Getting Ready for Field Hockey
Years ago my son played ice hockey and my youngest daughter could not wait until she was old enough to play hockey like big brother. Well, they closed our ice rink and the next closest one is well over an hour away so big brother ended up taking up little sister’s sport – swimming. The two of them still drag out the hockey goal
and play street hockey in our driveway on a pretty regular basis, so I decided to look into field hockey for my daughter. A few people I have spoken with rave about the nearby city’s Parks and Rec department (our immediate one leaves quite a lot to be desired) so I checked it out.
Registration is two weeks away still and the season doesn’t start until mid-March, but word on the street is the one and only local sports resale store has used field hockey sticks but you need to get them now or you will be buying new. I asked a friend of mine who has two girls in field hockey what kind of equipment my daughter would need. According to my friend, the girls will be given a shirt, however the rest of the list includes:
- Black shorts
- Field hockey shin guards
- Socks that go over the shin guards (black is good…some teams coordinate the sock color )
- Cleats (I will be getting Cleatskins to cut down on the dirt being tracked into my car)
- Two mouth guards
- Field hockey stick (how to buy a field hockey stick)
- Field hockey ball
Where to get field hockey equipment:
- DicksSportingGoods.com
- Play It Again Sports
- Dazadi.com
- OnlineSports.com
It sounds like there are two practices a week and one game per week with the whole season lasting 6 weeks. Sounds like the perfect length of time to introduce a new sport and get a feel for how she likes it. The great part about the timing of the season is that it falls nicely between her swimming Short Course season and Long Course season making it cross-training, too.
What does your local parks and recreation department have to offer? Other than soccer, basketball and baseball, ours is pretty slim pickings. Luckily there are private sports facilities nearby and the adjoining counties/cities allow non-residents to participate in their parks and rec programs if space allows.
