HOCKEY BALL

example of hockey ball

The ball is spherical, hard and made of plastic (sometimes over a cork core) and is often covered with indentations to reduce hydroplaning that can cause an inconsistent ball speed on wet surfaces.

General player equipment

Many players wear mouth guards to protect teeth and gums from impacts from the ball or stick. Some local rules require their use.

example of mouth guard!!

 Many players also wear shin guards, and again these may be required equipment in some areas. Many players wear astro gloves: a padded glove which is designed to protect hands from abrasion from contact with the ground (especially that of sand-based astro pitches), and some even protect against impact from a ball or a stick.

astro glove!!

photo of shin guard!

 A few competitions require goggles to protect the eyes. Defenders may sometimes use short corner masks; these are designed to reduce the impact of a drag flick from short corners, though they do not provide guaranteed protection.

Goalkeeping equipment

The 2007 rulebook has seen major changes regarding goalkeepers. A fully equipped goalkeeper must wear a helmet, leg guards and kickers. Usually they wear extensive additional protective equipment including chest guards, padded shorts, heavily padded hand protectors, groin protectors, neck guards, arm guards, and like all players, must carry a stick. However, such a player may not cross the 23 m line, the sole exception to this being if the goalkeeper is to take a penalty stroke at the other end of the field, when the clock is stopped. The goalkeeper can also remove their helmet for this action. However, if the goalkeeper elects to wear only a helmet (and a different coloured shirt), they may cross the 23 m line if they have removed their helmet (and placed it safely off the field of play). If play returns to the circle without them having opportunity to replace the helmet, this player still has "goalkeeping privileges", that is, they are not limited to using their stick to play the ball whilst it is in the circle. The helmet must be worn whilst defending penalty corners and penalty strokes.

It is now also possible for teams to have a full eleven outfield players — and no goalkeeper at all. No player may wear a helmet or other goalkeeping equipment, nor will any player be able to play the ball other than with their stick. This may be used to offer a tactical advantage, or to allow for play to commence if no goalkeeper or kit is available.



TACTICS

The basic tactic in hockey, as in association football and many other team games, is to outnumber the opponent in a particular area of the field at a moment in time. When in possession of the ball this temporary numerical superiority can be used to pass the ball around opponents so that they cannot effect a tackle because they cannot get within playing reach of the ball and to further use this numerical advantage to gain time and create clear space for making scoring shots on the opponent's goal. When not in possession of the ball numerical superiority is used to isolate and channel an opponent in possession and 'mark out' any passing options so that an interception or a tackle may be made to gain possession. Highly skillful players can sometimes get the better of more than one opponent and retain the ball and successfully pass or shoot but this tends to use more energy than quick early passing.
Every player has a role depending on their relationship to the ball if the team communicates throughout the play of the game. There will be players on the ball (offensively-ball carriers; definsively-pressure, support players, and movement players.
The main methods by which the ball is moved around the field by players are a) passing b) pushing the ball and running with it controlled to the front or right of the body and 3)"dribbling"; where the player controls the ball with the stick and moves in various directions with it to elude opponents.

 To make a pass the ball may be propelled with a pushing stroke, where the player uses their wrists to push the stick head through the ball while the stick head is in contact with it; the "flick" or "scoop", similar to the push but with an additional arm and leg and rotational actions to lift the ball off the ground; and the "hit", where a swing at ball is taken and contact with it is often made very forcefully, causing the ball to be propelled at velocities in excess of 70 mph. In order to produce a powerful hit, usually for travel over long distances or shooting at the goal, the stick is raised higher and swung with maximum power at the ball, a stroke sometimes known as a "drive".
Tackles are made by placing the stick into the path of the ball or playing the stick head or shaft directly at the ball. To increase the effectiveness of the tackle, players will often place the entire stick close to the ground horizontally, thus representing a wider barrier. To avoid the tackle, the ball carrier will either pass the ball to a teammate using any of the push, flick, or hit strokes, or attempt to maneuver or "drag" the ball around the tackle, trying to deceive the tackler.

In recent years, the penalty corner has gained importance as a goal scoring opportunity. Particularly with the technical development of the drag flick. Tactics at penalty corners to set up time for a shot with a drag flick or a hit shot at the goal involve various complex plays, including multiple passes before a deflections towards the goal is made but the most common method of shooting is the direct flick or hit at the goal.
At the highest level, hockey is a fast-moving, highly skilled sport, with players using fast moves with the stick, quick accurate passing, and hard hits, in attempts to keep possession and move the ball towards the goal. Tackling with physical contact and otherwise physically obstructing players is not permitted, Some of the tactics used resemble football (soccer), but with greater ball speed.
With the 2009 changes to the rules regarding free hits in the attacking 23m area, the common tactic of hitting the ball hard into the circle was forbidden. Although at higher levels this was considered tactically risky and low-percentage at creating scoring opportunities, it was used with some effect to 'win' penalty corners by forcing the ball onto a defender's foot or to deflect high (and dangerously) off a defender's stick. The FIH felt it was a dangerous practice that could easily lead to raised deflections and injuries in the circle, which is often crowded at a free-hit situation, and outlawed it.


