Indoor field hockey, or indoor hockey, is an indoor variant of "traditional" outdoor field hockey. It is not to be confused with other indoor hockey variants such as rink hockey or floorball.
It is traditionally and mainly played as a pastime by outdoor field hockey players during the off-season, when the outdoor pitches are frozen, or alternatively conditions are too hot for outdoor play. Indoor field hockey is played in regular national and international championships. The first Indoor Field Hockey World Cup was organized in 2003. It included countries which do not compete at the highest level of the outdoor game.
Indoor field hockey differs from its outdoor parent in several ways:
- The playing field is smaller than the outdoor pitch. An indoor pitch is 18m to 22m wide by 36m to 44m long, divided by a center line. The shooting circle is a semicircle measured out 9m from each goal post. Side-board mark the sidelines helping to keep the ball in the field. The pitch is made of wood or synthetic material. The board surface facing inwards to playing surface is angled slightly to encourage ball to bounce down not up.
- The goals are smaller than a field hockey: 2m high by 3m wide and a minimum of 1m deep. (This is the same size as Team Handball goals as early indoor hockey used existing handball courts)
- A team consists of 6 players on the pitch, 5 field players and 1 goalkeeper, with a maximum 12 players on a team.
- Internationally the game is divided into 2 periods of 20 minutes. (In the German Indoor league, they play 30 minutes with the ability to call time outs as in basketball.)
- The players may not hit the ball, but only push it or deflect it, and may not raise the ball except in the shooting circle, with the purpose of scoring a goal.
- The balls and the sticks are similar, but players prefer lighter sticks than for the outdoor game.
The small field and sideboards make indoor field hockey a quick, technical and physical game. Some of the original rules eventually influenced outdoor hockey, such as unrestricted substitution. It is often an ideal game for field hockey players to develop vision on and off the ball, developing a better understanding of tactics and set plays.
Read more about Indoor Field Hockey: History, World Cup, European Championship
Famous quotes containing the words indoor and/or field:
“As a man grows older, his ability to sit still and follow indoor occupations increases. He grows vespertinal in his habits as the evening of life approaches, till at last he comes forth only just before sundown, and gets all the walk that he requires in half an hour.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The snow had begun in the gloaming,
And busily all the night
Had been heaping field and highway
With a silence deep and white.”
—James Russell Lowell (1819–1891)