An attempted analysis and breakdown of a sport I still don’t understand.

As a rural Minnesotan who is well-acquainted with ice hockey, I was excited to finally watch a field hockey game in person again and figured there would be many parallels between the two versions of the similarly titled games. At first glance, field hockey seems fairly simple. Players use sticks to hit a ball back and forth and eventually score. But, when I tell you I spent 90% of the game with my mouth hanging open, I am not kidding. 

First of all, everybody in this sport is destined for back and knee problems. Players are only allowed to use one side of tiny candy cane-esque sticks and are constantly bending over to hit or receive the ball. At 18, my back is already heading into its late 50s, so I think I would be permanently stuck with one of these canes if I played. Again, as someone familiar with ice hockey, I was expecting to see some gnarly checks. Upon arrival at the stadium, I saw people dressed in tank-tops, skirts, and tennis shoes and thought to myself, “Wow, this is sick, they’re going to hit each other without any protection.” Evidently, that was not the case.

Field hockey is supposed to be a non-contact sport, and fouls are constantly being given due to hitting someone or their stick. In fact, Brown and Columbia combined for 51 fouls. Eventually, Columbia was fouled inside the crease, a 48-foot wide semicircle next to the goal, and I expected a classic one-on-one penalty shot. Suddenly, four girls rushed past me with a bag of metal masks and set up a penalty…corner? Apparently only the goalkeeper and four additional players can defend on a penalty corner. The rest of the team must stand beyond the midfield line and watch until the ball is touched by an attacker or goes out of play. Moreover, a penalty corner is not even taken on the corner of the field but rather in the middle of the end line. 

I did find, however, that dribbling is extremely difficult because the ball rolls faster, and you can only use one side of the stick. Thus, dribbling while sprinting requires excellent hand-eye coordination and the ability to use soft and hard touches for direction and speed changes. Field hockey only falls short of ice hockey in difficulty due to a lack of brutal physicality. 

Columbia (6-4) is on a four-game losing streak after falling to Brown 1-0. Tonight, they will attempt to turn their recent winless streak around as they face Yale at home. 

Baker Complex via Bwarchives