Field Hockey Stick - Heel Bend, Ball Position, Hitting & Stopping

Heel Bend, Ball Position, Hitting & Stopping

It may be noted from the diagram above that no matter how 'tight' the 'heel' bend, reversing the stickhead over the ball, with a ‘traditional’ style hockey stick ‘head’, always requires both a vertical and horizontal adjustment of the stickhead position. This is not anywhere near as difficult as it was with the very long head stick and this sort of adjustment will be almost sub-conscious in an experienced player. Note too, that when the shaft is held vertically, the ball is more securely stopped, when on the ground, to the 'toe' side of the shaft rather than in the middle of the shaft. Novice players frequently assume that the centre of the ball will align with the centre of the shaft when stopping the ball in this way and as a result, the ball deflects off to the 'heel' side and usually into their feet. Because of the 'heel' slope on the stickhead the 'vertical shaft' stop is actually much easier to carry out securely (when the ball is on the ground) if the handle is held at least 10° off the vertical, with the top of the handle sloped to the player's left. When the ball in the air, a little off the ground, below knee height for example, is often easier to 'catch' the ball correctly if the handle is vertical.

One of the incidental effects of the tighter heel bend of the modern stick is an increase in playing reach with the optimum striking or stopping part of the head of the stick when used in the normal range of playing angles. Held parallel the distance between the curve of the base of the stick head and the top of the handle is the same in the two sticks illustrated. At an angle of 45°, as shown, there is a difference of approximately 3cms.

The positioning of the ball mid-face on the stick head of the modern stick, compared with the mid-face position on the longer stick, also brings the middle of the ball much closer to a line projected through the centre of the handle and the circumference closer to the back edge of the stick, enabling better close control of the ball.

It will be appreciated after a glance at the illustration of the 'English' style hockey stick that stopping a ball on the ground with the handle held vertically would not be easy. If the ball is lined up centrally with the centre of the handle (red) it would be likely to deflect off the heel side of the head. Even with the ball positioned central to the head (blue) stopping would not have been very secure with an upright handle.

Presenting the stick at an angle of 35° or more (40° in the illustration) solves the problem of the ball running off the head by presenting a very long area behind the ball (relative to the width of the ball) but presents the problem of the best or optimum position to stop the ball for the following action. For hitting the optimum positions seems to be where a line projected through the leading edge of the shaft of the handle passes through the centre of the ball because it is the position closest to the centre line of the handle where the entire width of the head is behind the ball. Stopping the ball closer to the toe of the stick is acceptable but not optimal, as adjustment, which takes time, is necessary before the next intended action.

In the modern stick the vertical handle position is still not as secure as an angled presentation of the handle but the angle now can be considerably less, because of the tighter heel bend and the stopping and hitting positions of the ball are easier to determine. The line of the leading edge of the handle still projects close to the center of the ball when the angle of the stick handle is in the 30° - 50° range and a line through the centre of the handle will project to the back and underside of the ball.