During the 2010 Youth Olympics in Singapore, Basketball decided that the format for their competition should be something exciting – tailored to the youth and spectator excitement. They chose a 3 versus 3 format using only 1 basket, so often seen on courts and playgrounds around the world. You must have seen this shooting “hoops” in countless movies and TV programmes.
The IOC found this approach appealing and highly suitable for 2014 Youth Olympics. They have suggested hockey looks at a format which will follow innovative lines and make the Youth Olympics in Nanjing more accessible to a greater number of nations. Clearly, this will enhance the universitality of the Games and involve many more of the FIH’s members. This also dovetails excellently with the FIH’s long standing desire to create a “complementary game” which will make hockey more affordable and accessible.
Many will argue that indoor hockey is already a complementary game and is a 6v6 format on a smaller court of approximately 40 metres x 20 metres. We know that indoor hockey can be very exciting but in recent years brilliant defensive skills have blunted its excitement and reduced the number of goals. With a clever adaptation of the rules, indoor can recover its dazzling attractions.
For many years Mini games have been part of hockey development in its various forms especially for little children and the youth.
These have proven to be great fun whilst improving basic skills. The games can be played on smaller pitches/courts, in malls, streets, on beaches and basketball courts. Furthermore, these mini games do not require the significant financial inputs of the 11 a side game on expensive artificial grass fields.
Certainly at the Youth Olympic in Nanjing you could have 2 or more games being played simultaneously on the full sized field creating opportunities for many more young players to experience the joy of playing in an “Olympic” environment.
I can’t help feeling that in the basic indoor format which can be adapted to circumstances (size of pitch, number of players available, etc) we have the bones of the complementary game.
Steve Jaspan is the Chairman of the FIH High Performance Committee. The opinions in this article do not reflect those of the FIH.
Click here to read Horst Wein's argument for an 8 on 8 format.
