(Adapted from USA Field Hockey)

• 1. Players from each team take strokes alternately against the goal keeper of the other team making a total of 6 strokes. Three (3) players from each team will take the strokes in the sequence nominated and communicated by the team to the umpires on duty before the start of the penalty stroke competition. Players are chosen by their respective team manager from those listed on the team entry form for that particular match except as excluded hereunder.

  2. The umpires will choose the goal to be used.

  3. A coin is tossed. The team which wins the toss has the choice to take or defend the first penalty stroke.

  4. The team scoring or awarded the most goals is the winner and the competition ceases once an outright winner is determined.

  5. During a strokes competition, all persons who appear on the team entry form and who are entitled to sit on the team bench for that match are permitted to enter the field of play but only in the area outside the half of the field used for the strokes. The goalkeeper of the team taking a stroke may be on the goal-line outside the circle if so directed by the umpire. A player who is authorized by an umpire or technical official to take or defend a stroke may enter the stroke half of the field for that purpose.

  6. A player who has been excluded permanently (red card) from the field of play during that same match cannot take part in a stroke competition.

     1. A player on a yellow card at the end of the game may participate in the strokes.

  7. Setup - attacker is within playing distance of the stroke line marked 7 yards from the goal (stick does not have to be in contact with the ball); and both of the goaltender's feet in contact with the goal-line.

  8. The stroke begins with the umpire's whistle, and the stroke must be taken with in 5 seconds of that whistle. The stroker may:

     1. Scoop, flick or push the ball, raising it to any height;

     2. follow through with the stick above the shoulder;

     3. contact the ball only once;

     4. shall not approach the goalkeeper or ball after that initial contact.

  9. If an equal number of goals are scored after each team has taken three strokes: a second series of three strokes is taken with the same players. The sequence in which the attackers take the strokes need not be the same as in the first series. The team whose player took the first stroke in a series defends the first stroke of the next series. When one team has scored or been awarded one more goal than the opposing team after each team has taken the same number of strokes, not necessarily being all three strokes, that team is the winner (Sudden Victory).

  10. The same players take part in the second and any subsequent strokes except that an incapacitated goalkeeper can be replaced. The sequence in which the attackers take the strokes does not need to be the same as in the first series; before each stroke series, the team manager chooses the order in which the nominated players take the particular stroke. In this second and subsequent series, all three nominated players shall take a stroke before any of them are eligible to take a further stroke.

  11. The team whose player has taken the first stroke of the first series must defend the first stroke of the second series. If further stroke series occur teams will alternate taking the stroke first.