Wall ball training: a 20-minute session that fixes your first touch

No pitch, no partner, no problem. A wall, a hurl and the right ball is the oldest skills programme in hurling — and still the best. Here is a 20-minute session you can run against a gable wall, a handball alley or a school gym wall, all year round.

The right ball for the job

A leather match sliotar is loud, hard on the wall and dear to lose over it. Use a wall ball — quiet on the rebound and easy on the hurl — for control work, and a dimpled speed ball when you want the rebound coming back faster and lower to push your reactions.

The session (20 minutes)

• 1. Warm-up strikes — 3 minutes. Easy ground strikes from 5 metres, catch on the return, switch sides every ten. Rhythm, not power.
• 2. First touch control — 5 minutes. Strike, let the rebound come, kill it dead on the bas, lift, go again. The goal is a silent touch — if the ball is rattling off your hurl, soften your hands.
• 3. Alternate hands — 4 minutes. Strike right, catch left, strike left, catch right. Awkward is the point; this is where the weak side gets built.
• 4. Speed-ball reactions — 5 minutes. Swap to the speed ball, step two metres closer, and play everything on the volley or first touch. It comes back quicker and lower than a rimmed ball — that is the training effect.
• 5. Finish under fatigue — 3 minutes. Back to the wall ball: twenty clean strike-catch cycles without a drop. Drop one, start the count again. Finish when you hit twenty.

How often?

Three short sessions a week beats one long one. Twenty minutes, three times a week, for six weeks — then pick up a match sliotar and feel how slow it plays. That is the whole trick.

Kitting out a school or club gym? Wall balls come in packs of 6 and 12 — see club & school orders for bulk pricing, or start with the sliotar sizes guide if you are new to all this.