Excerpt from Field Hockey: Official Publication of the A. F. H In the autumn of 1901 the game of English Field Hockey was introduced and given a permanent place in the athletics of the American Colleges for women. Among the first were Vassar, Wellesley, Smith, Bryn Mawr and Radcliffe. So much interest and enthusiasm did the game arouse among the students that in one college alone 500 members were enrolled in the first hockey club. Although the game of hockey can be traced back to 1527 in England and 1387 in France it was only in 1875 that the "Men's Hockey Association" was formed and the game was placed on a sound basis. In 1886 the first women's club was started and gradually the game became the favorite winter sport among English women. This was followed in 1895 by the uniting of the various clubs in the "All England Women's Hockey Association," and from that time the game increased by leaps and bounds. "Punch," who is always first to note the swing of fashion, set his hall mark on the game and suddenly mixed hockey matches and ladies' hockey matches became the prevailing craze. While English women now regard it as "The king of games," in the realm of men's and boys' sports, in spite of the existence of foot ball, it is yearly taking a more prominent place. Both men and women play under exactly the same rules and mixed clubs are very popular. Although this hand-book is compiled especially for women, the rules and science of the play are precisely the same as those laid down in the books on men's hockey or mixed hockey. In the United States the game is pre-eminently a fall game and is not suited to the spring months. This unfortunately entails a somewhat short season, but in spite of this drawback interest in hockey is becoming widespread in the leading country clubs, colleges, private and public schools. So popular, for instance, is the game at Bryn Mawr College, that about seventy-five per cent. of the students play it, and each class has three hockey teams which compete in interclass games for the first, second and third team hockey class championship cups. Well does hockey deserve its present popularity and success, for it is a splendid, scientific and healthful game, and, furthermore, from the different work required on different parts of the field, it is adapted to all types of players, increasing in them all mental alertness, vigor and endurance, those necessary factors in a successful life. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.