RULES
The Tauranga Summer Hockey Leagues are about FUN, its important to recognise these leagues are not an extension of the winter season.
Summer Hockey is a place for people new to the sport to give hockey a go, and for those who love the game to knock the ball around and try new things in a safe, fun, low pressure environment - all with a positive attitude!
We also run Umpire Development Programmes alongside Summer Hockey, we encourage anyone to give-it-a-go!
Together we can all enjoy hockey in a fun, fair, safe way.
Normal rules of hockey apply, except for the following:
- Safety is the highest priority
- Goals can be scored from halfway (if from a free hit, it must be auto-passed or passed to a team-mate first)
- All shots at goal must be safe
- No Hitting is allowed
- No overheads - jinking and skillful elimination skills are allowed
- No Penalty Corners: for fouls inside the circle a free hit to the attackers is awarded outside the circle. The ball must travel 5m or be passed before being played into the circle area
- Ball over the baseline:
- by an attacker; is a free hit to the defending team (known as a '16') taken at the top of the circle, in line with where it went out
- by a defender; is a free hit to the attacking team (known as a 'long corner') taken at the top of the circle in line with where it went out - the ball must travel 5m or be passed before being played into the circle area
- Mercy Rule - We don't keep results in summer hockey but if a team is winning substantially i.e. by more than 9 goals which makes the game very lopsided, then upon agreement from both teams, the disadvantaged team may put on an extra player or two i.e. instead of 5 players, play 6 or 7 players to make the game experience more enjoyable
- Focus on fun!
- No scores are kept
SAFETY IS PARAMOUNT