Free coach tool
Half ice practice plan template
Three drill blocks, each with its own half-rink diagram to draw on. Built for the way most minor hockey practices actually run: the ice split, groups rotating, a coach on each station.
Half Ice Practice Plan
Free practice plan templates for coaches at teamdock.ca
Why half ice, and why three blocks
Half-ice and cross-ice practice is now standard at the younger age groups, and for good reason: the same hour produces several times the puck touches, because nobody is waiting in a line that stretches to the blue line.
It changes what a practice plan needs to be. A full-ice plan is one timeline down the page. A half-ice plan is two or three things happening at once, each needing its own description, its own coaching points, and its own diagram so the coach running that station knows exactly what to set up.
That is what this sheet is. Three blocks, three diagrams, one page. Fill it in, print a copy for each of your assistants, and every station runs properly without you having to explain it on the ice.
Running stations that work
- One coach per station, briefed before the ice. A station with no coach becomes a lineup within ninety seconds.
- Same length for every block. Rotating on a whistle only works if the blocks are equal. Four or five minutes each is usually right.
- Keep the groups small. Three stations with five players beats two with eight, every time.
- Make the drills related. Three stations working the same skill from different angles teaches more than three unrelated drills.
- Draw it, don’t describe it. That is what the diagram beside each block is for. Hand it to your assistant and the explaining is done.
Two templates, one job
Use the full-ice practice plan when the practice runs as one timeline down the sheet, and this one when the ice is split. Most coaches end up using both across a season, often in the same week.
Both are free, need no account, and have nothing to download. If you want the rest of the season in one place as well, that is what TeamDock does: schedules, game film, player feedback and team files, so a practice plan is not the only record of what you worked on.
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