Coaching
Ball Skills
Picking up the ball
 When traveling forwards pick up the ball at the knees
 Put a slight downwards pressure on the balls with fingers spread wide.
 Roll your hand and scoop up the ball
Practise picking up the ball at different speeds and with different hands
Moving the ball around
 Put the ball in the water within paddles reach
 Move the ball in a circle around your boat with your paddle
 Be able to recover the ball with your paddle and pick it up with your hand from any location
Throwing
 When throwing to a teammate call their name, look for a response. When they are looking at you
throw to them
 Never throw through an opposition player
 Throw to the clear side. Never throw to the side the opposition is
One handed
 sit upright
 body rotation, think of pointing non-throwing hand/shoulder at target
 elbow at or just above shoulder level
 Unwind body, then shoulder
 wrist flick is last thing to occur
 point fingers at target
 follow through
 Arm and body rotation give power
 Wrist and fingers give direction and deception
 Short wind up is more deceptive
 Use paddle as a counter weight
Chest pass
 Hold ball in finger tips not palms of hands
 Thumbs down
 Elbows out just below wrist level
 90% of power comes from the wrist and fingers
 Accuracy comes from the fingers
Round house
 Keep arm almost straight
 Body rotation gives power for longer distances
 Lead with the head looking at where you want the ball to go
 Rotate the body
 Accuracy and direction comes from fingers and wrist “slap”
Catching
 Use soft hands to absorb impact of the ball
 Reach out and start to catch the ball where you would release it from if you were throwing it
 Always turn to face the ball- over either shoulder for a ball coming from behind
Shots at goal
 First practise easy shots at goal with no goalie
 Varying release point
 Varying speed/spin of shot
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Varying type of shot
Varying boat angle/lean
Varying position in pool
Aim for each corner
Repeat above with goalie
 With a feeder, paddle in receive the ball and shoot, with and without a goalie.
 Aim for the corners.
 Paddle faster, receive the ball at different speeds.
 Feeder can be a corner man but is more likely (in a game) to be behind you so copy this.
 Try and receive with one hand and shoot immediately.
Try the same drill again but with a defender putting pressure on the shooter
Goal Penalty Shot
 Practise taking penalties, with and without a goalie
Around the circle throw and catch
 A good warm up drill for both land and pool
 Players stand/sit in a rough circle and throw ball around
 Try chest and left/right one handed throws
 Vary area thrown to, but always throw to the hands not the water
Dribbling
 Throw the ball to one side, about a metre in front of the boat
 Approach the ball and position to pick it up when it is level with the knees (not the hip)
 Time the pick up so that the last paddle stroke is on the opposite side to the ball
 Hold the paddle low across the deck to avoid obstructing the ball when it is thrown
 Pick up the ball, throw it forward and follow by picking up the paddle with the same hand, ready to
paddle forward
 Alternate which side you pick up the ball from. Aim for three strokes between throw and pickup
 Don’t throw too far ahead, it creates opportunities for an intercept.
Dribble, long, short, short throws
 All passes to hands
 Teams of three to five
 Position 2-3 players down one end of pool and 1-2 down the other end
 The end with 2-3 starts
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One players dribbles the ball up the pool
When they get close enough for a long pass to the hands they pass to next player
That player passes back to dribbler
Dribbler does one more short pass to end player who then dribbles to other end of pool
They repeat long pass to end player
End player does short pass to dribbler
Dribbler does short pass to end player who dribbles
Two person dribble to the inside
 Pass to the inside of your partners boat at the nose
 Two players move up the pool about 2-3 meters apart
 One player throws to the nose of the partner
 Partner picks it up at the knees and throws it to the inside nose of partner
 At the end of the pool both players turn and use opposite hands for return trip
Practise above drill to the hands
Practise above drill with passes that the other player has to block in the air with their paddle, then collect
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Throw and chase
 5 players
 Start in a square
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Player 1 throws across the circle to player 2
Player 1 follows the throw and moves to where player 2 is
Player 2 throws to their right to player 3 before player 1 gets to them
Player 2 moves to where player 3 is
Player 3 throws across the square to player 4
Player 3 moves to where player 4 is
Player 4 throws to their left to position 1 and follows the ball
I:\kayaking folder\Canoe Polo\Skills coaching\Coaching basic ball skills.docx