FORMATION

Formations provide structure to a hockey team on the pitch. They help players understand and share the defensive and attacking responsibilities. Although higher level teams may select from a wide range of formations, teams containing inexperienced players or teams which see frequent changes to their players are likely to select from a more limited range of formations such as 4–3–3, 5–3–2 and 4–4–2. (The numbers refer to the number of players arrayed across the pitch, starting in front of the goalkeeper with the defenders, then midfield and then attack.) The 2–3–5 formation, used predominantly in Australia from relatively lowly interschool to professional interstate competitions, provides common language for many players and helps explain why "centre half" is often a name used for a player in the centre of a defence with four or five players.
Because hockey teams have one goalkeeper plus ten outfield players as does association football (soccer), there are many common formations between the two sports. See formation (football).
One important difference in modern hockey is the absence of an offside rule. This allows attackers (often a lone attacker) to play well up the pitch, stretching the opponents' defence and using the large spaces to be found there. To counter this, defences usually keep a matching number of defenders near those attackers. This can frequently lead to formations such as 1–4–4–1 which is an adaptation of 4–4–2.
When play begins, it is common for the midfield and defensive positions to take a diagonal approach. When the ball is played on the right side of the field, the defensive players on the right side move up field. Consequently, players on the left side would stay back until the ball shifts to their side of the field. This formation allows for quicker recovery in the event of a missed play.

Hockey Stick

Each player carries a "stick", normally between 36–37 inches long,but they make them shorter and longer, and are traditionally made of wood but now often made with fibreglass, kevlar and carbon fibre composites, with a rounded handle, flattened on the left side and with a hook at the bottom. Metal is forbidden from use in hockey sticks. Note: left-handed sticks do not exist.
There was traditionally a slight curve (called the bow, or rake) from the top to bottom of the face side of the stick and another on the 'heel' edge to the top of the handle (usually made according to the angle at which the handle part was inserted into the splice of the head part of the stick), which assisted in the positioning of the stick head in relation to the ball and made striking the ball easier and more accurate.
The hook at the bottom of the stick was only recently the tight curve (Indian style) that we have nowadays. The older 'English' sticks had a longer bend, making it very hard to use the stick on the reverse. For this reason players now use the tight curved sticks.
The handle makes up the about the top third of the stick. It is wrapped in a grip similar to that used on tennis racket. The grip may be made of a variety of materials, including chamois leather, which many players think improves grip in the wet.
It was recently discovered that increasing the depth of the face bow made it easier to get high speeds from the dragflick and made the stroke easier to execute. At first, after this feature was introduced, the Hockey Rules Board placed a limit of 50 mm on the maximum depth of bow over the length of the stick but experience quickly demonstrated this to be excessive. New rules now limit this curve to under 25 mm so as to limit the power with which the ball can be flicked.

