Field Hockey Steps To Success 2nd Edition

Reading the book properly matters more than what the book says

Most people pick up Field Hockey Steps To Success 2nd Edition and immediately flip to the skills chapter, expecting the stickwork to fix itself. It doesn't. The book is structured sequentially for a reason, and skipping ahead will cost you more time than it saves. I learned that the hard way about three years ago when I tried to run a youth clinic using only the drag-flick section. The kids couldn't hold a dribble. I looked like an idiot in front of three parents who actually knew the sport.

The book covers fundamentals, ball control, passing under pressure, shooting mechanics, defensive positioning, and goalkeeping basics across roughly 200 pages. It's published by Human Kinetics. The photos are functional if a little stiff, and the step breakdowns are where the actual value lives. The written explanations alone won't teach anyone anything. You have to do the reps.

What Field Hockey Steps To Success 2nd Edition Actually Gets Right

The 2nd edition fixed a lot of the structural issues from the first print run. The progression from stationary ball work to moving-ball scenarios is much tighter now. Chapter four on the reverse stick is probably the best standalone tutorial on that topic I've seen in any coaching resource. The first edition glossed over it almost entirely, which was a problem because every serious player needs functional reverse-hand ability.

The defensive positioning chapter has a section on 1v1 channeling that's worth reading twice. Most coaches tell kids to "stay low and watch the hips," which is useless advice for anyone under fourteen. The book explains how to force the attacker toward the sideline using body angle and stick placement, not just depth of stance. That's a nuance a lot of local coaches miss.

I ran into a specific issue last season when trying to adapt the book's pushing technique for younger players with shorter sticks. The standard instruction says to keep the top hand ahead of the ball during the push, which works fine for mature players but causes six-year-olds to lift the ball because their arm length doesn't allow proper body position. My workaround was modifying the drill to emphasize keeping the shoulders over the ball and using a shorter backlift, essentially treating it like a controlled scooping motion rather than a textbook push. The kids picked it up in two sessions instead of the four the book's default approach would have required.

Where the book falls apart

Field Hockey Steps To Success 2nd Edition doesn't address modern pressing systems at all. The defensive sections assume a relatively static shape that hasn't been relevant since the early 2010s. If you're coaching at a competitive club level in 2024 or beyond, you need to supplement the defensive material with something that covers forward press triggers, half-court press rotations, and how to coach players to read the pass before the ball arrives. The book treats defense as mostly reactive. It's not at any level above rec play.

The aerial ball section is also thin. The rules around flicks and chips have been scrutinized heavily in recent years, and umpires are calling dangerous lifting far more consistently now. The book gives you the mechanics but not the risk assessment context that a modern coach needs to actually use those skills in a match without turning a routine clearance into a penalty stroke.

How to actually use this as a coaching resource

Don't read it cover to cover before your first session. Read the chapter relevant to what you're coaching that week, extract the drill, and adapt it. The book's drills run about 15 to 20 minutes each, which is fine for a single station but too long if you're running a full practice with eight or ten players. I usually split each drill in half and run two simultaneous smaller versions, which cuts the wait time and keeps engagement higher.

For individual skill development, work through chapters two and three over a six-week block. Ball mastery and reverse stick should be baseline requirements before moving into pressure-based passing. The book sequences these deliberately, and jumping ahead means your players will develop bad habits that are harder to fix later. I've seen it happen at every club I've worked at.

The shooting chapter has a detailed breakdown of the drag flick that's genuinely useful, but it assumes you already have a basic slap shot down. If your players can't get power and direction on a drive, the drag flick section won't help them. Start with the drive mechanics first, then move to the flick. The progression is logical once you follow it in order.

I also recommend printing out the diagrams and taping them to a clipboard at practice. Looking down at a book mid-session breaks flow and loses the group's attention. I keep a laminated set of the key drill diagrams in my coach bag and pull them out when I'm setting up stations. It saves about five minutes per practice that would otherwise go to verbal explanation.

Who this book is actually for

Field Hockey Steps To Success 2nd Edition works well for youth coaches, high school club instructors, and anyone building a beginner to intermediate curriculum from scratch. It's not designed for elite performance work or tactical system design. If you're coaching at a D1 collegiate level or working with national team candidates, you'll find the content too basic for most topics. The goalkeeping section is the exception — it's one of the more complete standalone resources on keeper fundamentals I've come across, even at higher levels.

If you're looking for a single comprehensive field hockey manual, this fills that role adequately. Pair it with video analysis from recent international matches and some press-structure coaching material, and you have a solid foundation. Just don't treat it as the final word on anything beyond basic skill acquisition.