My passion! (Hockey - General)

Member Name: numberthree

Product:	Hockey - General
Date:	18/03/04 (51 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great sport, Competitive, Friendly

Disadvantages: ?

This is a review of my personal experience of the wonderful sport of hockey ? not really a technical review of the laws of the game! I may get around to that another time.

I am retired now due to family commitments - 2 children and an unco-operative husband. Ah well I have lots of fantastic memories of my 21 years of playing hockey. I only played for one club - Sherwood (who were one of the top clubs in the country), sadly no longer in existence as they have merged with our once great rivals Crimson Ramblers and are now called Highfields and play at the Hockey Centre in Nottingham.

Hockey is quite a technical game and you have to know the rules to play - unlike football. Very basically, it is a game of 11 a-side and played on a pitch slightly smaller than a football pitch. Now most games are played on synthetic surfaces (Astroturf being one), but I don?t think you can beat a bowling green grass pitch. Although the game has now developed so much that I suspect it is only really playable properly on a synthetic pitch and grass pitches of quality take so much maintenance they are now impractical. Each player has a stick around 3 feet long and 2 to 3 inches wide with a curved head at the bottom. You can only use the flat side of the stick to hit the ball and cannot use your feet unless you are the goalkeeper to kick or stop the ball. There are 11 players in each team on the pitch and substitiutes (up to 5 I think) are allowed to roll on and off - something football could learn to do I think. Another major advantage over football is that there is NO OFFSIDE. This rule was changed many years ago now and revolutionised the game making it much faster and more skilful. Once you have mastered these basic rules then find a local club and go along, you will be made very welcome. Sadly there aren't as many clubs around now as there were despite the fact that Olympic medals (GOLD) were won not too long ago (?where were the Germans ? frankly who cares?!
).

A great innovation has been the national league, however the profile of the game has struggled and sponsors have been hard to find. TV has never really wanted to cover it apart from at the Olympics. At one time the National Indoor finals from Crystal Palace used to be covered ? yes I was on TV once! But sadly no longer ? the pace of the game seemed to defeat the cameramen though.

For myself hockey has been wonderful. I have made lots of friends and been lucky enough to represent my country at U21 & U18 level and been on tour to Jamaica, Wales, Scotland, The Netherlands and almost everywhere in England. Although I no longer play I still keep in touch with many friends I played with. The social side of being a hockey player is great with lots of alcohol usually consumed. University or college teams are usually great fun to join. At national level now, the advent of drug testing means that players at this level must be a lot more professional in their attitude, despite being totally amateur. I hope these players are still able to fully appreciate the wonderful social side of hockey.

I recommend the game to you either as a fun, social sport or as something more serious. I am pleased to have seen both sides and really urge anyone to take up the sport. It is a great way to keep fit ? despite a lot of bruises and you will make lots and lots of friends!

There are Mens, Womens and Mixed clubs. The mixed game is a mixture of serious sport with good humour included and of course a drink in the bar afterwards - there are regional & national competitions for all three for the more serious player, but the social aspect of the game remains even at the highest level. There are also Veterans teams (for the over 35?s!) which continue the philosophy of hard uncompromising play on the pitch and wonderful friendly banter in the bar afterwards. I am proud to have played for Sherwood in the National Veterans Finals at the National Hockey Cent
re in Milton Keynes not long before I retired ? we didn?t win but had a wonderful time.

If you have chance then play!!

Many congratulations to the mens GB squad for qualifying for the Athens Olympic Games. Come on the women ? you can do it too! We could do with some medals!!!

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