Hockey is normally played on grass field or turf field or an indoor stadium. Hockey is predominantly a stick and ball game. Hockey is also the National Game of India.Field hockey, also called Hockey, outdoor game played by two opposing teams of 11 players each who use sticks curved at the striking end to hit a small, hard ball into their opponent’s goal.The objective of this game is to pass the ball with a bat to the goal of opposite players’ court. Other players will be trying to take the ball away and make their goal. The players in the team will be assigned positions for which the duties will be defined earlier. The task of each player in the team is to get the ball in the opponent’s goal point. All the players should be co-operative in scoring more goals.

HISTORY OF HOCKEY :

Hockey, as a sport of stick and ball, dates back to middle-age. Some of the carvings of this sport were found in Ireland and Greece in 1200 and 600 BC respectively. It is assumed that the sport existed some 4000 years ago. However, hockey took its actual form with government organization to recognize the sport. Hence, specific rules of the game were introduced in early 19^th century. Countries like England, Germany, Argentina, Spain, India, Malaysia, and Pakistan have international teams and take part in all the annual events organized by International Hockey Federation (FIH) formed in 1924.

TEAM SIZE :

The Hockey is either played girls against girls or boys against boys. The team consists of 11 members and each player is assigned with a particular position and task. Like most games, team work is the basic element of winning and the entire team’s contribution is crucial for success.

The 11 players consist of Goalkeepers, Defenders and Strikers. Individual player has got their tasks to work on in the game. The hockey squad will be having a total of 16 players as the game allows rolling substitutions under necessary conditions. The rest 5 players will be a backup most of the time

COUNTRIES PARTICIPATION :

As Hockey was literally originated in England, Scotland and Netherlands, it was encouraged by various other countries as they participated in the game. The International Hockey Federation governs the sport all over the globe. Men and women represent in competitions including Olympics Games, Champions Trophy, World League and Junior World Cup with many countries which run masters’, senior and junior club competitions. This body is responsible for rules development for the game.

Most countries take part in this game. There are more than 50 countries that participate in hockey. But to consider the countries that are termed as the Big Eight include Canada, Sweden, USA, Russia, Finland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Switzerland. As Canada invented the game, they are the best in it. More than 60% of National Hockey League players are from Canada. It’s a right that if you are born in Canada, you are born for Hockey.

The top twenty hockey playing countries are Canada, Sweden, United States of America, Russia, Finland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Switzerland, Germany, Latvia, India, China, North Korea, United Kingdom, Belarus, Denmark, Mongolia, Japan, South Korea and Indonesia. India was ranked as the eleventh country in Hockey playing.

HOCKEY GROUND DESIGN :

Hockey is a speed demanding game. It demands speed from its players and also from its playing surface. No other sport beats the surface like hockey does and hence, the surface should be incredibly durable handling the wear and tear of hockey sport. The surface has to be maintained to enable a top-level game to the players. The base design is to be maintained in any of the two designs namely Diagonal fall Design and Crown Design.

The diagonal fall design directs all the surface water to a collection pit at the corner. Whereas, the crown design flows the surface water to all the four corners allowing them to collect there like the crown in the center. It allows the water to collect at a corner or all the four corners for cleaning and slightly tilting the ground. This is the base design of the ground and is followed in all the ground designs.

After the base is finished, In-situ shock pad is to be installed over the base. It consists of black SBR granules and polyurethane binder. This is mixed on site and laid to specified depth. This gives a firm hold of the ground and the strength. The hardness below the ground makes it sustainable from the beatings of the hockey bat during the play. As per the requirement of the FIH (Federation International Hockey) the ground is made to shock absorbent.

