Swiss Hockey and ME

Swiss indoor hockey came to me as a pleasant surprise. And honestly speaking I had not even heard about the game before.

It all started from a friendly chat on an internal chat channel at work. One of my Swiss colleagues asked me to join in for a game of Swiss hockey as they were falling short of guys. He said it was similar to field hockey and that I would get a feel of it once I played. So I pitched in. The game was to be of an hour during the lunch time. My colleague was to bring for me a spare hockey while I needed to bring my usual sports wear.

So the next day, we all met for a game of Swiss hockey. The field size was of a half soccer field, with 2 small goals at extreme ends like that of an Ice hockey. There were markings on the field with blue and yellow. But the hockey sticks were really light and different from a field hockey. The ball was light too with porous markings for air to pass.

I was quickly explained the rules and we were divided in teams of 4 each. The whistle sounded and we started playing. The first surd was of 20 minutes and god it was hard! It was like continuously running on a field with a stick and a ball. The moment you stop the ball was lost and in every possibility a likely goal! It came to me as an even bigger challenge as I was still not comfortable with the stick. I had a tough time to decide which one was better for me a left hand one or, a right one. Unlike field hockey, the stick in Swiss hockey is more about feel. You can't choose a stick on just you being a right or, a left handed guy.

So after an exhausting first surd, I finally got a little clearer about my stick comfort. And then the second surd was a bit better. I scored 2 goals and ran more vigorous. But nevertheless I was tired like hell! I guess I was never so tired in a game than this.

Finally we came to the third surd. It was fun by now. The game started to excite me. Though tired but the enthusiasm kind of grew! And then the final whistle blew. We won all the 3 surds. And I scored some good goals! But the lesson was a hard learned one. The key areas to work- speed, stamina and shots.

And I really look forward to try some more hands at it this Wednesday! ;-)