, quality graded.
- Finish with gate scoring: ten pushes through the cone gate from honest range, makes logged and raced weekly. Both the push and the receive improve on plain volume; the loop supplies it.
What to say
Common faults and fixes
A backswing creeping in (the push becoming a small hit, accuracy scattering).
The contact-throughout standard: the stick starts ON the ball, every rep. Slow firm pushes rebuild the sweep; the push's whole identity is the absence of the swing.
Standing tall through the pass (weak pushes from a high body).
The bent-knee, low-hands check: the push's power is legs and body weight through the ball. Two low reps against one tall one makes the difference audible in the ball's pace.
Returns bouncing off a rigid stick (the receive untrained).
Receiving graded as its own skill for a round: the angled face, the soft hands, the ball dead within a step. The loop's value doubles when both touches count; a great push into a bad receive is half a drill.
Make it easier, make it harder
Shorter range, a slower ball, push-and-stop singles before loops, bigger gates.
Longer ranges and smaller gates; first-time pushes (returns played without a controlling touch); moving loops (push, receive on the jog, push); reverse-side receives; the slap and hit taught later with coaches and proper spaces.
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