Howard Salkow

Senior Journalist

Played in more than 60 countries, the Douglas Shire will be introduced next month to Hockey5s in what will be a novel addition to the sports available in the shire.

It will make its debut from 2 May for juniors (Sunday mornings) and 3 May for adults (Monday evenings).

All games will be played at Coronation Park, Mossman.First Introduced in 2013 to broaden accessibility of hockey, it featured in the preparation for the 2014 Youth Olympic Games.

Hockey5s is a super-fast, highly skilful, short format of hockey which is designed to be adaptable to multiple surfaces, environments and space. Hockey 5s is an invasion game played between two teams with four field players and a goalkeeper.

“It is fun, fast, furious, high scoring and a great way to get fit and I encourage you to get your friends and form a mixed team,” said Greg Mill, Chairman, Douglas Hockey Association Inc.

The purpose of Hockey5’s is to improve access and increase participation in hockey through a format that can be played in urban areas, at the park, in the city, on the beach, indoors and out.

It is flexible and adaptable at grassroots level and has clear pathways through to an elite representative level incorporating the Youth Olympic Games, Hockey5s World Tour and Hockey5s World Cup.

The fundamental principles of Hockey5s are:

• It is a small sided format with fewer players;
• It has a smaller playing area so less space is needed (making facilities more affordable);
• It can be played on any surface, outdoor or indoor;
• Rules and regulations are flexible.

The benefits of these principles include lower team costs (e.g. travel), ease of creating a team, more accessible competition, multi-format opportunities (beach, urban, tennis court etc.), simplified rules, and greater attractiveness to event hosts.

You can contact Greg on: 0481 086 056 for details.