Earlier, the game was played on a natural turf or grass field. But now-a-days it is played on artificial turfs. In the 1970’s, the transition into artificial turfs came into existence and its being made mandatory since 1976. All the markings, lines, and goals are specified by the International Hockey Federation in the Rules of Hockey. The foul game is played in a 23 meter area.Standard pitch measurements are given as 100 yards by 60 yards. The total area of the field is 5027 square meters. The hockey pitch is shaped in rectangular manner. The long perimeter side is named as side lines and the short perimeter edges are named as back lines. The portion between goal posts is known as goal Lines. All lines are colored white with 75mm wide. At all the corners of the pitch, a flag of max 300 mm square is attached to a post of height 1.20 to 1.50 meters.

HOCKEY EQUIPMENT :

Hockey stick and ball are the most important equipment without which the sport cannot be played. There are many other equipment like shin guard, helmet, glove, shoes, etc., that a hockey player uses during the match.

The following are the equipment used in the hockey game by the goalie and the players.Hockey Stick − It is a wooden stick with length varying from 26’’ to 38.5’’ depending on height of the player. The bat has a hooked shape at the head. There are mostly four types of variations namely shorti, midi, maxiand the J Hook depending on the efficiency of the player holding the ball.

• The shorti type is used by players, who take an extreme control over the ball to increase the manoeuvrability. Generally, the players at the mid field position use this type of bat in the game.
• The midi type is used by the players who hit the ball more often and need to be strong on the reverse side. Strikers use midi predominantly.
• The maxi type is used by the players who act as defenders or attackers. This bat is similar to the midi type but the surface area is being increased. For stopping the ball, its strength allows it to be much more efficient in doing that.
• The J Hook type has a much larger surface area. However, it doesn’t possess the efficiency of the midi type in striking the ball. But, for stopping the ball it has an increased thickness. This head type is preferred by the defenders.

GAME PLAYERS AND THEIR ROLES :

Hockey has started its course from the English Public Schools to Olympics level. Each hockey team must have 11 members who should always be ready on the field to start the match. Total number of members in a team are 16 of which five are substitute. The guidelines on how to play the game is given by the International Federation of Hockey.

Substitution of players can be done any number of times. At any point of time, the team can give rest to a player and call a substitute on his behalf. The 11 players consist of one goal keeper, and the rest shall be in the field. The attributes for each player is as follows −

GOAL KEEPER:

Arguably, the goalkeeper is the most important player in the whole team. The responsibility of the goalkeeper is to defend the goal post and prevent the other team from hitting a goal.

The key responsibilities of the Goal Keeper are listed as follows −

• Should be fast and also agile.
• Should be proficient at both right and left foot.
• Should be able to judge the shooting angle and close them down.
• Should be a good communicator and be able to organize the defense.
• Should be able to go down in a correct manner at defensive moments and at required moment should remain in standing position

The position of the goalkeeper needs to meet the following requirements.

• Should be able to save the straight shots towards the goal.
• Should be able to minimize the attacking team’s score by organizing the defensive attacks.
• Should establish good communication with other defenders.

DEFENDERS:

The defenders are positioned at four locations. They are right half, left half, right back and left back. The chief role of the defenders is to defend the back four. They should work as a team and try to minimize the score of their opponent.

The main attributes of a defender are as follows −

• Should be able to turn sideways and get back swiftly.
• Should be having strong basic skills. Effective in trapping the opponent, passing the ball and tackling the situation.
• Should be able to prevent opponent attack and put the ball away from the danger zone.
• Should understand both man-to-man as well as zonal defense and decide the correct approach to use.
• Should be able to have a good vision of other players and gather knowledge of best passing opportunities

MIDFIELD :

The three distributions in the midfield positions are inside right, inside left and center half. The midfield is the team’s engine room. It links the attackers and the defenders. It should avoid opponents to have clean breaks through the middle of the field. Midfielders should be major game distributors and have a great awareness of the game.

Attributes of a midfielder are as follows −

• Should possess a great acceleration with fitness, fast and agile.
• Should possess strong all-round basic knowledge of hockey.
• Should have a good knowledge in passing, ball carrying, receiving and shooting.
• Should have a great awareness and vision of the game.
• Should be able to switch play or change the point of attack.
• Should be able to understand the defenses and choose the right one at right time.
• Should be able to understand the lines and angles of attack and defense in the play at midfield.

