The Beckham of Field Hockey?

The TT-10 : The stick in question.  Adidas

The Basics

Now that you’re hooked into field hockey, let’s step through some of the basics of the sport.

The Game: The men first sent teams to the Olympics in 1908 and women joined in 1980. In Beijing, only the US women will be represented. Two thirty-minute halves are played between teams fielding 11 players per side (including the goalkeeper). Goals can only be scored from inside the 16-yard semicircle.

The Field: Anybody notice the water in the Taekema video above? While the slow motion was a weak attempt at Hollywood, the water splashing is actually a standard part of the game. Since 1976 the game has been played on artificial turf (100 yards by 60 yards) that is intentionally watered down before competition to keep the ball lower and slow down the game for fear of injuries.

The Stick: Sticks often weigh somewhere between 18 oz and 26 oz and range in length between 26 and 38 inches. Forwards tend toward a lighter stick while defenders grab something heavier.

The Ball: A bit larger than a baseball, field hockey balls are solid plastic weighing between 5 ½ ounces and 5 ¾ ounces. They can be fired in excess of 75 mph at elite levels.

The Preparation

Don’t think all the fancy sports science is reserved for Michael Phelps. The women’s field hockey team utilized its own unique, perhaps homegrown, training techniques to prepare for the Beijing heat.

With training headquarters in San Diego, the field hockey program knew the monotony of 74 degrees in southern California wouldn’t prepare the team for 92 in Beijing. In an attempt acclimatize its athletes, a team of physiologists, nutritionists and medical personnel built an oversize heat chamber for their athletes to train in. The “chamber” consisted of a 20-foot by 30-foot rental tent, three big misting machines and an industrial size propane heater. A bit crude perhaps, but effective nonetheless.