Hockey - National Game of India

HOCKEY- National Game of India

Hockey is the national game of India. India has won lots of gold medals in Hockey. Till now India has won Gold Medals in hockey which is 1928, 1932, 1936, 1948, 1952, 1956, 1964 and 1980 Olympics. 

Hockey is normally played on grass field or an indoor stadium. Hockey is basically a ball and a stick game (stick is made up of wood). Hockey is often played at schools in UK but its origins are unclear. Later we have seen that another hockey category came which is ice hockey which was developed in Canada. It was found that its origin is in Indian Punjabi's game "Khido Khundi". The Sports Ministry confirmed that it had not declared any sports or game as the national game. This is why hockey has so long been known as national game of India.. The Indian Hockey team won Six Olympic Gold Medals from 1928  to 1956 and 11 untill 1980.

Hockey was invented in the beginning in Nova Scotia in the early 1800s, now a days hockey began to evolve into the team sport. As we know that Ice Hockey was first found in Canada. Now Canada remains the country most closely associated with Hockey. The development of the modern version of organized ice hockey played as a team sport as a team sport is often credited to James Creighton.

In India Hockey is not loved that much by the people in compared to other sports. But still from the past records Hockey is our National Sport.

Format of a standard game of Hockey:

Since 2017 the game consists of four periods of 15 minutes with a 2 minutes of break after every period and a 15 minute intermission at half time before changing ends. At the start of each period, as well as after goals are scored, game is started with a pass from the centre of the field. The oldest hockey team is the Montreal Canadians joined the NHL (National Hockey League) in 1917 and were founded in 1909. As we know that Canadians are the oldest hockey team in NHL, which is one of the oldest continuously existing sports franchises in the world and also one of the most successful in all of sports.

Different formats of Hockey:

As every one knows that every game has different formats same like every other game hockey also have different formats. Hockey also entertains its audience in various formats. The different formats of hockey are -

• Field Hockey
• Ice Hockey
• Sledge Hockey
• Roller Hockey
• Bandy 
• Street Hockey

Field Hockey: In field hockey, the game is being played on ground with grass or artificial synthetic ground. It is predominantly for women in some countries like Europe. But due to the absence of hand gloves, injuries at fingers sometimes hamper the players to continue in the game. But development in the game and its rules resulted in security precautions of total body while playing. Field hockey is the most loved version of Hockey compared to other versions.

Ice Hockey: The same principal of pushing the ball into the goal post but instead of ground, the game takes place on ice. In this the players use skates to skate over ice and earn points by scoring a goal. Their bats also differ in shape and size. The ball is actually not spherical in shape but it is a disc like solid that is used to roll over ice. It is fun watching this game and even more to take place. As this game is being played in the ice so all the players who are playing this game wear the proper gear of the ice hockey match because to play Ice Hockey there is different types of gears, its not like normal gear, they have the special type of gear.

Sledge Hockey: Sledge hockey is for disabled people who want to enjoy and have fun of  playing ice hockey, for them the game was invented. It has a board on which the player will be resting and with the help of skates the players will be rolling on ice and the rest is same as ice hockey. It is also played by normal people sitting on boards. As it has been mentioned that it is only for the disabled people who are not able to do physical work, but they also want to play, this game is basically for those. Normal people can also play this game to take the experience of this beautiful version of Hockey.

Roller Hockey: Roller hockey has two forms one is "quad" and the other one is "in-line". The players in quad forms wear quad skates while playing the game. A ball is used to play the match. The equipment which is used by the goal keeper is different from other players. This version of hockey is being played in more than 60 countries. Players in "in-line" skates for the later version. This game was originated from the quad sub type that was existed decades ago. Inline hockey is much easier version when compared to quad. This game is played in three intervals of 15 minutes each.

Bandy: Bandy is the Russian version of hockey and also the national sport. It became so popular across Europe that a Bandy Federation was formed during mid of 20th century. The major difference from the other versions is that the Bandy is played in a field that is almost equal to the size of a football ground. This sport also took birth from ice hockey. Gradually by end of 20th century, Bandy was played professionally in parts of Asia and North America.

