Physical readiness isn’t optional for field hockey players
Some essential lessons from leading masterclasses in field hockey physical preparation
Think about every great sports movie you’ve seen—the classic Rocky training on the steps or the Karate Kid practicing wax-on-wax-off long before the tournament. Those “montage moments” aren’t just for Hollywood; they’re rooted in a universal sporting truth: behind every great technical and tactical performance is a physical transformation, forged day by day and session by session. As field hockey coaches, our challenge isn’t just to get the Xs and Os right—it’s to design that transformation, so our teams can truly perform at their peak when it matters.
But what does this look like for field hockey today? We’ll walk through the essential lessons from some leading masterclasses in field hockey physical preparation. See below for all of the sources we used. We’ll unpack what every coach should understand about the physical component of the sport, what you can implement straight away, the red flags to prevent injuries, and strategies to make your team peak when it counts. This is your practical, coach-to-coach guide—rooted in science, unapologetically pragmatic, and proven on the world stage.
TLDR: The Essentials for Field Hockey Coaches
Before diving into the detail, here’s your coach’s “cheat sheet” from hundreds of hours of world-class experience:
Physical preparation is foundational: it shapes technical skills, underpins tactical execution, and unlocks mental resilience.
Every team—regardless of budget, age group, or context—can build in strength, speed, and conditioning, even with limited space or kit.
The best predictors of injury are sudden spikes in training, ignoring recovery, and failing to monitor basic movement quality and fatigue.
Preparing to peak is as much about planned recovery and smart load management as it is about hard work.
Physical excellence breeds habits of excellence; the little things in the gym, warm-up, and on the pitch cascade into culture.
If you’re a coach at any level—youth or senior, club or country—this article is for you. Ready? Let’s get into the hard-won lessons behind the world’s best field hockey teams.
The Physical Foundation: Why Strength, Speed & Conditioning Are Non-Negotiable
“Strong athletes can still fire at high speeds, up until the last quarter.” — Mick Beunen
Physical readiness isn’t optional—it’s the foundation that everything else stands upon. From the Belgian Red Lions’ meteoric rise over the last decade to the Dutch women’s continued dominance, every top nation has invested in building bigger, stronger, faster, and more robust athletes. Strength and conditioning is more than just gym work—it’s the foundation for sustainable speed, repeat efforts, and technical precision, especially under game pressure.
As Phil Moreland emphasized from his time with Scotland and Australia, and as Mick Beunen echoed with Belgium, integrated strength is the base for all other physical components: speed, power, agility, and resilience to injury. Without this, even the most skillful team is at risk of fading late in games or falling at critical moments in tournaments. GPS data from top teams shows that the best can maintain high work rates—total distance, repeated sprints, high-intensity actions—right through to the tournament’s last whistle, a direct result of robust physical foundations.
It’s not about creating bodybuilders or marathoners—it’s about developing good movement, strength through range, and functional power. The KPIs top programs use include aerobic fitness (e.g., repeated shuttles, Yo-Yo or 30-15 tests), sprint scores, repeated sprint ability, and functional movement quality. If improvement in these is visible, everything on the pitch—skills, intensity, and confidence—follows.
Building the Engine: Integrating Physical Training into Regular Practices
“We don't train to get better at tests. We train to perform on the pitch.” — Phil Moreland
The secret of the best programs? They don’t treat physical preparation as an add-on or afterthought—it’s woven into every training week. Whether you have a full gym or just a small patch of astro, there’s always a way to integrate the essentials into your hockey culture and weekly rhythm. The message from every masterclass is clear: make strength, speed, and agility a non-negotiable in your regular plan.
In practice, a well-rounded week for top programs features at least two focused strength sessions, built for hockey—functional, movement-based, with explosive power tailored for repeatability, not just isolated muscle work. For example, Belgium’s routines blend strength with agility and speed work, mixing small-sided games to create intensity and movement quality under fatigue. Smaller clubs or youth teams might skip the full gym but can still run isometric holds (lunges, planks), plyometric routines, and body weight circuits as warm-up, all contributing to resilience and power.
