Editing Field hockey (section)

===Set plays===
{{Unreferenced section|date=August 2022}}
Set plays are often utilised for specific situations such as a penalty corner or free hit. For instance, many teams have penalty corner variations that they can use to beat the defensive team. The coach may have plays that sends the ball between two defenders and lets the player attack the opposing team's goal. There are no set plays unless your team has them.

====Free hits====
Free hits are awarded when offences are committed outside the scoring circles (the term 'free hit' is standard usage but the ball need not be hit). The ball may be hit, pushed or lifted in any direction by the team offended against. The ball can be lifted from a free hit but not by hitting, the ball must be flicked or scooped to lift from a free hit. (In previous versions of the rules, hits in the area outside the circle in open play have been permitted but lifting one direction from a free hit was prohibited). Opponents must move {{convert|5|m|yd|abbr=on}}<!-- 5 m is the distance used in most of the world, only US high school rules mandate 7 yards. Please don't change--> from the ball when a free hit is awarded. A free hit must be taken from within playing distance of the place of the offence for which it was awarded and the ball must be stationary when the free hit is taken.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Field Hockey Rules and Fouls |url=https://longstreth.com/pages/field-hockey-rules-fouls |access-date=2025-02-28 |website=Longstreth Sporting Goods |language=en}}</ref>

As mentioned above, a 15&nbsp;m hit is awarded if an attacking player commits a foul forward of that line, or if the ball passes over the back line off an attacker. These free hits are taken in-line with where the foul was committed (taking a line parallel with the sideline between where the offence was committed, or the ball went out of play). When an attacking free hit is awarded within 5&nbsp;m of the circle everyone including the person taking the penalty must be five meters from the circle and everyone apart from the person taking the free hit must be five meters away from the ball. When taking an attacking free hit, the ball may not be hit straight into the circle if the hitting player is within their attacking 23-meter area (25-yard area). It has to travel 5 meters before going in.

====2009 experimental changes====
In February 2009 the FIH introduced, as a "Mandatory Experiment" for international competition, an updated version of the free-hit rule. The changes allows a player taking a free hit to pass the ball to themselves. Importantly, this is not a "play on" situation, but to the untrained eye it may appear to be. The player must play the ball any distance in two separate motions, before continuing as if it were a play-on situation. They may raise an aerial or overhead immediately as the second action, or any other stroke permitted by the rules of field hockey. At high-school level, this is called a self pass and was adopted in Pennsylvania in 2010 as a legal technique for putting the ball in play.

Also, all players (from both teams) must be at least 5&nbsp;m from any free hit awarded to the attack within the 23&nbsp;m area. The ball may not travel directly into the circle from a free hit to the attack within the 23 m area without first being touched by another player or being dribbled at least 5 m by a player making a "self-pass". These experimental rules apply to all free-hit situations, including sideline and corner hits. National associations may also choose to introduce these rules for their domestic competitions.<ref>{{Cite web |title=FIH-Rules of Hockey 2009 |url=https://www.fihockey.org/vsite/vfile/page/fileurl/0,11040,1181-195549-212772-148180-0-file,00.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240327055838/https://www.fihockey.org/vsite/vfile/page/fileurl/0,11040,1181-195549-212772-148180-0-file,00.pdf |archive-date=March 27, 2024 |access-date=February 27, 2025 |website=FIHockey.org}}</ref>

====Long corner====
A free hit from the 23-metre line – called a long corner – is awarded to the attacking team if the ball goes over the back-line after last being touched by a defender, provided they do not play it over the back-line deliberately, in which case a penalty corner is awarded. This free hit is played by the attacking team from a spot on the 23-metre line, in line with where the ball went out of play. All the parameters of an attacking free hit within the attacking quarter of the playing surface apply.

====Penalty corner====
{{Unreferenced section|date=August 2022}}
{{Main|Penalty corner}}
The [[Penalty corner|short or penalty corner]] is awarded: [[File:Fieldhockey shortcorner defense.jpg|thumb|right|A group of five defenders, including the goalkeeper, prepare on the back line for a short corner.]]
# for an offence by a defender in the circle which does not prevent the probable scoring of a goal;
# for an intentional offence in the circle by a defender against an opponent who does not have possession of the ball or an opportunity to play the ball;
# for an intentional offence by a defender outside the circle but within the 23-metre area they are defending;
# for intentionally playing the ball over the back line by a defender;
# when the ball becomes lodged in a player's clothing or equipment while in the circle they are defending.

Short corners begin with five defenders (usually including the keeper) positioned behind the back line and the ball placed at least 10 yards from the nearest goal post.<ref>{{cite web|title=Basic Field Hockey Rules|url=http://lower.usm.k12.wi.us/special/phy_ed/basic_fh_rules.htm|archive-date = 29 July 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140729122657/http://lower.usm.k12.wi.us/special/phy_ed/basic_fh_rules.htm}}</ref> All other players in the defending team must be beyond the centre line, that is not in their 'own' half of the pitch, until the ball is in play. Attacking players begin the play standing outside the scoring circle, except for one attacker who starts the corner by playing the ball from a mark 10&nbsp;m either side of the goal (the circle has a 14.63&nbsp;m radius). This player puts the ball into play by pushing or hitting the ball to the other attackers outside the circle; the ball must pass outside the circle and then put back into the circle before the attackers may make a shot at the goal from which a goal can be scored. FIH rules do not forbid a shot at goal before the ball leaves the circle after being 'inserted', nor is a shot at the goal from outside the circle prohibited, but a goal cannot be scored at all if the ball has not gone out of the circle and cannot be scored from a shot from outside the circle if it is not again played by an attacking player before it enters the goal.

For safety reasons, the first shot of a penalty corner must not exceed 460&nbsp;mm high (the height of the "backboard" of the goal) at the point it crosses the goal line if it is hit. However, if the ball is deemed to be below backboard height, the ball can be subsequently deflected above this height by another player (defender or attacker), providing that this deflection does not lead to danger. The "Slap" stroke (a sweeping motion towards the ball, where the stick is kept on or close to the ground when striking the ball) is classed as a hit, and so the first shot at goal must be below backboard height for this type of shot also.

If the first shot at goal in a short corner situation is a push, flick or scoop, in particular the ''[[drag flick (field hockey)|drag flick]]'' (which has become popular at international and national league standards), the shot is permitted to rise above the height of the backboard, as long as the shot is not deemed dangerous to any opponent. This form of shooting was developed because it is not height restricted in the same way as the first hit shot at the goal and players with good technique are able to drag-flick with as much power as many others can hit a ball.

====Penalty stroke====
{{Main|Penalty stroke}}
A [[penalty stroke]] is awarded when a defender commits a foul in the circle (accidental or otherwise) that prevents a probable goal or commits a deliberate foul in the circle or if defenders repeatedly run from the back line too early at a penalty corner. The penalty stroke is taken by a single attacker in the circle, against the goalkeeper, from a spot 6.4&nbsp;m from goal. The ball is played only once at goal by the attacker using a push, flick or scoop stroke. If the shot is saved, play is restarted with a 15 m hit to the defenders. When a goal is scored, play is restarted in the normal way.