Olympics London 2012: The pitch

Hi
The 2012 Olympic Games in London will be played on a blue and pink pitch and for the first time in an Olympics, the ball they will use is a yellow one. Here is a picture of the pitch:

EHL

Hi
This post is dedicated to a Europeans club tournament known as the European Hockey League. It is the best teams from around Europe competing to be number 1 in Europe. Its like the Champions League except for hockey. Uhlenhortser HC from Germany are the tournaments most successful clubs in the competition so far having won in 2007-2008 and then again in 2009-2010. HGC from The Netherlands won it last year and their captain Rob Short, who is Canadian, won the MVP. Moritz Fuerste has won MVP twice and Teun de Nooijer once. The club I play for in Ireland (Three Rock Rovers) qualified for EHL in 2007-2008 and made it through to KO 16 but were knocked out by a Belgian Club. The two clubs that represented Ireland in EHL this year were Banbridge from the north of Ireland and Cookstown also from the north of Ireland. They did OK but didnt qualify for KO 16. When Im older I would like to play in this competition because it is the pinical of European Hockey and it is streamed live all over the world so that would be pretty slick.

Bye

Taeke Taekema

Best players in the game: Current day

Christopher Zeller

Ashley Jackson

Teun de Nooijer

   

Hi

 

At the moment the best countries in the world for outdoor hockey are Germany, Australia, Great Britain, The Netherlands, Spain and Korea. These are the teams that have been up there in the semi-finals and finals of top competitions around the world. Jamie Dwyer (Australia) is his countries talisman having won World player of the year in 2004, 2007, 2009 and 2010 and captained his country on many occasions. Ashley Jackson (Great Britain) is the Western side of Europes best player. He is now 25 and has already made 52 GB caps and scored 17 goals. He is deadly from a short corner with a dragflick. Christopher Zeller (Germany) is a fantastic player lighting up the Olympics in 2008 scoring a goal that proved to be crucial in the gold medal match. Teun de Nooijer (The Netherlands) is arguably the best player to ever play hockey. He has over 400 caps for his country and over 200 goals. He has won the award for player of the year 3 times, 2003, 2005 and 2006. Santi Freixa (Spain) is currently the national captain and best player for Spain and hes only 29. Known not just for his work on the pitch but his work off it in places like India, he is a fantastic roll model in World Hockey.

Jamie Dwyer

Santi Freixa

Hockey in the Olympics

Hi
Hockey was first introduced to the Summer Olympic Games in 1908 in London. Hockey was then removed from the games in 1924 in Paris due to the lack of international sports structure but was put back in the games four years later in Amsterdam for good. However, at this time it was only a mens sport. Women first played hockey in the Olympics in Moscow in 1980. For a long period of time India and Pakistan dominated the gold medal at the games but that soon changed when in 1976 for the first time the games were played on artifical turf or "astro". This was very different to what the South Asian players were used to playing on grass the whole time and they dropped away from the poll position. In their place countries from the Southern Hemisphere such as Australia, New Zealand and Argentina and countries from the Northern Hemisphere such as The Netherlands and Germany went to the top and have stayed there ever since.

Bye

Hockey: My point of View

Hi

Today Im going to write about why I think hockey is one of the best sports in the world and why more people should play it. Firstly it is one of the fastest "field sports" game in the world as apart from half time and injuries there is no break in the game and when it is played and the top international level it can be difficult to keep up with. The fitness level of these players has to be such that they can keep going and not worry about how tired they are getting. At the moment I am in the Irish Under 16 squad that will be going to the Europeans Championships in Vienna and am going through a gruesome fitness regime preparing for it. Another reason is that no matter what size you are, in hockey you can vbe the very best. Obviously you have to be strong to play at a top level but you dont have to be massive. Some of the best players around today are small. The last reason why I think hockey is the best sport is because it is a game for everyone and the friends that I have made in hockey will stay with me for the rest of my life. I know that sounds a bit cheesy but its the truth!!

Cheers

Origins of hockey

Hi

shahe lebas

Modern day hockey was created in Teddington Cricket club where the members of the club that wanted to continue playing sport throughout the winter made a stick and ball game. The used a hooked stick and an old cricket ball and played the game on the outfield of the cricket pitch which was hard grass. This was in 1871 and by 1874 they had drawn up rules for their game such as banning lifting the stick over head height and also a goal must be scored by shooting inside a "D" in front of the goal at either end. The game took off from here and there is now a number of different rules and skills that can be used such as the dragflick which is a method of scoring a goal from a short corner.