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Understanding Hockey Equipment - 12/02/2010Cast your mind back to your school days, although rugby and football was widely pursued, hockey may have been an option. In its simplest form, field hockey is a team sport in which a team of players, attempt to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking the ball with hockey sticks into the opposing team's goal. Its official name is simply hockey, and this is the common name for it in many countries. However, the name field hockey is used in countries where the word hockey is usually reserved for another form of hockey, such as ice hockey or street hockey - these are mainly found in the United States. Hockey is one of the most popular team sports globally, as are the more predictable football and cricket. However, unlike football very few participants play or make a living as full time professionals. It is a sport with a great many incarnations and is adaptable to the conditions and environment in which it is being played, for example it is just as easy to play indoors as out and can be played by teams of varying sizes on a variety of surfaces and sizes. Hockey is also an Olympic sport and a few years back we had some success with a certain Sean Kerly leading the Great Britain & NI to Olympic Gold in Seoul 1988.
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So what is required to play hockey, what type of hockey equipment is on the market and what is it used for? Well the first thing to consider when starting to play the sport is a good pair of shin pads and gloves, Hockey is not a sport for the faint hearted and the correct hockey equipment is vital should you want to keep all your fingers and toes pointing the right way. The next step in your quest for the right equipment is to select a stick that suits your height and strength. You can get all manner of different hockey sticks from a range of well known manufacturers and the grips to help reduce vibration, slippage and increase grip are all part of the arsenal of hockey equipment you will pick up as you become more and more serious about the sport. Then of course comes footwear, no matter what surface you play on, you will need hockey equipment that works to your strengths, nothing is more important than the shoes you have on your feet, allowing you to twist, turn and move from a standing position with confidence. The shoe will also need to be hard enough to keep your feet protected from the ball or puck. Now, that's all fine if you are an outfield player, however if your a goalkeeper the hockey equipment you will need is a bit more serious, with large leg and ankle pads, a chest pad and large gloves all protecting your body, with a large helmet and faceguard designed to protect your neck and head from the ball which more often than not will come at you at speed. So you see that like all sports, having the
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