A Half Century of Scientific Research in Field Hockey

Abstract

Purpose. Using databases available on the Internet, the number of scientific papers on the subject of field hockey were examined. Basic procedures. As a result, 208 scientific studies covering the fields of biochemistry, physiology, sport injuries, psychology and tactics were found, which were published within the last 50 years (from 1960 to 2010). Despite the popularity of field hockey and its status as an Olympic sport, the number of scientific studies which focused on field hockey was much smaller when compared to the amount of publications on other team sports, such as soccer, basketball, or baseball. Main findings. It was found that the greatest number of pub lications (61.06%) originated from five English-speaking countries (UK, USA, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand), with the majority focusing on sport psychology, injuries and biochemistry. What was discovered was that the vast majority of scientific studies used field hockey merely as a reference point in comparison to other team sports. Conclusions. The varying topic diversity of the scientific stud ies found among the databases significantly hinders an effective comparison of findings, especially considering that most of the studies focused on only a few selected aspects of the problem matter and were chiefly small sample studies, nor were they repeated.

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