HISTORY

Hockey can be identified with the early game of hurling. Games played with curved sticks and a ball have been found throughout history and the world. There are 4000-year-old drawings from Egypt. Hurling dates to before 1272 BC and there is a depiction from 500 BC in Ancient Greece when the game was called ("kerētízein") because it was played with a horn and a ball-like object. In Inner Mongolia, China, the Daur people have been playing Beikou (a game similar to modern field hockey) for about 1,000 years. There were hockey-like games throughout Europe during the Middle Ages and the word 'hockey' was recorded in 1363 when Edward III of England issued the proclamation: "oreover we ordain that you prohibit under penalty of imprisonment all and sundry from such stone, wood and iron throwing; handball, football, or hockey; coursing and cock-fighting, or other such idle games."
The modern game grew from English public schools in the early 19th century. The first club was in 1849 at Blackheath in south-east London, but the modern rules grew out of a version played by Middlesex cricket clubs for winter sport[citation needed]. Teddington Hockey Club formed the modern game by introducing the striking circle and changing the ball to a sphere from a rubber cube. The Hockey Association was founded in 1886. The first international took place in 1895 (Ireland 3, Wales 0) and the International Rules Board was founded in 1900. Hockey was played at the Summer Olympics in 1908 and 1920. It was dropped in 1924, leading to the foundation of the Fédération Internationale de Hockey sur Gazon (FIH) as an international governing body by seven continental European nations, and hockey was reinstated in 1928. Men's hockey united under the FIH in 1970.
The two oldest trophies are the Irish Senior Cup, which 1st XI teams compete for, and the Irish Junior Cup.
The game had been taken to India by British servicemen and the first clubs formed in Calcutta in 1885. The Beighton Cup and the Aga Khan tournament commenced within ten years. Entering the Olympics in 1928, India won all five games without conceding a goal and won from 1932 until 1956 and then in 1964 and 1980. Pakistan won in 1960, 1968 and 1984.
In the early 1970s artificial turf began to be used. Synthetic pitches changed most aspects of hockey, gaining speed. New tactics and techniques such as the Indian dribble developed, followed by new rules to take account. The switch to synthetic surfaces ended Indian and Pakistani domination because artificial turf was too expensive—in comparison to the wealthier European countries—and since the 1970s Australia, The Netherlands and Germany have dominated at the Olympics from 2011-2012.
Women's hockey was first played at British universities and schools, and the first club, Molesey Ladies, was founded in 1887[citation needed]. The first national association was the Irish Ladies Hockey Union in 1894[citation needed], and though rebuffed by the Hockey Association, women's hockey grew rapidly around the world. This led to the International Federation of Women's Hockey Associations (IFWHA) in 1927, though this did not include many continental European countries where women played as sections of men's associations and were affiliated to the FIH. The IFWHA held conferences every three years, and tournaments associated with these were the primary IFWHA competitions. These tournaments were non-competitive until 1975.
By the early 1970s there were 22 associations with women's sections in the FIH and 36 associations in the IFWHA. Discussions started about a common rule book. The FIH introduced competitive tournaments in 1974, forcing the acceptance of the principle of competitive hockey by the IFWHA in 1973. It took until 1982 for the two bodies to merge, but this allowed the introduction of women's hockey to the Olympic games from 1980 where, as in the men's game, The Netherlands, Germany, and Australia have been consistently strong. Argentina has emerged as a team to be reckoned with since 2000, winning the world championship in 2002 and 2010 and medals at the last three Olympics.
Outside North America, participation is now fairly evenly balanced between men and women. For example, in England, the England Hockey reports that as of the 2008–09 season there were 2488 registered men's teams, 1969 women's teams, 1042 boys' teams, 966 girls' teams and 274 mixed teams. In 2006 the Irish Hockey Association reported that the gender split among its players was approximately 65% female and 35% male. In its 2008 census, Hockey Australia reported 40,534 male club players and 41,542 female. However, in the United States of America, there are few hockey clubs, most play taking place between high school or college sides, almost entirely of females. The strength of college hockey reflects the impact of Title IX which mandated that colleges should fund men's and women's sports programmes comparably.
On 15 February 2003 in the UK, Salford University Men's second team set a world record for number of goals conceded in a game, the final score being a defeat of 37–0. An impressive performance from Brooklands 4th team despite the fact that they probably should have scored more due to their opposition, Salford University seconds only having six players.

POSITIONS

There are no fixed positions (even a goalkeeper is not required under the 2007–2008 rules), but most teams arrange themselves (in a similar way to Association football teams) into fullbacks (defence), midfielders (halfback) and forwards (front line). Many teams include a single sweeper. The rules do not specify a minimum number of players for a match to take place, but most competitions have some local ruling on this, with seven players being a common minimum.

One player from each team may be designated the goalkeeper. Goalkeepers must wear at least a helmet and a different coloured shirt in order to have "goalkeeping privileges". They may also opt to wear additional padding such as "kickers" over the shoes, leg-guards, padded shorts, body and arm protectors—if they opt for this protection, they are termed "fully protected goalkeepers". Although such goalkeepers may block or deflect the ball from the goal with any part of their bodies, and propel the ball with their feet, legs, the associated padding or their stick, they must always carry a stick. Goalkeepers are permitted to play the ball outside their defensive circle (scoring area or "D"), but may only use their hockey-stick in this circumstance, not their kickers; leg-guards; gloves/hand protectors or any part of the body. Fully protected goalkeepers are prohibited from passing their side's defensive 23 m line during play, unless they are taking a penalty stroke. A goalkeeper who is wearing only a helmet and different coloured shirt may remove the helmet and play anywhere on the field and retains goalkeeping privileges even if they do not have chance to replace the helmet when play returns to their defensive circle. They must however wear a helmet to defend penalty corners and penalty strokes.

