HOCKEY

Hockey is a type of sport in which players try to get points by hitting an object into the other team's goal with a stick. It is a game played between two teams on a field with  curved sticks and a small hard ball. Its birth place was Asia and authorities credit Persia with having devised it about 2000BC. Modern hockey was created in England. The true ancestor of hockey was Irish hurling. The first hockey club was formed in Blackheath in 1861. The first international match was played in 1895 between England and Ireland. In 1908 hockey was included in the modern Olympic Games. The most extra ordinary aspect of its evolution is that a game once so rough and unruly was adopted by women.

 There are three main ways

01)Field hockey It is played with a ball on grass or AstroTurf. Teams have 11 players each. Field hockey is usually played outdoors, but there is indoor field hockey. Field hockey is played in the Summer Olympic Games.

02)Ice hockey  It is played on ice. Players on each team wear ice skates. They try to hit a small rubber disc called a hockey puck into the other team's goal. There are 6 players on each team.

03)Roller hockey:  It is played on a roller hockey rink, usually inside. Players on each team wear roller skates. There are 5 players on each team.

                         Hockey became popular in India when the British Regiments played the game in India and introduced it in the British Indian Regiments who quickly picked up the game. The first hockey club was formed in Calcutta in 1885-86 followed by Bombay and Punjab. The Bengal Hockey was the first Hockey Association in India founded in 1908.