The Good And The Bad Of “Flow Drills”

I’m guessing most readers know what I mean by so-called “flow drills”.  In a nutshell, they’re drills that usually only need to be started, and then continue to flow until a coach decides to end things.  One such drill might start with an attack towards a net, with the players who just completed the attack heading off to do something new, then maybe something else, and so forth.  So again, the drill keeps going and going and…

The drill pictured above is one of my favorites, and I used it mainly with my high school, Junior and college teams.

The basic drill works in both directions, or with both nets being attacked.  In the first phase, a player circles off the boards, takes a pass from the front of the opposite side line, he goes on to attack that net, and then goes to the corner again for another turn.  If you can picture it, once the drill gets underway, players continue jumping in and out of action without anyone having to tell them when to enter or when to exit.

One thing I like about this drill — what I’ve always called my “Russian Circle Drill” — is that it can be adapted to accommodate a few or a lot of attacking and defending players.

For example, two players can come from each line and attack against no defensemen, one D or two.   As in the first drill, it can be a breakaway, but it can also be a 1 on 1, 3 on 2, whatever.

I’ve even adapted the drill to have a forward remain at the net when an attack ends, so he can then screen and deflect for the next forward/s coming down the ice. 

Truly, this can be an awesome drill — emphasis on the word “can”.  For, after watching coaches at various levels use these types of drills, I’ll tell you that laziness can also pretty quickly creep into their use.  As you know now, most flow drills run continuously, which suggests to some coaches that they’re not needed for the next so-many-minutes.  

Of course, nothing could be further from the truth.   Coaches aren’t supposed to be statues, but they instead have to be deeply involved in every phase of the practice…

Actually, I was taught by my old Phys Ed & Coaching professors to first introduce a new drill, to next demonstrate it (or have someone else demonstrate), station the coaches in the best vantage points within the drill, and then be sure the player/players get a recap of how things went once the drill is over.

Of course, few of us — including this old coach — do all of those things.  But the worst violation would be for a coach to disappear once a drill gets underway.  In other words, feedback is unbelievably important to the players, because they MUST be told how to make corrections with each run through the drill.

Now, in the event someone tries to tell you that they invented flow drills, don’t hurt yourself laughing.  Know that the old Soviets’ Anatoli Tarasov described long ago how he devised something similar as his “assembly method” for putting players through flow-like drills.  I can see it now, though, that a US college or Canadian pro coach decided to rename such drills for the flow that obviously occurs throughout.

Okay, I’ve already said that the above described drill was one of my favorites, and there are a few more I really like. However, here’s how I usually put so-called flow drills into my practices (for older players).

I’d use typically slower paced drills to get some skills work done.  Technique or decision-making might be the main focus of these drills, and it’s likely my guys wouldn’t be working up much of a sweat for something like 10- or 12-minutes.  With that, I’d eventually slide in a fast-paced flow drill that kept my guys flying and competing for 4- or 5-minutes.  Trust me, that I wasn’t blowing off any valuable ice-time, but I was putting a priority on getting my guys motoring for a time.   Their juices (and blood) flowing once again, I might be able to have them work in an isolated area on a single strategy, tactic or skill.

Have any questions on this topic? Please drop a comment down below.

 A visitor to one social media post about flow drills just commented that my sample graphic showed “lots of standing” (in lines).  My reply to him was, “The more activity there is in most flow drills, the less real development is going on.”  Then I offered, “Now, want to ask me why?”  My members don’t need to ask, though…

Picture players buzzing all over the place, with more than just a few being active at one time.  Then, recall from above how important it is for players in a drill to be monitored and provided feedback, so that they get to make corrections with each turn.

Ya, here’s where most — if not all — the players get ignored, and the coach quite possibly goes and sucks on his coffee for the next 5-minutes along the side boards.