Which is the most important position in hockey?

So first up, we’ve got the forwards. They’d probably argue that they are the most important players on the pitch, because their role is to score goals, and you have to score goals to win games. Do they have to have the most skill? Well, you need to be able to shoot, eliminate and – contrary to popular belief- tackle, to be a good forward. They’re kind of handy if the game goes to a shootout, too.

But – hold on. The defence, surely, have more to do in the game. As well as performing tackles forwards could only ever dream of, they must out skill and outsmart the oncoming attack as well as keep a close eye on those nippy goal hangers. For them, the game is not just in the moment, it is about predicting the future and foreseeing that fatal pass or the deadly spin and strike before the other team has even thought about it themselves. The defence are the magicians of the team.

The midfielders would step in here and say that without them, there would be no one to tie these two ends together – there would be no team at all. Who does the most running? Who kindly takes the ball from the defence and gets it up to those forwards, so they can actually have the privilege of shooting? Who defends AND attacks simultaneously, and mostly gets credit for neither? The importance of the mids is perhaps underrated.

However, have you ever played a match without a goalkeeper? There is rarely a game in which the opposing team don’t get into the D at least once, and after they’ve bamboozled the defence and have an open shot at the backboard and the net – what next!? The heroic, fearless metal clad face of the goalie appears, and they set about diving and weaving like an unusually athletic hippo, or an acrobatic transformer, keeping that ball out of their goal. What do they transform, you ask?Electricity? No. They transform the game itself. The performance of a goalkeeper can make or break the perfect score line.

No, no, no – it’s not about the players. To see who really matters most, you’ve got to look to the bench. It’s the coach who really does all the hard work. They come up with the drills and the regimes to get the players fit and ready for the matches – they are the ones who sculpt the ingenious game plans and wondrously work the tactics. If the coach was absent, the team would all be running around like headless chickens. There would be no direction, no progression, and no winning. It would suck the fun out of hockey! Coaches are the most fundamental building block in the structure of the hockey team.

Of course, I’m only having a bit of fun. Every player, every coach, and every position is as important as the next. They all have different roles, and it is these individual roles coming together that makes a functioning, successful team. Like a living body, they would all suffer without any of the other vital parts. This is one of the things I marvel at and admire the most about hockey and team sports in general, the way everyone has different preferences and different strengths, and how this can all be brought together to create something so awesome. How boring would it be if we all loved the same position?  Diversity is our greatest strength!