My DS plays tennis, football, rugby at A team level for school and for his club and really enjoys sport. At his old school he was doing maybe 13-15 hours a week including weekends (all the above plus athletics, cricket, racket ball and swimming). Now he is in year 7, they get one games perod a week and one PE. The main school sport is hockey, which is a game he has not played before - he has done two full days in the school training camp and really enjoyed it. He is showing reasonable ability and wants his own hockey stick rather than the wooden school ones which is fair enough. He is keen to practise on his own to improve ball skills and although the school has offered to lend him a wooden one, I may as well get him his own stick. In order to increase his weekly sport quota he has joined the after school hockey club, which gives him another 1.5 hours a week of activity and has a prety good chance of getting into the B team initially. To be honest, he is very small for his age and I know I would be happier with him playing hockey rather than rugby as he gets older!
The reason for all this rambling is to demonstrate that he is reasonably sporty, therefore I want to purchase a stick that is better than simply the basic school stick without going overboard. I spoke to the coach last night who was pleased that DS was taking it seriously and suggested a composite stick of 34 - 35 inches. Having been on several websites, the selection is staggering, and wondered whether there were any hockey buffs who could recommend a stick. I know from other sports that you don't have to buy the most expensive just to get something that is reasonably good.
Any advice would be most welcome - thanks in advance.