CHRIS LASLETT‘s journey in hockey starts with his family and hearing stories of his cousin Jason playing in the 1996 Olympics for Great Britain. It was enough to spark his interest in the sport
Over the past 20 years the sport has played a massive part in my life, from playing to coaching, during which time I have built up a base of knowledge, especially within my current roles as Head of Hockey at the King’s School Canterbury and Director of Hockey at Canterbury Junior HC.
As part of both roles, I am responsible for supporting other coaches and I started to realise that in today’s world time is precious for most people and most of the staff, volunteers and parents involved in the hockey and had great ideas and a passion for the game but were hard pressed for time to always think and plan in depth for a session.
So, I started putting together small games ideas and sessions plans I had done on the back on envelopes and scrap paper to give to coaches if they didn’t have time, or needed a bit of inspiration and the spark to get their hockey-thinking cogs firing into action.
When Covid and lockdown hit, being furloughed and with little hope of club hockey on the horizon, I decided to spend some of my free time putting these ideas and everything hockey related in my head into digital resources, that can be printed and viewed on devices.
Over the next year I spent my time designing and producing hockey coaching resources, mainly different volumes of 50 Small Games ideas, linked session plans, pressing and formation ideas and a planning booklet. All the resources are designed to assist a coach or teacher in planning and delivering their sessions and season.
- Read Chris’ small games sample booklet here
They are aimed mainly at volunteer / parent coaches and coaches starting out on their coaching journey but can ultimately be used by any coach. They are not designed to tell a coach what or how to coach but to give them a base to work from to start building their session or season, some ideas to get their creative caps on and opportunities to explore session planning ideas for their own context.
The resources are there to be adapted and changed to suit a coach’s training context and desired session outcomes or simply copied when they are struggling for ideas or time to plan a session.
They come in digital packs (PDFs) – example here – that can be downloaded to any device or printed. They are simple and easy to use. Personally, I have them all printed off on a clipboard and spend some time browsing over a cup of coffee when I need inspiration or spark when planning a session.
It’s perfect for a school, junior club, or university club environment.
Many of the coaches, I deal with through my different roles, access the resources at different stages. Ranging from a university captain to a young coach starting out on his journey and parent helpers at the club.
“Devising and running high quality training sessions around my University commitments provided many challenges. Thanks to CJL coaching, I had a vast pool of resources that were laid out in detail, with objectives of the drill, how it should be conducted and numbers involved all portrayed in an easy to understand format. I would recommend this resource to anyone; whether you are at the start of your coaching career, fitting it in around a hectic schedule or trying to take your coaching to the next level.”
Will, CCCU captain
“CJL coaching has been a great resource for me to use with my day to day coaching, it covers a wide range of drills and exercises but not only that it applies to all age groups, and for a coach like me who coaches Mens and ladies training down to Under 14’s its incredibly resourceful to have to help me plan my sessions and really easy to access. Having started my coaching journey a few years back, the site still helps me learn and develop new ideas and is really helpful when planning different sessions for different groups in a short period of time with how easily accessible it is.”
Andrew, CHC coach
Please visit the CJL Hockey shop on Etsy. You can also follow on Twitter. Chris Laslett is currently working on some Indoor Hockey Coaching Resources and 9v9 Three Quarter Pitch Game Resources
