Field Hockey Stick - The Forehand Striking Position

The Forehand Striking Position

For the purposes of this article the ball will be assumed to be 73mm in diameter. Ball size does play a significant part in stickwork and ball control (as does the weight and hardness of the ball) but an investigation of these is outside the scope of this article. The width of stick handles does vary (as does the horizontal length of stickheads) but for clarity and convenience the shaft of the handle just above the head has been taken as 46mm, which is fairly common, and the sticks scaled from that measurement.

The position of the ball when it is played, particularly hit with the stickhead, does, however have a bearing on stickhead design. Using just one of the whole range of angles the ball may be struck at from the forehand (right-hand) side (45°), the position of the ball will be looked at in relation to both the centre of the head of the stick and a line projected to run through the centre of the handle. An examination on the position of wear on the base of stickheads that have been used over a period on an abrasive playing surface lead to the conclusion that the ball is positioned close to the center of the head length of the modern stick. This is also the more usual position for receiving or stopping the ball in play while in the 'dribbling crouch'. Obviously when the handle is vertical or horizontal there is considerable variation but in most common hitting and dribbling positions the line of the uppermost edge of the handle projects close to the centre of the ball.

One of the problems with a striking head that is significantly narrower than the diameter of the ball is that the ball is easily lifted unintentionally if struck with the face of the stickhead inclined backward, 'open', rather than vertical or nearly so. Striking the ball with a 'closed' face is not always a solution, because it is then possible to 'squeeze' or 'clip' it, again causing the ball to rise, possibly even more steeply than with the so called 'undercut' hit.

Another difficulty is striking the ball accurately at the point on the stickhead that is intended (the usual range of error can be seen, in the diagram, in the difference of the lengths of the red lines that run from the centre of the two differently positioned stickheads).

It is also necessary to avoid unintentionally turning the handle during a hit at the ball so that the ball is 'sliced' (to the right) or hooked (to the left), this is achieved by gripping the stick firmly, generally with one hand locked against the other at the top of the handle, at the moment of impact with the ball.

Ensuring vertical and flat (perpendicular to intended direction of ball travel) contact with the ball is in the hands of the player and the coach, but achieving a correct contact position between the stickhead and the ball can be helped by the design of the stick.

At a common playing angle three different styles of hook stickhead present identical ball/handle relationships because the bend of the 'heel' is the same in each stick. An increase in the height of the 'toe' over the ball is very noticeable and is most pronounced in the more 'open' shape. The modern hook does not suffer from the effects of a rotational imbalance in the head as much as the original did because stickheads are now generally tapered towards the 'toe', rather than of uniform thickness so 'toe' height is not, from a weight and rotational balance point of view, as much of an issue as it once might have been. The stickhead is also generally tapered from the midpoint of the striking area towards the bottom curve, so when the stick is in the reversed position the maximum thickness of the head is not at the highest point. This gives a more balanced rotation of the weight of the stickhead over the ball.

Some of the early hooks were actually thinner in the centre and became thicker in the 'toe'; it is likely that this was done to facilitate more powerful reversed-stick hitting of the ball but it gave the stick unusual handling characteristics when turning it over the ball and back in 'stickwork': an 'overturning' or 'throw' of the stickhead had to be taken into account. The 'composite' stick is generally lighter than the previous wood versions and it is unusual these days to find a young player using the 25oz - 26oz sticks that were quite commonly used on grass in the 1970s, especially by those likely to be regularly taking hits at a stationary ball.