Hockey – sport of brave?

Frequent fights on the rink of hockey have made this sport extremely popular. It is a game played on the skate rink using hockey sticks and a puck. Two teams of 6 persons play hockey trying to put a puck into the goal of the other team with the help of sticks.

Hockey was extremely popular in the past century but is widely played and watched till nowadays. It is rather developed in Canada, USA, Russia, and Sweden.

There are several kinds of hockey which differ by surface they are played on. The most popular kind of hockey is played on the skating ring, but there are also hockey games played on the grass and in gyms.

Each team has a goalkeeper.

So, ice hockey is the most popular but at the same time is the most complicated, because you need to skate well to play hockey. International Ice Hockey Federation is the governing institute that controls all competitions and championships held.

Both women and men play hockey and there are women's ice hockey and men's ice hockey. They both were included into Olympic winter games. And later this sport was also included into Summer Olympic Games.

The game is divided into parts called periods that last 20 minutes. There are also two breaks of 15 minutes that give the possibility to have a rest.

The other kind of hockey not less popular is Street hockey or road hockey that is played in the street. The puck is usually changed by the ball, because it is very hard to push a puck on the surfaces of the streets, while it skates perfectly on skating rink.

Field hockey is a famous game played by men and women. The difference from the ice hockey is that field hockey is played on the grass. Besides sticks have the form of a letter "J" while the form of a stick for ice hockey is the form of the letter "L". This shape of the stick is more comfortable for field hockey because allows to push the ball easier. The ball is used instead of puck, because it is much more convenient to push a ball than a puck. A puck is good only at a skating rink.

The most popular championships held in field hockey are Olympic Games in cooperation with International Olympic Committee, Hockey World Cup, Hockey Junior World Cup, Champions Trophy, Champions Challenge, and Indoor Hockey World Cup. These Championships are visited by thousands of fans every season and only the best teams participate in them.

India and Pakistan play field hockey with pleasure and it is considered to be the national sport in this country.

Roller hockey is also a favourite game of many people from all over the world. It is the same as Ice hockey but played on special playing grounds. And players wear rollers instead of skates.

Besides, it is very interesting to watch hockey game. So if you don't want to play it, simply watch it, you'll get a lot of pleasure.