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 What does hockey mean to me? Goodness, what a difficult question. A lot - just ask my poor, long-suffering girlfriend!

Written by Dave Bockett-Pugh of Kinighthood Insurance.

Hockey is the main source of my social life. It's pretty much my only source of exercise. It's how I met my closest friends. Indirectly, it's how I met my girlfriend. It's how I met one of my best clients. It's how I met my landlord.

But why?

Well, I think it's a whole lot more than all of the above. It's how I learned to be me.

I didn't come from a particularly sporty family but I was an exceptionally fortunate child. My parents actively encouraged me and my three siblings to try everything! So, by the age of 15 I had played the recorder, won a synchronized trampolining competition, learned the violin, viola, cornet, euphonium and tuba, marched the streets of my home town playing Christmas carols as part of a brass band, been a beaver, cub and scout, played football, been on an orchestral tour of Dublin etc etc etc.

But the thing that I enjoyed the most was hockey. I was one of those kids that developed late and I was pretty bad at sport, you know, one of the “last-picked” kids. But that was fine, I didn't know that I particularly cared! Then my Mum met a brilliant woman at my sister's trampolining club, who ran the junior section of the local hockey club – now I'm not saying my Mum was only looking for some cheap babysitting, but off we went! Because it's not a particularly popular sport, all the kids that were really good at everything were off playing football. Which gave us lesser able kids a bit of a chance to bloom. We loved it! It meant that I learned all sorts of motor-skills and had plenty of exercise. I also made a whole load of friends who did that same thing from all ranges of backgrounds. This meant that at secondary school, I was part of the basketball team and competed in the school sports day at everything. I didn't win a lot but it was a huge step up from that blonde, mushroom-headed “last-picked” kid at primary school.

Aside from the health and skill benefits, hockey is where I learned to socialise. I did just fine at school but I was by no means one of the popular kids. At hockey, that didn't matter one little bit. There were no popular or unpopular kids, just boys and girls from hockey. That awful social-hierarchy (popular, in-betweeners or geeky) that school children adhere to just didn't exist. We were just mates. I left secondary school 13 years ago and don't see any of the people I used to hang out with. Last summer, I attended a stag-do in Spain for a good friend, 6 of the 12 guys that went were in my under 16's hockey team.

Later in life, I think every success I've ever had is, in part, attributable to hockey. I understand teamwork, dedication, hard-work and leadership. I now understand what it means to be committed to something. I know how my team-mates would feel if I didn't show up to training or didn't put in the fitness work. I've had first hand experience of being picked up off the floor after defeat (literally and metaphorically) and I've been the one doing the picking up. I've shared unparalleled joy at winning the league with some of the best friends anyone could hope to meet. And, ultimately, hockey is pretty good fun!

If your little one would like to try their hand at Hockey then read KalliKids top tips for parents for all the information you need to know.