Even if you’re short on time, sneak high-quality physical training into 15–20 minute blocks: a robust warm-up that includes jumps, sprints, and decelerations; a focused competition in repeated sprints; or short circuits for mobility and movement quality. As Matt Eyles pointed out, the difference is in consistency: “One to three times a week is non-negotiable. A week missed strength training is a week lost—you never get it back.” These “small bets” compound, session after session, forming the invisible engine that powers game day.
Metrics that Matter: Simple Ways to Monitor and Measure Progress
“If you have a coach’s eye, you know what your players need to do.” — Phil Moreland
Not every club or coach can afford GPS monitors or heart rate arrays, but that doesn’t mean you can’t assess and monitor progress. The world’s top S&C coaches stress practical, replicable field tests and the value of trained observation. The keys, regardless of technology, are: test what matters, track change over time, and keep your feedback relevant to the game.
Wouter Blondeel recommends agility and speed tests like standing broad jumps, triple hop tests, 10m sprints (even with a stopwatch!), and basic repeated sprint abilities (e.g., eight maximal 20m shuttles with short rest). For movement, simple screens—overhead squats, single-leg balance, and lunge holds—reveal both performance and injury risks. The 20m beep test or 30-15 intermittent fitness test are still gold standards for aerobic readiness. Collect baseline scores, repeat every 4–8 weeks, and use trendlines (even handwritten!) to focus your physical sessions.
Above all, match these “numbers” with on-pitch performance. If a midfielder can’t keep up with opponents late in tournaments; if a striker’s repeat sprints drop; or if players struggle with movement quality under fatigue, those are your best KPIs. Celebrate improvements, notice declines, and adjust training accordingly. As Moreland said, “don’t get lost in the toys”—tech is great, but a coach’s eye and a simple logbook can drive huge progress.
Preventing Injuries: Warning Signs, Load Management, and Recovery
“A week missed strength training is a week lost—you never get it back.” — Matt Eyles
If physical training is your engine, injury prevention is the maintenance plan. Hockey’s fast, physical nature brings risk—soft tissue injuries (hamstrings, groin, calves), as well as joints (knee, ankle)—but most are preventable with careful management, basic movement screens, and load monitoring, as highlighted in all masterclasses.
The red flags? Sudden spikes in load (big jump in sprints, or going from laid-back off-season to high-intensity pre-season), ongoing fatigue, repeated “niggles,” and declining ability to repeat effort or perform under pressure. Objective monitoring (session RPEs, wellness questionnaires) and regular screens (movement and strength assessments) help, but so does regular coach-player discussion. For example, Matt Eyles recommends subjective wellness plus simple checks: “If little Johnny rates tonight an 8 out of 10 for effort but usually it’s a 5, something’s up.” All experts stress the danger of skipping strength work, sudden increases in running load, and cutting recovery days.
The best programs sneak injury preventive work into warm-ups and build it into training: Copenhagen planks, single-leg hamstring bridges, groin engagement, and isometric holds (lunges, wall sits) can become “just part of what we do.” Load management means balancing work and recovery across weeks—deloads after tough blocks, active recovery, and clear communication about what’s going on outside club (other sports, school, or job loads.) The simple rule: never increase volume or intensity by more than 10–20% week-to-week, and always listen for warning signs.
Peak When It Matters: Periodization and Performance Planning
“What we do at the start of the season often sets us up for the end.” — Phil Moreland
Performance isn’t just about giving everything, all the time. The best coaches plan to peak: they understand periodization, know when to load, when to deload, and how to taper for big games. Belgian, Spanish, Australian, and Dutch programs all shared this same lesson—preparing for a season or tournament isn’t just about getting fit; it’s about getting fit at the right times.
Start by planning backwards from your key competitions. National programs use deload weeks before major tournaments, tapering volume for freshness. Strength and power build up over “mesocycles” of 2–4 weeks of overload, then one week of deload. As Xavi Haro described, the Spanish club week divides into recovery, optimization (strength and endurance days), and tapering, with the toughest, most taxing sessions midweek. The primary aim: allow full recovery so players have their best energy and sharpness for game day.
Even at club level, where schedules and player availability can be messy, coaches can adapt by making sure not every week or session is “max out.” Build progression; plan for recovery after heavy blocks; and don’t fill the calendar with just matches—sometimes the most effective stimulus is targeted conditioning and fresh legs. As Moreland warns, “Don’t think that what you do this week lives in a vacuum—train for the season you want, not just the session you have.”
