Week 12 [11.01-17.01.2016] Field hockey

Field hockey

Another presentation I wanted to write about, it’s a topic that maybe some of you will find interesting. It’s a very specific branch of hockey family - it came from England and then it spread to Scotland and Netherlands - and still it’s a very popular sport in those countries. The main difference is that people play on a grass field. So this is how it works, players play on the grass field, they wear outfits like football players, just like this:

 

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/HOCKEY_ARGENTINA_PAKISTAN.jpg

The other things are protective parts, you need to wear mouth guards - because the ball is very, very hard - it’s heavier and larger than a pool ball. I got hit by that ball and it crushed my ankle, literally crushed it - I was very unlucky back then because I had my protective plates. Another thing which is the hardest to get used to are sticks and actual gameplay.

I will stick to the gameplay at first - players except goalkeepers are the ones who are only allowed to touch the ball and a player’s hand is considered the “part of the stick” and here is the most notable difference - the sticks are only one-sided, you can touch the ball with only one side of the stick - so the basic trick or basic move is  dribbling as shown in the video at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBKo9aRJb2E.

There is also one thing you can notice, it’s not that easy to play. You need to practice a lot to actually do anything, even basic dribbling and keeping your eyes off the ball is challenging when for example football is easy to play (but hard to master of course), field hockey needs some preparation to actually make anything work.

It’s a very dynamic sport, you run a lot and your body is bend almost all the time, because you need to keep your eyes on the ball, at the same time you need to watch where your teammates are.
Players are allowed to score goals only from a certain place – a shooting circle, when they are out of the circle and even manage to score the goal, it doesn’t count as one. This is the sport which invented the expression of ‘hockey castle’ - when in offensive, the essential thing is to work out your way through the opponents’ defense via teamwork and passing the ball.

So these are generally the very basic rules of field hockey - it’s very teamwork oriented and relies on finding weaknesses in your opponent team and getting the advantage of it.

Sticks are essential to start your adventure with field hockey - there is a wide selection of sticks - they are generally made of wood, fiber glass, or even kevlar. What makes it even more interesting, sticks can have different weight, it depends on personal preferences and materials used to make them. For a  taller person there are sticks adjusted to their height.

Fun fact: In Netherlands a very good stick is made of kevlar and costs the same as 1 kg of meat.

http://hinghamhighfieldhockey.webs.com/Disneys-Field-Hockey-Showcase-to-begin-today.jpg

I picked this topic because of the uniqueness of that discipline - it’s different from other  hockey branches. It’s very exhausting but very satisfying overall and I picked it also because women find it very entertaining, there are a lot of female teams in the Netherland or in U.S.A. - so maybe some of you will find it at least worth trying :)

So I have some questions for you to answer:

1.      Do you find it at least worth trying ? Why yes, why not ?

2.      Did you know that sport at all ? If yes, say something more about it :)

3.      Do you feel it’s a dangerous sport after what I have said about my crushed ankle ? Does it make you feel less comfortable.

Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field_hockey

http://www.eurohockey.org/