Center Shot to Outside Shot Hip Transition Shooting Drill
A drill to work on a goalie's quick transition from a vertical center shot blocking position back to an outside shot blocking position.
A goalieās hips and body are going to be in different positions depending on where the ball is and the potential shot that can come from there.
On an outside shot, our hips and body are going to be at a 45-degree angle with our hands sculling in the water to maximize our lunge height and distance.
When the ball is entered to the center our hips and body are vertical with our hands out of the water. Weāre heavy on our legs walking forwards to cut the angle down on a center shot and to get our body in the way.
And sometimes when a ball is entered it gets kicked back out to a perimeter player. So we need to go from a heavy vertical position back to our 45-degree outside shot-blocking position.
How quickly you transition from these various stages can make all the difference between blocking a shot and letting in a goal.
This is one shooting drill to work on the outside shot to center and back out hip transitions.
You need one shooter, one center forward, and one center guard. You can add a perimeter defender too so that the shooter has to shoot against a field block.
Basic Drill
The perimeter player has two balls.
On the first ball, theyāre up acting like a shooter so the goalie is in an outside shot-blocking position. They the enter the ball to the center.
The center will shoot the ball working against the guard. The guard is going about 90%. They will let a shot get off but not without some effort from the center forward.
The goalie has to transition from an outside shot to a vertical center shot quickly, get heavy on their legs, and walk forward to cut the angle down.
On the second ball, the set-up is the same but this time after receiving the entry pass the center will control the ball and kick it back out to the perimeter player for a shot.
The goalie has to go from an outside shot, to a center shot, back to an outside shot.
On the second ball, it is easy for the goalie to ignore the potential center shot and leave their hands in while they wait for the ball to be kicked back out. Donāt allow this.
The goalie needs to play dumb and act like the center can shoot it. The goalie needs to go heavy on their hands and walk forward so that when the ball is kicked out they can work on transitioning quickly back to an outside blocking position. And they can work on dropping back into position and squaring up with the perimeter shooter.
Advanced
If you havenāt added a perimeter defender then do so for this adjustment.
Now the center or perimeter player can shoot whenever they want.
For example.
The shooter enters the ball
The center kicks it back out to the shooter
The shooter fakes the goalie and then re-enters the ball back to the center forward
The center forward shoots the ball.
For this you want the shooter to have a defender in front of him field blocking. Depending on the skill level you can also have the perimeter defender crash on the center whenever the ball is entered.
This forces everyone to work in a game-like situation.
It forces the goalie to treat every position as a potential threat and to really work on their hip transitions and getting into proper position whoever has the ball.
You can run a couple of lines or perimeter players at each cage working with one center.
If you try this and come up with any variations you like then please let us all know in the comments below.