|
|
The Game - Tips, tricks and tacticsHistoryThere are a number of variations on the basic game of hockey played on skates. The earliest versions were played on quad (a wheel at each corner) skates with sticks similar to field hockey designs. With the rise in popularity of in-line skates, newer versions of the game have developed and polarised into two key camps, those who play with a ball and those who play with a puck. The ball game is overseen in the UK by BiSHA, the British In-line Skater Hockey Association, while BIPHA, the British Inline Puck Hockey Association, controls the other. The different associations also have different sets of rules in terms of the level of physical contact allowed.
SafetyUnder any rules you should remember that the game will result in some contact both between players, against the walls or boards, other players sticks or a fast-moving puck. For this reason you should get kitted out with as much safety gear as you can afford. As a minimum, wear a helmet, knee pads, shin pads and thick gloves. Wrist splints, as worn by recreational skaters, are not appropriate for playing hockey - they make it difficult to hold and control your stick, which can be dangerous for other players. Keep them for your fitness training sessions out on the street. Hockey shin guards cover both lower leg and knee, not unlike the grieves in a suit of armour. Prices are from £25 to over £70 for the professional ice hockey models. Until you can afford a set, wear your ordinary skating knee pads to protect against falls and a pair of soccer shin guards to protect against low flying sticks. Hockey helmets are not cheap, ranging from £40 to £100+ but don't panic if are kitting out a growing youngster - they are adjustable for size, so will last a good long time. If you have an aggressive-style skate helmet, you can wear that but save up for a hockey helmet with a face guard to preserve your good looks! Cycle helmets are not designed for skating. On a bike you are most likely to fall forwards or sideways, very rarely backwards. For this reason they are built with aerodynamic shapes to help you go faster. In skating, you can easily fall backwards and a pointed tail on your helmet can lead to a neck injury. The main purpose of gloves is to protect your hands from other players' sticks. It is not uncommon for knuckles to get rapped as you compete for the ball. In addition, as you reach forward to challenge for the ball your opponent's follow-through from a big hit can ride up your stick and catch the base of your thumb and forefinger. If you look at hockey gloves they are heavily reinforced in this area. Gloves cost from £15 to £70. To protect your elbows from falls you can wear standard skating elbows pads. However, hockey guards are longer, reaching to the top of the gloves, protecting your forearms from stick collisions in challenges.
GeneralWe play full-contact skater hockey, which is closely allied to ice hockey. If you read the federation internationale rules, the level of contact is less than ice hockey - you are allowed to "ride off" opponents when competing for the ball but cannot check them against the boards as you can in the professional game. However, if the player in possession tries to skate through a gap between the defender and the boards which is too narrow for them, this is not considered board checking. You can also use limited contact to gain rink position in front of goal, whether or not you are in (or competing for) possession of the puck. A team consists of up to sixteen players. A goalminder and four or five outfield players (called lines) are on the rink at any one time. As the game is very physically demanding, the lines will be changed every few minutes. The goal minder usually plays for the full game, though near the end they may be taken off and replaced with an extra outfield player if the team is a goal down. Which ever form you play, there are certain useful plays and formations to keep in mind. These are a few you should try.
Box Formation
In the box formation, there are two defenders and two attacking wingers. Players have responsibility for their own zones as shown on this diagram.
This is a good basic formation for new players. All the positions are quite well defined and, ideally , the players keep to their own zones so there is space to play and pass. One of the most common faults we see at the club is that, as they follow the ball, all the players end up on one side of the rink, creating a line, rather than a box! Keeping shape in a game makes all the difference between success and failure. If you have people both forward/back and square of you, you have far more options available to make the pass or play, than when everyone is in a line and you have to try to find your team mate in a crowd of opponents.
|
