page_title: Field hockey stick
section_title: Permitted bow
hierarchical_section_title: Field hockey stick / Permitted bow
caption_attribution_description: English: Diagram showing variation in position of stick bow in relation to variation in angle of presentation of stick head to ball.
context_page_description: In field hockey, each player carries a stick and cannot take part in the game without it. The stick for an adult is usually in the range 89–95 cm long. A maximum length of 105 cm was stipulated from 2016. The maximum permitted weight is 737 grams. The majority of players use a stick in the range 19 oz to 22 oz. Traditionally hockey sticks were made of hickory, ash or mulberry wood with the head of the sticks being hand carved and therefore required skilled craftsmen to produce. Sticks made of wood continue to be made but the higher grade sticks are now manufactured from composite materials which were first permitted after 1992. These sticks usually contain a combination of fibreglass, aramid fiber and carbon fibre in varying proportions according to the characteristics required.
context_section_description: Increasing the degree of bow to the face side (flat side) makes it easier to get high speeds from the drag-flick (a "sling-shot" style stroke started from behind the body of the flicker) and allows easier execution of the stroke. At first, after extreme bows were introduced (2005), the Hockey Rules Board (HRB) placed a limit of 50 mm on the maximum depth of such a bow over the length of the stick, but experience quickly demonstrated this degree of bend to be excessive.
  The Rules of Hockey 2006 limited this particular curve of the stick to 25 mm so as to limit the power with which the ball can be flicked and to try to ensure that hitting control was maintained (the curvature to the face of the stick considerably influences the angle at which the stick head strikes through the ball). The placement of the maximum bow along the length of handle has now been specified in the Rules of Hockey at 20 cm above the head (the line C-C). 
  It is now illegal for any hockey stick to have a bow that exceeds 25 mm. The bow height is measured by placing the stick face-side to a flat surface and presenting the official measuring device, a 25 mm-high metal triangular or cylindrical measure, to the gap between the surface and the under-flat of the stick.
  Since this article was first written in 2008, there have been attempts to get around the rule by the production of a stick which 'in a natural resting position' has a face side that is not parallel to the flat surface measured from but rests with the face at a sharp angle. The result of the sloping of the face side is to put one edge of it closer than 25 mm to the flat surface and permit a much deeper bow than would otherwise be possible. This flouts the intention of the rule, so it is possible that there may be a move to a measuring cylinder, under and across, the entire face of the stick.
  There was a development in design called the 'low bow'. This placed the maximum bow of the stick much closer to the head than was previously the case, when it was positioned more centrally on the length of the stick. The effect of placing the maximum bow lower down the handle was to increase the angle at which the stick head was presented to the ball. The angle of presentation of a '25 mm low bow' was approximately the same as was achieved when the maximum permitted bow was 50 mm but the maximum was situated at about the mid-length of the stick.
  Extreme bow has an effect on the ease with which stick-work and hitting of the ball (so that it stays on the ground) may be carried out. There has always been some bow to a stick handle, 10–20 mm was common (right in diagram) because to have a stick that was straight would make 'gathering' the ball, by pulling it towards the body from the left, more difficult and a bow in the other direction (a convex bow) would cause 'dragging' in stick-work and make hitting the ball cleanly difficult in the other.
  A stick with a very small degree of bow (no more than 5 mm) was popular in the days when the clip hit in the outfield was a permitted stroke (a chip hit is a hit down on the top or back of the ball which causes it to rise sharply and produces under-spin, so that the ball does not run on when it lands). The increased use of the scoop when the lifted hit in the outfield was banned led to an increase in bow depth (and many players also found that a moderate bow aided stick-work as well). The maximum depth of this bow was generally at around the mid-length of the stick.
  The 'low bow' has been popularized by the development of the drag-flick, particularly as a first shot on goal at a penalty corner. The Pakistan International player Sohail Abbas, who holds the record for the number of goals scored at international level, mostly scored with the set piece drag-flick, had such a stick made especially to his own requirements and many have copied his design—and tried to improve on it.
  Although there can be no doubt that the 'slingshot' effect of a bowed stick, when the ball is 'dragged' from the rear of the feet and released after powerful body and arm rotation to the front of th
caption: Position of bow and effect on angle of head presentation
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