Penalty corners - 1

Coaches are often infatuated with coming up with complicated short (penalty) corner combinations that sees the ball passed 15 times before somebody tries to put it into the goal.

It all looks very impressive with people running left, right and centre and ultimately it turns into a cock-up and the chances of actually scoring a goal are somewhere between 0 and ... 0!

For some reason, many coaches seem to think they're "above" the ordinary straight push, stop and hit the ball at the goal. Don't ask me why - because statistically its one of the most easy ways to score goals in school and amateur leagues in particular.

A couple of pointers here.

1. Speed and accuracy of the pusher is imperative. They don't need to zing it through so hard that the stopper has no way of stopping it, but they do have to beat the first wave to the hitter.

2. The hitter must hit it with the face of the stick. For some silly reason, you still get coaches who believe "blading" the strike (hitting the ball with the blade of the stick instead of the face) is the way to go.... I've seen it practiced hundred times and never once seen it work.

3. The hitter (believe it or not) doesn't need to see how hard he or she can hit it. They do however need to be accurate. Its still astounding to see how many people will sacrifice accuracy for power... See what the keeper is doing, pick your spot and tuck it away.

Hockey is a relatively simple game - don't confuse a bit of skill with overcomplication.