Mobilty Drill

Tonight I happened to have my digital camera in my backpack and thought of doing a short video of Shae and Breda (Dani and Claire were in the video too but they are in the background). This occurred to me as they did the Mobility Drill, something we use for transitions between swim, vertical catch, stop/start, give & go, basically for mobility. It is sometimes hard to get young players to imagine the movement pattern and this clip should help that.

Watching this reminds me of how effortlessly these girls move through the water and this was after 30 minutes of swimming fly/free and a 30 minute pre-practice warm up. You can see how quickly and smoothly Shae moves her hips to go from one direction to the other. Breda shows the great power she has in her upper body as she catches left handed and turns with so much authority. I'm not sure if Claire and Dani were aware of being recorded but their form was solid and no drops or crappy passes.

Usually we do this in sets of 10 passes before resting and look for precision. Tonight we went longer, seeing what kind of rhythm they would establish. One of the important parts of this exercise is catching the ball high and rotating so the ball crosses the front of the body before being put in the water ie right handers turn to their left. This does 2 important things, 1) it teaches players to catch the ball and turn rather than tip it blindly over their head and chase it - this forces the head (eyes) to lead the ball and prevent turning into danger (opponent), 2) it provides a plant arm as the body falls from vertical to horizontal and this is what gives the initial pull to start movement forward while maintaining ball control.

The Boys almost got recorded doing the Hot Box drill but no goalie and too much water traffic meant less than ideal set up. That drill is one that works the 4 post players and 3 interior defenders from a 4-2 power play configuration. We use it now mostly as an offensive drill as the defensive movement is not a big part of our current 5 vs 6 defense. The blocking is key but the hip positions are not the same as our stationary blocking that we usually do when shorthanded. We'll tape it another time, maybe when Carson is there.

Random notes;

Tonight at the pool a diver beside us practicing on the 1m board had a nasty board collision on a rapid spin. I only saw it in my peripheral vision until I heard the unnatural thud so I don't know how many rotations she did, 2 at least. A few tears, some blood, maybe a few fractures, who knows; it could have been much worse.

Heather informed me today that she has been asked to be the new centre forward on her pro team in Italy beginning with the game this Saturday vs one of the leagues top teams. That isn't making her too happy since she is one of the leagues (and the worlds) best, most explosive, drivers and her size will not be sufficient to dominate at 2m. I will likely get more on Saturday about how she is boiling over with frustration after her game.