Once upon a time, people played hockey with a horn of a bull. The ball didn’t touch the ground and there were no goals. Field hockey as we know it now was started after the Middle Ages. The first names of hockey were like: Hurling, Kappan and Shinty. Only people from United Kingdom were playing the game at that time.
The rules of the games were really different at that time. The ball was not allowed to touch the ground and you had to try to get the ball in the goal of the other team. A hundred years later, they played it on a hard sport-ground. Since that moment, the ball is allowed to touch the ground. The hockey sticks were longer and rounder at the end. In the summer period of the year, they played hockey on a ground of grass. In the years after that, hockey became very popular in The Netherlands. They had their own rules. The hockey stick was flat at both sides and the ball was bigger and orange.
Now, I would like to tell you something about the rules of field hockey. The rules are the same internationally. The game is played between two teams of eleven players. There is an unlimited amount of times a team can sub in and out. You can’t sub a player in and out during a penalty corner. The flat side of the hockey stick is always on the natural side for a right-handend person swinging the stick at the ball from right to left. It is not allowed to touch the ball with the other side of the stick. The goal of hockey is to get the ball in the goal of the other team. When you are in the circle in front of the goal, you can take a shot.
When the ball is not touched in the circle in front of the goal, there is no goal.
When you touch the ball with your feet, the ball is for the other team. When this happens in the circle in front of the goal, it will be a penalty The players of a hockey game are a goalkeeper who wears a different color shirt and full protective equipment comprising at least headgear, leg guards and kickers; this player is referred to in the rules as a goalkeeper; or a field player wearing a different color shirt and who may wear protective headgear (but not leg guards and kickers or other goalkeeping protective equipment) when inside their defending 23m area; they must wear protective headgear when defending a penalty corner or stroke; this player is referred to in the rules as a player with goalkeeping privileges. Or field only players; these players don’t have goalkeeping privileges or wears a different color shirt; no player may wear protective headgear except a face mask when defending a penalty corner or stroke.
The ladies team of The Netherlands is really popular is in the world of hockey. They won a lot of competitions: They won the Olympic gold medal three times. They were almost in the top three for three times. They are seven times the champions of the world cup competition.
Annabelle Hoogakker, The Netherlands
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