Sling it in: Pioneer Stacy on evolution of drag-flick

While the penalty corner has existed in hockey since the game's inception in 1908, drag-flick gained traction only in the late 1980s and early 1990s when players realised in the synthetic pitch era that the far greater power and accuracy imparted significantly raised the conversion rate.

- Sandip Sikdar

Jay Stacy. HOCKEY AUSTRALIA

Australia’s Jay Stacy, one of the pioneers of the drag-flick, has seen the set-piece variant develop to such an extent that the drag-flicker has become the most potent weapon for a team.

“Back in my day, Carsten Fischer from Germany and (Floris Jan) Bovelander for Holland flicked the ball,” Stacy, who won three successive Olympic medals from 1992 to 2000, told HT. “But it’s a different technique now, a far more slinging action where the players are much lower and push the ball extremely hard. It is a showpiece. It is quite a spectacular thing and when you execute it properly, it looks fantastic.”

Stacy learnt the technique by watching indoor hockey in Germany. With the game having shifted from grass to artificial turf, players were still learning to adapt.