Field hockey is a very intense and exciting sport. It is a very physical sport but also requires mental and athletic skills. Without even realizing it, you are using math. There are three ways to score in field hockey-penalty corner, penalty stroke and field goals. There are also many factors that affect how to make the perfect shot in field hockey such as the speed of the ball, the amount of time your shot takes, your angle from the goal, your distance from the goal, the field conditions and the position of the goalie.
This is the set up of the field. A corner occurs when a penalty occurs inside the shooting circle. Scoring a goal on a corner occurs often. Most times the ball is sent up to the top of the circle and the shot it taken 16 yards away from the goal. The ball must now travel 17.3 yards because it has to hit the backboard and the goal has a depth of 1.3 meters. The average persons reaction time is anywhere from 0.15s to .30s. You would want to shoot the ball fast enough so that the goalie does not have enough time to react. Using the formula v̅ =d/t you would convert 17.3 yards to 15.819 meters then use that for d which is distance so your equation would be v̅ = 15.819./.225s. The average speed you would have to hit the ball would be 70.26m/s or 157.167mph. However, the chances of someone hitting the ball this fast are highly unlikely. .
Now let's find out how to make a shot on a corner at a realistic speed. In a well executed corner the ball should travel from the injector, and then be stopped and shot on by the hitter three seconds. So we know the ball has to travel of distance, d, of 14.6304 meters from the inserter to the shooter and it must do this in one seconds, giving the shooter one second to stop the ball and half a second to shoot the ball. So, using the formula v̅ =d/t you can find the speed to ball must be passed at. v̅ =14.6304m/1.0s. The average speed of the ball being passed is 14.
