In order to maximise players’ safety, the Rules of Hockey require goalkeepers to wear personal protective equipment (PPE) and allows field players to wear specific pieces of PPE during open play, with additional equipment being allowed when defending penalty corners.
Ensuring that these pieces of PPE provide adequate protection against the risks that may occur during a game is therefore very important.
Unfortunately, today, there are no international standards for goalkeeper helmets or field player facemasks, meaning there is no guidance on how these pieces of equipment should be tested or what is considered to be acceptable performance.
To help resolve this, the FIH has been sponsoring a PhD project at Loughborough University (UK). The project comprises two phases:
· Phase 1 has been designed to assess the performance of a range of helmets and masks on the market today, using internationally recognised testing methods; it is intended to provide benchmark information to aid manufacturers and consumers.
· Phase 2 will look at ways of improving the current testing methods to make them even more relevant to the needs of hockey and those that play the game (e.g., including gender and age differences).
Phase 1 is now complete and the FIH and Loughborough University would like to invite you to join us at a project workshop to be held at the University on 11th July. At the workshop we will:
· Present an overview of the research undertaken and its findings;
· Tour the University’s laboratories;
· Discuss how the project may assist with CE marking of PPE, as required by European regulations;
· Outline how FIH plans to share the findings of the project with consumers to help them select equipment that provides adequate levels of protection;
· Present and overview of Phase 2 of the project and its timescale If you would like to attend, please register at facilities@fih.hockey by 30th June.
To maximise the benefit of you travelling to Loughborough, our meeting will take place alongside the 15th International Conference on the Engineering of Sport, hosted at Loughborough University from 8th - 11th July. We invite you to consider attending this event which gathers global leaders in sports engineering, offering a platform for cutting-edge research and industry collaboration.
More information including the scientific programme and travel/accommodation can be found here https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/sti-isea-2024.
Those wishing to attend the conference can secure their place using the following link https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/sti-isea-2024/registration/.
