Continuation of previous post after its discourse on wheels.
Though today's stick'n'puck session still found its rhythm via the shooting element, it evolved in a signigicant fashion as I went through the initial 125 dynamic shots from the 15' circle. I did five sets of 25, each with a different drill 'scenario' setting the complexity and emphasis of my skating and decision making. The best way to explore this is to describe the evolution of drill between each set.
For the whole 125 shots, the overall rhythm of the exercise was spent with five pucks lying in a rough line across the court, somewhere between the 15' circle and 30' line. In each drill I used the two marked netball centre circles as focus points for what followed (ie they functioned as pylons / witches hats / opponents / turning points). In other words, I had the two obstacles (centre circles) and three 'lanes' through the centre of the court (to the left and right of the centre circles, as well as the space of about 12' between), a line 30' from the end-boards, a 15' semicircle abutting the end of the court, and my target goal (2"-3" wide goalpost in centre of the endboard, to focus of the semicircle). As the pucks ranged from far right court, through centre to far left court, and the lanes in the neutral zone led down the right wing, centre and let wing, the different combinations of puck location and entry/exit lanes led to a constantly changing approach dynamic. It kept the exercise 'alive'.
For the first 25 (4 'goals' - 1 rebound - 0 goal AND rebound in the same play), I skated out from the goal area and curled from the outside in on the rightmost centre circle on the first five, leftside outside in for second five, rightside inside out for the next, leftside inside out for the next five, and 'freeform' for the final five. Thus, entered the attacking zone from the centre 'lane' for first ten shots, then the two outside lanes over the next ten, and various lanes for the last five. Having entered the attack half of the neutral zone, I then accelerated in a curl toward my target puck (starting, say, with the leftmost and working my way to the right with each shot), if necessary skating along the thirty foot line also, until I was able to get a good angle upon turning towards puck and goal. I'd then skate in to pick up the target puck on my forehand and glide towards the goal (preferably in a straight line). Ideally, I'd have my eye on the puck as my stick went onto it, then look upwards and focus on the goal post for the glide in to the 15' line. It seems that, now I think of it, this turns out to be probably good 'quiet eye' technique training.
For the second 25 (6-4-1), the difference was mainly that I skated out Backwards from behind my goal. Once I'd passed my target puck on the 'outward journey' towards the centre, I kept my eyes fixed on the puck as I transitioned around the 'corner' of the relevant central circle into the designated central lane for the play, and then powered towards the puck for pickup and shot as in the first set.
For the third 25 (8-3-1) I repeated the first set, only this time I additionally disciplined myself to turn away from the endboards from the previous shot so that my body was always open to the target puck (ie, I didn't turn my back on the target puck) as I commenced skating towards the centre. By the time I passed my target puck on the outward journey I would have decided which of the three lanes I was going to depart and then re-enter the offensive zone would be. The criteria was to minimise the awkwardness of the turn around the thus selected central circle and also to be on the forehand for the pickup/glide/shot as quickly and easily as possible.
For the fourth 25 (8-5-2) I repeated the second set, adding the modifications I had in the third. I noticed that by skating backwards I gave myself considerably more time to be prepared (ie not having to think about 'what to do' as I had to do it) for the turn/transition in the centre as I was 'eyes on' the puck for a lot longer.
For the final 25 (8-5-2), I repeated the third set, adding the component of picking up the puck on the OUTWARDS journey on my BACKHAND, necessitating one (and often more) deke at some point before the 30' line (from where I tried to be eyes on goal).
The most interesting thing here, as the drills got more complex but I got used to the addition of 'decision making' into it, I started making better decisions and shooting more accurate. Very interesting indeed.
Finally, I closed out the session with my traditional four sets of 25 from the 15' line, with each set broken into five focus points (breath, stance, weight, follow through and power) for each of FH Sp, WS, FF Sp and BH.
Results were good to excellent (8-11-10-5), with my highest shot total to date (11/25) for the wrist shot!
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