Anyone who has ever participated in an elementary school gym class probably has some memory of playing floor hockey. This sport allowed both boys and girls the chance to play hockey without having to worry about learning how to skate. Today it’s reaching well beyond the confines of school curriculum and there are leagues for this fun and faced paced competitive activity in many cities.

For someone familiar with ice hockey it doesn’t differ much. Not everyone has the chance or the interest to learn how to skate. Many children live in warm climates where ice is a scarcity. For them the closest they get to hockey is watching an NHL game on television. With floor hockey, though they can go through the paces of a game without having to strap on a pair of skates.

When it’s played as part of physical education class the only equipment used is generally a stick and a ball or rubber puck. This is because there are understood and strictly enforced rules of no contact. However, if it’s a league of floor hockey those rules change and in light of that more safety equipment is required.

A helmet is really a must for any child interested in this sport. They may see it as overkill since they are only playing on a floor, but serious injuries can happen when one child is body checked by another. If the league insists on every floor hockey player wearing a helmet, it’s not even a question that a child will raise.

Knee and elbow pads are a great idea as well. Just as with something like rollerblading or traditional skating, kids can fall forward pretty easily when they lose their footing. This is true in sports including soccer and floor hockey as well. A good set of safety pads under the child’s clothing can really reduce the number of bumps and bruises they’ll sustain. Read the rest of this entry »

Professional hockey and college hockey have a solid fan base, and many students try out during college hockey recruiting. Hockey is a sport in which two teams compete by driving a ball or disc using a stick into the goal or net of the opposing team. Perhaps ice hockey is the most popular form of the game, and college hockey teams usually play on an ice surface.

Field hockey is played on a level of ground of gravel, natural grass or artificial turf, using a small, hard ball. The sticks are J-shaped and made out of wood, glass or carbon fiber (sometimes both). They have a curved hook at the end, with a flat surface on the playing side and curved surface on the other. Field hockey first appeared in the mid-18th century in the schools of England.

Ice hockey, as mentioned, is played in an arena with a large flat area of ice, using a vulcanized rubber disc called a puck. Three inches in diameter, it is often frozen before high-level games to limit the amount of bouncing and friction on the ice surface. Players wear ice skates specifically designed for the game, and it is played extensively in North America, Europe. It is a major sport in Canada, as well as Finland, the Czech Republic, and in Sweden. Ice hockey uses sticks that are L-shaped, made of wood, graphite, or composites of these with a blade at the bottom.

Roller hockey preceded inline hockey, as roller skates emerged in the market long before inlines. It is usually played with the same rules as ice hockey, except that the game is held on the street. A ball is more often used instead of a puck, since a puck generates too much friction over asphalt or cement and does not slide well. Read the rest of this entry »