Street Hockey: The most casual form of hockey is played in streets without any protective gear. It is played on hard surfaces with a ball. It can be played anywhere in the road, wherever there is some space, people can play hockey as by the name use can only understand that it is street hockey. To play the street hockey one does not need the proper gear to play as it is played in the streets. So no special gear is required for this Street Hockey.

Positions and Measurements of the field: As we all know that hockey is a speed demanding game. It used to demand the speed from its players and also from its playing surface. No other sport can beat the surface like hockey does and for that the surface should be incredibly durable handling the wear and tear of hockey sport.. The surface has to be maintained to allow a top level of the game to the players. The base plan is to be maintained in any of the two plans which is "Diagonal fall design" and "Crown design".

Equipments used in Hockey: For playing hockey the Hockey Stick and the Ball is the most important equipments without which the sport cannot be played. There are many other equipments like shin guard, helmet, glove, shoe, etc. that hockey players basically uses during the hockey match. In Hockey the main basic equipment is the different kinds of hockey stick and the ball with which the match will be played.

Hockey stick: Hockey stick is basically made of wood with the length varying from 26" to 38.5" depending on height of the player. The hockey bat has a hooked shape at the head. There are four types of variations of hockey stick namely shorti, midi, maxi and the J Hook depending on the efficiency of the player holding the ball.

The Shorti type: This type is used by players, who take an extreme control over the ball to increase the flexibility. In a game, basically the players at the mid field position use this type of bat in the game.

The Midi type: This type is used by the players who hit the ball more often and need to be strong on the reverse side. Strikers use midi predominantly.

The Maxi type: This type of hockey stick is basically used by the players who act as defenders or attackers. This bat is similar to the midi type bat but the surface area of the bat is being increased for stopping the ball.

The J Hook type: This type of hockey bat has a much larger surface area. However, it doesn't have the efficiency of the midi type in striking the ball, but for stopping the ball it has an increased thickness. This head type is preferred by the defenders.

Hockey Ball: The hockey ball is a plastic spherical shaped material made of cork core usually white coloured. The colour of the ball varies with the colour of the ground on which the players are going to play their match. The perimeter of the ball is generally 224 mm to 235 mm. It weighs  around 156 to 163 gms. To reduce the aquaplaning, the ball is covered with small pores so that on wet grounds the speed of the ball cannot reduce. The ball is the main part of the hockey. As by hitting the ball one has to put the ball in others goal and if he succeed by doing this then that that who scored the highest goal wins the match. So, basically without the hockey ball its not possible to play hockey.

Fouls cards in Hockey: The players are not allowed to control or stop the ball with their feet or with any other body part. There are basically three types of foul cards which are-

• Green Card
• Yellow Card 
• Red Card

Green Card: After being issued a green card the player may not leave the pitch (international standards say that the player may leave the pitch for two minutes), but further infractions indulge in a red or yellow card.

Yellow Card: It is a type of suspension where the time is decided by the umpire. But, if the offence in the field is serious then the time may exceed or the player may be replaced.

Red Card: It is a permanent exclusion from the game. If any player got issued a red card then the player is banned for some time or for few matches. After issuing a red card the player have to leave the pitch or ground.

Sandeep Singh

Sandeep Singh: When it comes to Hockey we all remember the name Sandeep Singh. He is an Indian professional field hockey player from Haryana and an ex-captain of the Indian national team. He is generally a full back and a penalty corner specialist for the team. He was famous as Flicker Singh in media as he is one of the best drag-flickers in the world. Currently he is in the DSP rank in the Haryana Police. He was born on 27 February 1986 at Shahbad and currently he is 34 years old. He is Haryana's Cabinet Minister of State since 2019. His acheivements are he scored the most goals and won the Man of the Tournament award in the year 2009 Sultan Azlan Cup. Scoring 16 goals Sandeep Singh was the leading goal scorer in the qualifying tournament for the 2012 London Olympics.

SANDEEP SINGH (Flicker Singh)