Home History Rules Types of Hits Events National Teams Top College Teams Top High School Teams About Us Works Cited Games
Field Hockey is one of the oldest games that people still play today. It may even be 1,000 years older than games like soccer, baseball, and football. They didn’t get the name hockey until the 1700’s so each country played their own version. Most native countries played a version of field hockey called shinny. Shinny is a game that is played with a curved stick and a ball, just like in field hockey except, their balls and sticks were made from different things than today. Their hockey sticks were usually made out of animal 
bones and the balls were made from deer or buckskin. The field shinny was played on was rectangle, like today, but was many sizes. Teams could also have up to 100 players. Countries in Europe also had their own versions of field hockey. In Wales they played bandy, in Ireland they played hurley, and in Scotland they played shinty. The modern game of field hockey wasn’t made until the 1800’s and even then only men played it. Women didn’t play until 1887. The first girl team was made in Mosley, England. At this point
in history field hockey was mostly played only in Europe. Constance Applebee brought field hockey to the U.S. She taught her class how to play because she thought they weren’t getting enough exercise. Later she spread it to colleges and in 1908 it became a sport in the Olympics.