RULES AND PLAY

The game is played between two teams of up to sixteen players, eleven of whom are permitted to be on the pitch at any one time. The remaining five players, the substitutes, may be substituted in any combination, from one to five, an unlimited number of times in the course of a game. Substitutions are permitted at any point in the game, apart from between the award and end of a penalty corner; the only exception to this rule is for injury or suspension of the defending goalkeeper, this is not allowed when you're playing with a field keep.
Players are permitted to play the ball with the flat of the 'face side' and with the edges of the head and handle of the hockey stick with the exception that, for reasons of safety, the ball may not be struck 'hard' with a forehand edge stroke, because of the difficulty of controlling the height and direction of the ball from that stroke.
The flat side is always on the "natural" side for a right-handed person swinging the stick at the ball from right to left. Left-handed sticks are rare, but available; however they are pointless as the rules forbid their use in a game. To make a strike at the ball with a left to right swing the player must present the flat of the 'face' of the stick to the ball by 'reversing' the stick head, i.e. by turning the handle through approximately 180°(while a reverse edge hit would turn the stick head through approximately 90° from the position of an upright forehand stoke with the 'face' of the stick head.
Edge hitting of the ball underwent a two year 'experimental period', twice the usual length of an 'experimental trial' and is still a matter of some controversy within the sport. Ric Charlesworth, the current Australian coach, has been a strong critic of the unrestricted use of the reverse edge hit. The 'hard' forehand edge hit was banned after similar concerns were expressed about the ability of players to direct the ball accurately, but the reverse edge hit does appear to be more predictable and controllable than its counterpart.
Other rules include; no foot to ball contact, obstructing other players, high back swing, and no third party. If a player is dribbling the ball and either loses control and kicks the ball or another player interferes that player is not permitted to gain control and continue dribbling. The rules do not allow the person who kicked the ball to gain advantage from the kick, so the ball will automatically be passed on to the opposing team. Players may not obstruct another's chance of hitting the ball in anyway. No shoving/using your body/stick to prevent advancement in the other team. Penalty for this is the opposing team receives the ball and if the problem continues,the player can be carded. While a player is taking a free hit or starting a corner the back swing of their hit cannot be too high for this is considered dangerous. Finally there may not be three players touching the ball at one time. Two players from opposing teams can battle for the ball, however if another player interferes it is considered third party and the ball automatically goes to the team who only had one player involved in the third party.

HOCKEY FIELD

Most hockey field dimensions were originally fixed using whole numbers of imperial measures. Nevertheless, metric measurements are now the official dimensions as laid down by the International Hockey Federation (FIH) in the "Rules of Hockey". It is these dimensions that are given in this article, with the imperial units in parentheses. The pitch is a 91.40 m × 55 m (100 yd × 60 yd) rectangular field. At each end is a goal 2.14 m (7 feet) high and 3.66 m (12 ft) wide measured from the inner sides of the posts and crossbar, and an approximately semi-circular area 14.63 m (16 yd) from the goal known as the shooting circle (or D or arc), bounded by a solid line, with a dotted line 5 m (5 yd 6 in—this marking was not established until after metric conversion) from that, as well as lines across the field 22.90 m (25 yd) from each end-line (generally referred to as the 23 m lines) and in the center of the field. A spot 0.15m in diameter, called the penalty spot or stroke mark, is placed with its centre 6.40 m (7 yd) from the centre of each goal.

Traditional grass pitches are far less common in modern hockey with most hockey being played on synthetic surfaces. Since the 1970s, sand-based pitches were favoured as they dramatically speed up the pace of the game. However, in recent years there has been a massive increase in the number of "water-based" artificial turfs. Water-based synthetic turfs enable the ball to be transferred more quickly than on the original sand-based surfaces and it is this characteristic that has made them the surface of choice for international and national league competitions. Water-based surfaces are also less abrasive than the sand-based variety and hence reduce the level of injury to players when they come into contact with the surface. The FIH are now proposing that new surfaces being laid should be of a hybrid variety which require less watering. This is due to the negative ecological effects of the high water requirements of water-based synthetic fields. In the U.S. field hockey is played mostly in the Northeast region of the country.

WHAT IS HOCKEY ???

Field Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks. It is most commonly known simply as "hockey"; however, the name field hockey is used in countries in which the word hockey is generally reserved for another form of hockey, such as ice hockey or street hockey.
Hockey has several regular international tournaments for both men and women. These include the Olympic Games, the Commonwealth Games, the quadrennial Hockey World Cups, the annual Champions Trophies and World Cups for juniors.
The International Hockey Federation (FIH) is the global governing body. It organizes events such as the Hockey World Cup and Women's Hockey World Cup. The Hockey Rules Board under FIH produces rules for the sport.
Many countries have extensive club competitions for junior and senior players. Despite the large number of participants—hockey is thought to be the field team sport with the third largest number of participants worldwide (the first being association football and second being Cricket)—club hockey is not a popular spectator sport and few players play as full-time professionals. Hockey is a sport played internationally by both males and females.
In countries where winter prevents play outdoors, hockey is played indoors during the off-season. This variant, indoor field hockey, differs in a number of respects. For example, it is 6-a-side rather than 11, the field is reduced to approximately 40 m x 20 m; the shooting circles are 9m; players may not raise the ball outside the circle nor hit it. The sidelines are replaced with barriers to rebound the ball.