STRIKERS :

The first role of a striker is to generate opportunities of scoring. These must be done by working as a team, creating width and depth on the attack, create a link with midfield and taking the best of all the possible opportunities.

Specific attributes of a good striker are as follows −

• Should be able to get a clear view on the lines and angles of attack and defense.
• Should be able to deploy pressure on the opponent defenders.
• Should be able to move fast and should be agile with high acceleration and pace change.
• Should have a good vision on the game and awareness of moves.
• Should have a constant movement where the key actions are creating space, attacking opportunities and leading the team.
• Should be able to execute and identify the best opportunity for shooting.

DURATION OF MATCH :

A regular hockey match takes place for 70 minutes consisting two halves each of 35 minutes. Also, sometimes matches end in draw. But the official matches should have a winner unlike other matches. If in any case, the game is a tie then extra time is given. If there is tie again then penalty flick competition decides the winner of the match.

A player passes the ball among them to progress it towards the goal using a triangle method of passing system. This prevents the opponent to intercept the ball.

The hockey players take their respective positions on the field. One of the teams starts the game with a centre pass and continues to attack opponent to score a goal. The player taking centre pass can only stand in the other half of field while his team members should stand within their half of defending goal. The player taking centre pass is permitted to hit the ball in any direction.

• The team members keep passing the ball and look for opportunities to score the goal while the opponents tackle them and try to take control of the ball.
• If the game is paused any moment for injury or substitution, it resumes by the player passing the ball from nearest spot of stoppage of play. This is called bully.
• A player from each team stands close to the ball with defending goals on their right to take a bully. Both players tap faces of their sticks and one of the players is allowed to hit the ball.
• A free-hit situation arises when a player hits the ball outside the sideline or baseline. Free-hit is taken by a defender by placing the ball 15 meters in line to the centre of goal.

SCORING :

It is very interesting thing to learn how to score in hockey. Specific ways to win a score are penalty corner, field goal, and penalty stroke.

Taking a Penalty Corner:

Only four players are allowed along with a goal keeper. They must be behind the baseline inside or outside the goal. The other defending players must be behind the half way line or on the line. Any number of players from the attacking team can be there to attack but most probably seven will be the attacking players. One player will be injecting the ball from baseline.The presence of a stopper at the top of D depends on the set-up of the team. When the injection of the ball takes place before it re-enters D and shot at goal, it must go out of D first. For the first strike to be counted, it must be below the back board, if it is a drag or a deflection, it can end anywhere inside the goal and it can also be counted.

Taking a Penalty Stroke:

When there is an infringement inside of D, the penalty stroke is given if there was a definite goal scoring chance. It is a free shot that was taken by one attacker against one goal keeper only and from a distance of 6.4 meters straight in front of the goal. The duration of the match is stopped when there is a penalty stroke taken.

FOULS :

The on-field players are not allowed to control or stop the ball with feet or any other body part. A free-hit is awarded to a team if ball hits the opponent player’s body. The hockey ball is often scooped by players to pass it to their team members directly. However, the same shot is given as foul by the referee if it is played dangerously.

Apart from these, there are tackling fouls where players are found to be little rough with opponent players to take control of ball. The game is observed very closely by referee to declare fouls and make important decisions. The referees in the game display cards in three colors, each of which indicates the level of foul or offence committed by a player.

• Green card − The player may not leave the pitch (international standards say that the player may leave the pitch for two minutes), but further infractions indulge in a red or yellow card.
• Yellow card − It is a suspension where the time is decided by the card issuing umpire. Mostly, five minutes will be the chosen time by any umpire. But, if the offense is serious the time may exceed or the player is replaced.
• Red card − It is a permanent exclusion from the game. Here the player is banned for some time or for a few matches. The player should leave the pitch in this case.

