Hockey is one of the most action-paced of sports, demanding skillful skating, expert stick-handling, and masterly puck control. It is an exciting and spectacular game played by two teams either on ice-rink or on a field. The game developed in the frozen expanses of North America, and a hundred years ago became the national winter sport of Canada. It also became very popular in the northern states of the United States, and later spread to Europe, Japan, and even to Australia.

Each team presents a certain country or region and consists of six players: two defense-men, two wingers, one goalkeeper and one center man. There are various types of hockey. The most popular and widespread games are field hockey, ice hockey, sledge hockey and street hockey. Being a rough game, hockey causes many injuries. Nevertheless, people love this game and enjoy watching it.

Fi eld hockey is played on natural grass with a small, hard ball and J-shaped sticks. Field Hockey is very popular in the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Belgium, England, Ireland, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Malaysia.

Ice Hockey. The game probably arose from boys playing on the ice. The kids probably fashioned pucks from frozen "horse apples" and adapted tree branches as hockey sticks, and played on cleared stretches of frozen lakes and rivers, and backyard rinks. Soon it was inevitable that teams began to play against each other and leagues were formed. The earliest mention of the team ice hockey game is a newspaper description of the game played at the Victoria Skating Rink in Montreal in 1875.

Originally the leagues and national competitions in Canada were amateur. In 1917 the first professional league was formed, the National Hockey League (or NHL), with four clubs Montreal Canadians, Montreal Wanderers, Ottawa Senators, and Toronto Arenas. Later clubs were formed in American cities, and the NHL spread to the United States. In 1972 a rival professional organisation was formed, the World Hockey Association (or WHA). Now Ice hockey is one of the most spectacular sports of Winter Olympics.

Sledge hockey is played by people with physical disabilities. This sport is played during Winter Paralympics. Sledge hockey appeared in the early 1960 in Stockholm. starting with the Winter Paralympic Games in 1994 is a sport regularly included in the Winter Paralympics.

References: 1) 2) razvitiya-istoriya-chempionatov-mira-po- hokkeyu 3) 4) hokkeya/ razvitiya-istoriya-chempionatov-mira-po- hokkeyuhttp://