High school field hockey tips and advice?

I'm thinking about playing field hockey next year for my high school (I'll be in 10th grade) but I've never played before.. Do you have any tips on how to make the team? Any advice or experiences are awesome! Or what are tryouts like?





Also, what kind of stick should I buy? I know there's different weights and stuff but just a good stick I can use to practice and at tryouts.. Thank you!|||In response for a hockey stick it depends on where you want to play, if you are a striker then a light hockey stick is pretty useful, defenders tend to have the heavier sticks with all those crunch tackles, in midfield you just need a stick that will suit you.


In order to make the team just make sure that you can sprint everywhere for a good 70 or so minutes and you should be fine. Tryouts are more or less the same as training and if you focus on looking good in match situations then they should be begging for you to join|||In my school, there aren't many girls who play field hockey so we take mostly anyone. Tryouts, however, are still intense. You NEED to be able to run. That's probably the worst thing you can do as a new player is to come to tryouts sub-par, especially if it's your first time playing. The team will judge you on it which sucks. If you're a beginner at field hockey just buy any kind of composite stick. Buy a cheap one just to mess around with or that's just good enough because until you know your strengths and weaknesses it'll be hard to judge what kind you should get. Try to look at STX brand sticks for beginners but make sure it's composite. Wood sticks aren't very good. High school field hockey's really fun but just make sure you know the basics of the game before you go to tryouts. Also, maybe do some simple stickwork drills around your house or in your backyard. If you aren't good at anything else, practice stickwork and it'll get you far even if you suck at everything else. It's super important in playing which is why it's something coaches love to see. Good luck!!|||The main thing you need for tryouts is to be able to run. I am in middle school only and preseason is mostly Running Drills. But stick handling skills are important too in tryouts.





For stick handling skills: Simply get your stick and as you are watching telvision, sit on the edge of your couch or chair or stand and begin doing pulls. REMEMBER: You can only use the flat side of the stick!





For a beginner a simple composite stick would be good. If you go to a Sporting Goods store, they'll gladly help you. But as your skill develops, you'll have to get a stick that fits to your postion: Forwards will want a lighter stick, Backs/Defensemen will want slightly heavier sticks for more power. Midfielders can choose either, but lighter sticks are better for that position. As you progress, The best brands are Brine %26amp; STX.|||Tryouts will probably consist of drills that make sure that you have the basic skills for playing hockey. The basic skills you need to know would be drives, push pass, dribbling, and pulls(you can find videos of how to do these on youtube, or have a friend who already plays hockey teach you). If you practice all of them once a week or so you should be fine. Running can be important depending on your coach. My coach, for example, never really made us run more than a mile, but we did run a lot sprints. My friend's coach had them running almost 2 miles every practice.





Sticks are my favorite subject :). Here's a list of stick, sorted by quality. The number in parentheses is the price range. It helps to try out sticks at a sports store (Sport's Authority, Modells, etc) to see what feels comfortable. Also don't get a wood stick. Just don't. Trust me.


Beginner(generally used by younger players)


STX($30-200)- STX sticks are good for beginners, but they don't normally last. For example, when I was younger, I had an STX stick. I liked it, but when I was driving and it was cold the stick would vibrate and hurt my hands. STX is kind of a poser in the hockey world, and doesn't have the quality of the older brands.


Brine($30-150)- Pretty much the same as STX. I personally don't like the feel of Brine sticks though.


Intermediate


Grays($30-250)- This is a terrific quality brand that can be easily used by beginners, but is still loved by more experienced players. They are very easy to find in sports stores too. Grays is all hockey, all the time, and has been in this business forever. This would be the brand that I would recommend that you look at. Here would be an example of an excellent option: http://www.sportsunlimitedinc.com/grays-鈥?/a>





Advanced (These probably cost more than you want to spend on a stick if you just started playing, but they are the best so I thought I'd give you a list anyway)


Gryphon($70-300)


Mercian($50-300)


Dita($120-350)


Princess($100-350)


VooDoo($100-350)