LADIES’ HOCKEY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 14 August 1939, Page 8

LADIES’ HOCKEY

ADVICE TO PLAYERS WHAT RECRUITS SHOULD KNOW. REASONS FOR STOPPER. (BY LES. M. MURPHY). (Wellington Ladies’ Hockey "Critic.”) Today’s article deals with the taking of penalty corners and reasons for having both stopper and striker. There are so many departments in a game to study that it would be impossible to ever become perfect. The body and mind are so fashioned that it is impossible to gain perfection in any department of human activity. We try hard, and improvement goes on more slowly as the action approaches, but never reaches perfection. Each slight action in a game can be improved if, of course, it is pursued with thought, for without thought there can be little, if any, improvement. One of the major activities in the hockey game which is seldom exploited, though it can with practice, result almost consistently in a goal, is the penalty corner. Taken in a slip-shod fashion, with the most conveniently situated player hitting it in, and the most conveniently situated player striking for goal, the penalty corner has little chance of success. No results can be obtained from any activity that is pursued in a willy-nilly fashion. There must be active thought followed by consistent practice, and careful application. It will be readily conceded that the more a certain action is performed the more automatic it becomes. If a certain player is selected to strike the ball in from the corner and she has a clear understanding of what kind of hit is expected from her, and she has the best qualifications in the team for that particular stroke, then that player will, with regular practice, and with attention to correction of any stoking defects, become the player best equipped for striking the ball in. In the Wellington College Old Girls’ senior A team it is noticeable that bo.th the striker in and the goal-striker are women cricket players with good drives, and the stopper,is a wicketkeeper—obviously the players in the team best adapted by experience to perform the co-ordinated movement in a penalty corner. The majority of goals scored this season by College Old Girls, Wellington, have been obtained from penalty corners. Having made the best selection, a team should allow these players every opportunity of making the penalty corner movement as smooth and coordinated as possible. Teams sometimes eliminate the stopper, contending that it is faster without, but this does not appear correct when they are compared. Without the stopper the player striking for goal has two movements to perfect. She must stop and she must hit. With the introduction of a stopper she has to think only of the hit and can concentrate undividedly on this single action. Of course there must be complete understanding between the stopper and the goal striker. With three players participating in the penalty corner there must be persistent practice to secure a complete understanding. Whatever may be the merits of such a method, it is at least superior in that it possesses the possibilities of success, whereas a penalty corner taken without preconceived plan, and without system, must necessarily depend on fortuitous circumstances for its success.