Field Hockey History

Field hockey is a popular team sport played across the world in schools, clubs, and national and international competition. Field hockey can be played on grass, artificial grass or indoor board surfaces and is a highly versatile game for all ages and ability levels. This sport dates back to the Middle Ages and was first played in England, Scotland and Holland. You can watch a history of sports on your box if you had a TV Aerial Repair Cheltenham company from sites like steveunettaerials.co.uk/services/tv-aerials-repair-and-installation-cheltenham come and fix your aerial so the signal is clear.  Read on to find out more about the history of field hockey.

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The Stick and Ball

The game of hockey sees players use a stick to hit a hard, plastic ball. The curved hockey stick can be made from wood, carbon fibre or fibreglass and is also often a combination of fibre glasses. The curled end of the stick is the only part of the stick allowed to make contact with the ball.

The First Hockey Club

Although field hockey originated in England, Scotland and Holland, there were similar games played in India and China which used sticks to play a ball towards an opponent’s goal. The sport grew in public schools across England and the first hockey club was launched in 1849 in London. The modern game was shaped further by Teddington Hockey Club who introduced a spherical ball to replace the cube-shaped ball and also introduced the striking circle.

Hockey at the Olympics

Field hockey became an Olympic sport in 1908. The sport grew and grew throughout the 20th century and artificial turf was introduced in the 1970s, which helped the game be played at a faster pace. This meant that new techniques developed such as Indian dribbling. New rules were also introduced to take account of the new techniques. Today the game of field hockey is always at the Olympics and was hugely popular among sports fans throughout Rio 2016.

Hockey Training

Approaches to training have differed throughout the history of field hockey. Training has always used different types of field hockey drills to practise various aspects of the game, such as dribbling, shooting, passing and positioning. In the modern age, these drills can be found online at places such as https://www.sportplan.net/drills/Hockey/drills.jsp.

Looking at the history of field hockey we can see just how much the game has progressed over the years. With so much interest in the sport, there are sure to be many more developments in field hockey in the coming years.

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