Our sports

• Hockey

  Hockey is the second largest team sport in the world, played in over 100 countries. Two teams of eleven people (male, female, or mixed) have 70 minutes in which to score more goals than their opponents, kept in line by two umpires. Scoring is achieved by hitting the goal from within the ‘D’ at the opposite end of the pitch, without the goal keeper (or any other player) stopping it. While there are a whole host of other rules (not kicking the ball or aiming it an opponent’s head, to name two important ones!) that is all you really need to know if you’re thinking of giving it a go. You can be a skilful but unfit player who scores lots of goals or saves them. You can put on the goalie pads and become probably the safest person on the pitch. You can start when you’re 6 or when you’re 66. You can run from one end of the pitch to the other, you can learn to dribble around other people and pass with clinical accuracy... but to start with, you need enthusiasm, a stick, some shin pads, and a good sense of humour. A good team will provide you with the rest!