Don Butterfield age 13, of New Beford, Mass., for his question:
WHO ORIGINATED FIELD HOCKEY?
Field hockey is a popular team sport in many countries. The exact origin of the sport isn't known but historians tell us the ancient Greeks played a similar game with curved sticks.
The French played hockey at an early date and introduced the sport into England. The word hockey evidently comes from the old French word hoquet, which means shepherd's crook.
In its early days, field hockey was known in Ireland as hurling, in Scotland as shinty or shinny and in Wales as banty.
Only men played field hockey at first. But women tried to the sport in 1887, and the All England Women's Hockey Assn. was formed in 1889.
A woman named Costance Applebee of the British College of Physical Education arranged for a match in 1902 at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. She went on to promote the game in the United States and Canada.
Today lots of girls and women enjoy the fast team action of field hockey.
Teams compete on a smooth grass field 100 yards long and 50 to 60 yards wide. Each team has 11 players including forwards, a right and left wing, a right and left corner, a left halfback, a right and left fullback and a goalkeeper.
The goalkeeper stands on the end line between two goal posts. These posts are seven feet high and 12 feet apart, with a crossbar on top.
Each player carries a stick with a curved end that is always flat on its left side and rounded on its right. Only the flat side of the stick may be used to hit the ball.
Most players use sticks that are about 36 inches long. The ball, about nine inches in circumference, has a cork and twine center and a leather covering.
The game of field hockey is divided into two halves and varies in length from 30 to 60 minutes. The players try to move the ball with their sticks until they are in a position to shoot it through the other team's goal.
A goal in field hockey counts one point. It occurs each time a player hits the ball from an area called the striking circle and drives it over the goal line between the goal posts.
The game starts with a bully. The opposing players stand in the center of the field facing the side lines. First, they hit the ground on their side of the ball and then their opponent's stick, repeating this three times.
Then each tries to hit the ball to a teammate. Play resumes with a bully after each goal.
The rules allow no body contact or dangerous hitting, and the players cannot raise any part of the stick above their shoulders.