Now that you are done with choosing your hockey stick, you have to know how to hold one in order to play the hockey game efficiently.

The key to a good holding positions of hockey sticks lies on the grip. The correct clenching spot of the stick handle is a crucial element of play. The importance of knowing how to hold a hockey stick is to optimize the various ways of passing or shooting tasks such as hitting, slapping, dribbling and pushing or even for stopping the hockey ball.

The Basic Grip

The correct way of holding hockey sticks is to clasp at the end of the stick with your top right hand, with your thumb placed behind the handle shaft, basically with your palm wrapped around the cylindrical rod such that the thumbs nearly touches the tip of the index finger or forefinger.
The bottom left hand should do the same handshake way of clutching the hockey stick’s handle bar. Both your hands should form individual “v” grips on the stick, i.e. there should be a “V” shape formed by your index finger and thumb on each hand, with the “v”s aligning with the toe of the hockey stick’s edge (toe of the stick points upwards).
Many hockey beginners handle their hockey sticks incorrectly by placing their thumbs on the top edge of the handle shaft (the top facing side that is perpendicular to the side where it should be). This makes your wrists tilted in the wrong position such that your wrist and forearm muscles will be weak in delivering your hockey shots especially in wrist shots. Ensure that the wrist of your top hand does not bend as this limits your flexibility and movement in handling the stick. Your wrist should always be aligned with your forearm.

Whether you are a right-handed or left-handed player, it does not really matter. All hockey sticks are designed for right handed playing, however if you are a left hander, you may use your left hand as the top hand and your right hand as the bottom hand in using this technique.

In this case, the right hand is the one that controls the power or the strength of the stick movements in swings and hits, while the left hand maneuvers the angling and twisting of the stick to maximize the impact and efficiency.

To flip this grip, simply rotate the stick 180 degrees using your top hand while your bottom hand loosens the grip while maintaining at the same position on the stick, such that the toe of the stick is now pointing downwards.

Double-V Grip

For sweeping of the ball, we will need to close up the gap between the top hand and bottom hand to increase the sweeping motion power. The top right hand remains in position while the left hand moves up the stick. This is known as the “Double V Grip” so that it acts as a fulcrum in delivering the strength of the sweep.

One-Handed Grips

Then there are the one-handed grips. The one-handed left grip is demonstrated when you use your left hand to hold the end of the hockey stick, using the same “V” formed using your thumb and index finger in line with the toe edge of the stick. The same applies to one-handed right grip, except that you use your right hand instead of your left. This type of grip is essential for dribbling the ball at the side of your body, especially when you want to dribble at high speed.

The Frying Pan Grip

Place both your hands similar to the double-V grip, except that the “v”s formed by your thumbs and index fingers are in line with the flat side of the hockey stick instead of the toe edge (with the flat side faces up as if you are handling a frying pan about to toss something hence the term). This kind of grip is ideal for reverse hits when you are passing or shooting a goal with sweeping motions.

The Short Handle Grip

This grip is the opposite of the Double-V Grip when it comes to positioning of the hands. Instead of your bottom hand moving up to the top hand, your top hand moves down to the bottom hand in this case and closes the gap in between. You use the short handle grip for quick swinging of the stick to propel or flick the ball in a fast speed over a long distance or when the player is surrounded by opponents where there is little room for pushing passes. These are used in open hits or clip hits.

The Reverse Grip

Your hands should be placed in the same position as the basic grip, however this time with the “v”s aligning with the flat side of your stick. This grip is good for scooping in passing the ball through the air.