Ball hockey
Encyclopedia
Ball hockey is a team sport and a variation of the sports of ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

 and street hockey
Street hockey
Street hockey is a variation of the sport of ice hockey where the game is played on foot or with inline skates or roller skates. The object of the game is to score more goals than the opposing team by shooting a ball or puck into the opposing team's net...

, where the game is played on foot in which players use sticks
Ice hockey stick
An ice hockey stick is a piece of equipment used in ice hockey to shoot, pass, and carry the puck. Ice hockey sticks are approximately 150–200 cm long, composed of a long, slender shaft with a flat extension at one end called the blade. The blade is the part of the stick used to contact the...

 to direct a ball into their opposing team's net. When that occurs it is referred to as a "goal". At the end of the time allotted for the game the team with the highest number of goals is declared the winner. In some places, mainly in the United States, ball hockey is also called "dek hockey", though organized ball hockey and dek hockey leagues do have slightly different rules and play on different sized official rinks. Patterned after and closely related to ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

, the sport replaces a puck
Puck
-Fictional characters:* Puck , a folklore character* Puck , a Shakespeare character** Puck, a Faeries character** Puck, a Gargoyles character** Puck, a Puck of Pook's Hill character...

 with a comparatively sized ball and is played on a dry floor instead of ice. The official governing body of the sport is the International Street and Ball Hockey Federation (ISBHF), which operates out of the Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....

 and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. The federation consists of 39 countries and recognizes hundreds of thousands of players playing in organized leagues throughout the world.

In common, unorganized pickup form, ball hockey is most commonly played on an outdoor surface (very often a street, parking lot, or other asphalt surface). In more organized forms, it is played in rinks, both outdoors and indoors, which often were designed for roller hockey. There are also rinks built specifically for hockey played on foot, and these are referred to as dek or ball hockey rinks. These rinks can also be used for roller hockey games.

History

The first documented instance of a sport similar to ball hockey, in which a stick is used to propel a ball into a net for points, was an Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...

 game called hurling
Hurling
Hurling is an outdoor team game of ancient Gaelic origin, administered by the Gaelic Athletic Association, and played with sticks called hurleys and a ball called a sliotar. Hurling is the national game of Ireland. The game has prehistoric origins, has been played for at least 3,000 years, and...

 from the second millennium BC. In North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

, Natives were first observed playing a variant of the game in 1572. In the 1960s Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 became the first nation to play the sport in organized leagues, followed by the United States the next decade, then countries in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 in the 1980s and 90's. The first inter-continental ball hockey competition took place in 1991, which preceded the ISBHF's formation by two years.

Field of play

Playing surface: At the highest levels of ball hockey, teams will play against one another in an ice hockey arena
Ice hockey arena
An ice hockey arena is a sport venue in which an ice hockey competition is held. A lot of hockey arenas were designed for use by multiple types of sport.-Canada:...

 minus the ice. This will look similar to an indoor lacrosse field. An alternative is a type of roller hockey floor, known as "Sport Court".

Equipment

Equipment: At the highest levels of ball hockey, players wear shin guards/pads that one would normally associate with soccer, though specific guards for the sport of ball hockey have been developed and are manufactured and sold to ball hockey players. Most male players also wear an athletic cup for groin and genitalia region protection. Players do not wear shoulder pads, but sometimes wear forearm protection. Players most importantly wear a CSA approved helmet for head protection and gloves. Each player uses a standard ice hockey stick.

The Ball: At the highest levels of ball hockey, teams use a hard, orange, small, round, and smooth orange/reddish ball. This allows for players to make the ball curve by over/under exaggerating a windup and follow through on their shots. Several ball manufacturers now market the balls with the temperature range the ball was designed for on the packaging itself. Although there is no certified industry standard for the balls since no street hockey standards organization exists, all hockey ball manufacturers sell their balls according to the following temperature range: red/orange = hot/warm above 60 degrees, pink = cool - between 40-60 degrees, yellow = cold - below 40 degrees.

Goalie equipment: At the highest levels of ball hockey, goalies use almost the same equipment as ice hockey goalies, however, similar to road hockey
Road hockey
Street hockey is a variation of the sport of ice hockey where the game is played on foot or with inline skates or roller skates. The object of the game is to score more goals than the opposing team by shooting a ball or puck into the opposing team's net...

, goalies wear running shoes and sometimes do not wear neck guards, as the neck protector attached to the helmet provides sufficient protection.

General rules

To view full rules of Ball Hockey, simply look at the Canadian Ball Hockey Association's website: CBHA Basic Rules!

Play On!

Play On! is the name of the organization that runs road hockey tournaments across the Nation of Canada. Play On! also has national championships, where teams compete for the Redwood Cup.

World stage

The 2010 World Championships of Ball Hockey will take place in Most, Czech Republic. The tournament will played from June 1 to 4. For more information on past world championships, visit the official 2009 World's website. Canada has won of all but one these tournaments. Also, ball hockey has an international organization, known as the International Street and Ball Hockey Federation or ISBHF.

Positions

In ball hockey there are three main positions, forward, defence, and goalie. The forwards include left wing, centre, and right wing. The defence include left defenceman and right defenceman. And then of course there is the goalie, which in most part can be a game changer. Some of the best teams in the country to have won the Redwood Cup have a great mix of scoring and speed from forwards, resilient defence, and a goalie that can come up with big saves throughout the game.

Recreational levels

At most recreational ball hockey levels, players play in a basketball gymnasium with smaller nets and softer balls, due to the lack of equipment- even goalies do not wear much protection other than a mask, leg pads, and blocker/trapper.
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