HOCKEY AND ITS TYPES :

Field Hockey:

This game is played on ground with grass or artificial synthetic ground. It is predominantly for women in some countries like Europe. But due to the absence of hand gloves, injuries at fingers sometimes hamper the players to continue in the game. But advancement in the game and its rules resulted in security precautions of total body while playing.

Ice Hockey:

The same principle of pushing the ball into the goal post but instead of ground, the game takes place on ice. The players use skates to skate over ice and earn points. Their bats also differ in shape and size. The ball is actually not spherical in shape but a disc like solid that is used to roll over ice. It is fun watching this game and even more to take part.

Sledge Hockey :

For disabled people who want to enjoy the fun of playing ice hockey, this game was invented. It has a board on which the player will be resting and with the help of skates it will be rolling on ice and the rest is same as ice hockey. It is also played by normal people sitting on the boards.

Bandy:

Bandy is Russian version of hockey and also the national sport. It became so popular across Europe that a bandy federation was formed during mid-20^th century. The major difference from other versions is that Bandy is played in a field that is almost equal to the size of football field. This sport also took birth from ice hockey. Gradually by end of 20^th century, Bandy was played professionally in parts of Asia and North America.

HOCKEY CHAMPIONS :

Santi Freixa (Spain)

Santi is another great player from Europe. He has represented Spain in 2008 Olympic Games and won silver medal for the country. He has also won the FIH award for best young player.He is the captain of Spain’s hockey national team. He is also known for his off-the-field social activity campaign Stick for India that supports children of Anantapur with education and hockey skills.

Dhyan Chand (India)

Dhyan Singh alias Dhyan Chand was believed to be the best hockey player ever. His ability to control the ball and break the defense of opposition with ease was the prime attraction. The way he carried himself both on and off the field brought him respect all over the world.He led Indian hockey team to three consecutive gold medals in Olympic Games. Many people around the globe followed and admired Chand’s stick play; some fondly called him magician of hockey.

Leslie Claudius (India)

Another Indian legend who was born to play hockey only, as few experts of the game described. Claudius was short in stature and had bundles of stamina. He never used to get tired.Leslie holds a Guinness World Record for being part of a Hockey team that won maximum number of Medals at the Olympic Games.He took part in four Olympic Games and won four medals; three gold medals in 1948, 1952, 1956, and a silver medal in 1960 under his captaincy

Ties Kruize (Netherlands)

This Dutch player was simply superb on the field. He scored 167 goals in just over 200 international matches. He met with an accident during his prime and doctors told that he can never play the sport again.Surprisingly, he recovered to full health and returned to the sport only to stun the world with victories in World Championship (1973), two Champions Trophies in 1981-82, and European Championship in 1983.

Jamie Dwyer (Australia)

Dwyer was one of the legends of hockey in modern era. He was very quick on the feet with great skill to manoeuvre ball with the stick. He was nick named as foetus for his ability to shift positions from being an attacker to defender in a flash.He played for Australia to achieve hockey gold medal in Olympics after a long gap of 48 years. He also won World Cup and Commonwealth Games gold for his national side. Dwyer won world player of the year award five times.

Luciana Aymar (Argentina)

Aymar is considered as the greatest ever female hockey player. She was the finest dribbler when compared to her counterparts. She played an important role for her national side to win World Cup titles in 2002 and 2010. She also won eight FIH world player of the year titles.At junior level also she played very well and helped her team to win many tournaments. She represented Argentina as a flag-bearer for 2012 Olympics and was the second hockey player to receive this honour.

Natascha Keller (Germany)

Natascha is one of the most popular female hockey players in the world with an Olympic gold medal to her kitty. She represented Germany in more than 400 matches.She won the gold medal in 2004 Olympic Games and was the flag bearer of Germany in 2012. Her family has an illustrious career in field hockey and that boosted her to play and represent the country at international level.

THANK YOU !