The Physical-Technical-Tactical-Mental Connection
“If your best practice habit is excellence, it will show under pressure.” — Phil Moreland
Elite coaches see physical capacity not as a silo, but as a cornerstone that supports everything else: technique, tactics, and especially mentality. The latest research and practical observation agree: without physical robustness—especially movement quality, repeatability, and decision-making under fatigue—technical or tactical magic won’t last long.
Mick Beunen and Xavi Haro both emphasize that dual-tasking, and training technical skills “under load,” is key. Belgian and Spanish sessions fuse hard, high-intensity bursts (e.g., 4v4s at high heart rates) followed by technical or tactical decision-making, forcing players to execute skills and choices while tired. Moreland drives skill acquisition through “training the what next”—ensuring athletes don’t switch off after a drill, but stay mentally and physically switched on, mirroring the chaos of match play.
Robustness isn’t just about muscles; it’s about habits and culture. If warm-ups are lazy, if routines are half-done, you’ll get shortcuts in big moments. But a culture of physical excellence—players taking ownership, pushing each other for best effort—shows under pressure, driving tactical discipline and technical composure. It even builds the confidence required for mental resilience, knowing you've outworked and out-prepared your rivals in every way.
Case Studies & Practical Applications: What Top Programs Do Differently
So what do top programs actually do differently—and what can you adapt no matter your level? Belgium’s rise was engineered by Mick Beunen blending classic periodization (overload, deload, taper) with precise tracking (GPS, heart rate) and a relentless focus on functional, movement-based strength—never forgetting variation to prevent staleness. Training is rarely repeated exactly, ensuring bodies and minds keep adapting.
The Dutch, under Matt Eyles, integrate non-negotiable weekly S&C blocks even during in-season, focus on practical load monitoring, and drive “exposure” to key injury reduction (e.g., Nordic hamstrings, Copenhagen planks) even in warm-ups. The best Spanish clubs, per Xavi Haro, blend gym sessions with field-based microcycles—focusing Mondays on recovery, Tuesdays and Wednesdays on strength/endurance, and tapering into matches, always validating with GPS data and adjusting for actual load. Scottish and Australian teams under Phil Moreland’s care built strategic intent—setting KPIs that matched tactical goals (“fast, aggressive, repeatable hockey”) then monitoring both tests and on-pitch translation.
Whether at youth or senior level, the difference isn’t (just) tech or budget. It’s that these programs prioritize robustness, consistency, and intentionality—making physical preparation part of team culture. They individualize as needed (extra work for drag flickers, GK-specific routines), but anchor everything in the team purpose. Club teams can adopt these lessons at any level: structure cyclical overload, screen movement, integrate physical work in every week, and most importantly, set the expectation that everyone grows physically, together.
Conclusion and 5 Field-Tested Rules for Physical Success
Let’s bring it home. Across these masterclasses—spanning continents, philosophies, and resources—the best consistently deliver not by chasing fads, but by nailing the fundamentals, every session, every week. Here are your five field-tested rules to guide your team’s physical “montage moment”:
1. Athlete-Appropriate before Sport-Specific:
Always ensure players have the movement quality, stability, and foundational strength before progressing to advanced or sport-specific drills. Let athletes “earn the right” to do more.
2. Quality before Quantity—Movement over Muscles:
Prioritize movement excellence. Don’t just rack up volume; focus on movement patterns, posture, and efficiency. Reward proper form and progression.
3. Plan for the Season, Not Just the Session:
Adopt long-range thinking—every preseason, every recovery week, every training block sets up the season’s outcome. Build progression, include deloads, and remember the value of timely recovery.
4. Test What Matters, Train for the Game:
Use simple, effective field tests and your coach’s eye to track progress. Reward improvements that translate to game impact, not just test scores.
5. Build Habits of Excellence, Every Day:
Foster a culture where physical standards, player ownership, and team accountability matter. Little things, done well, become the habits that win under pressure.
As coaches, our greatest privilege is building the “montage moment” that supercharges our teams—not for the movie, but for real. Every sprint, every jump, every small improvement is an investment in more skill, sharper tactics, and greater resilience. Here’s to making physical preparation a central pillar in your team’s journey for field hockey excellence!
“Excellence in practice is not a choice. It’s a habit.”
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