Maryland-DC Field Hockey Association

Just as in the U19 tournament the week before, Pennsylvania teams, especially the WC Eagles, dominated the U16 version of the National Indoor Tournament. One Maryland team, SPark, won Pool E with a perfect record.

The rest of the U16 teams from this area struggled in their respective 8-team pools, all but one finishing in the lower half.

The only other team that finished in the top half of its pool — Greene Turtle in Pool B — won just two games but still finished third because of three ties and only two losses. The two top teams in that pool just killed everybody else, finishing 7-0 and 6-1. A couple of others had three wins, but four losses.

In Pool A, the top WC Eagles team not only won the pool, it smoked the other teams, scoring a total of 44 goals and allowing just 4, with two of those scored by Key State FH Gold in the closest game the Eagles played.

The Tie Pool in this tournament was H, where everybody but the eventual winner had at least one tie. Unfortunately, USA Field Hockey hasn’t posted the final results from that pool on its website, though it did managed to get the winner listed.

Over in the U14 division, a couple of Maryland clubs look like they may have some pretty good U16 groups next year.

Even though the U14 pools aren’t seeded, it’s interesting that three of the Maryland contingent won their pools. SPark and The Gaels both finished 7-0 and H20 ended up 6-1. Right behind them were the Jackals at 5-2.

There was no obvious Tie Pool for the U14s, but one team in Pool D ended with FIVE ties. The Delaware River Sharks won just one game, but more importantly lost only one, tieing the rest. That was good enough for 5th place, finishing ahead of a coupla teams with two wins (but more losses).

The pool assignments (and schedules) for the National Indoor Tournaments have been posted on the USA Field Hockey site. Here’s where the MD/DC teams that made the tournament are playing, along with the time of their first game on the first day of each tournament.

Each team plays two games on Friday, three on Saturday and two on Sunday. Note that the U19 tournament starts on Friday in Richmond, with the U16/U14 groups the following weekend in Virginia Beach.

For the whole schedule for each tournament, USAFH has PDFs (U19 and U16/U14) you can download.

And so the playing opportunities trickle in.

Hopkins Blue Jay Invitational

Johns Hopkins’ field hockey program is holding its annual Blue Jay Invitational play day on April 17th this year. The outdoor tournament is 7-on-7, half-field, on turf in the school’s stadium. As usual, there will be pools for U16 and U19, and a U14 pool is being added this year.

Coaches looking to register their teams should download the event’s flyer and form. More information is available from Megan Fraser, the Hopkins coach, by email at meganfraser@jhu.edu.

Younger kids’ league

In Montgomery County, a new outdoor league for younger kids is starting in about a month. Koa Sports’ no-cut field hockey league is for girls in the 2nd grade through 8th grade, beginners as well as those with experience.

Girls can come in as a pre-formed team, join with a few friends, or sign up as a free agent. The league provides coaches (most of whom are collegiate athletes) for every team and there will be an instructional component before each game. Play starts April 9th and continues for 7 weeks.

All games are on Saturday afternoons at the Ivymount School in the Rockville/Potomac area. Registration closes March 28th. Go to www.KoaSports.org for more info and to register.

UMd clinic/playdays

Finally, the University of Maryland’s NCAA Champion hockey team is holding its usual spring clinics and play days on April 10 and 16.

The events are open to all club and high school teams, U16 and U19. Each team will play five games and participate in a clinic. More details are in this flyer.

With the indoor season heading to its conclusion in a few weeks at the National Indoor Tournament, clubs are starting to set up their spring activities and events.

The SPark club in Odenton is starting some indoor leagues that will run in March and April. The leagues are for middle-schoolers and older, including adults, and is limited to eight teams per age group. Team registration fee for each age group is $700, with a maximum of 10 players on each team.

Middle schoolers wil play two 25-minute games on Thursdays between 4pm and 7pm. High schoolers also play two games between 5 pm to 9 pm. Both leagues are on March 10, 17, 24 and 31 and April 7, 14 and 21.

An adult league is already under way. The grownups play on Thursdays as well, between 8 pm and 10 pm. The league started Feb. 17, meets again on Thursday (2/24) and then March 3, 10, 17, 24, 31 and April 7.

To register for the leagues, download and complete the player release form and registration form and send it with registration fees to SPark Field Hockey, PO Box 669, Severna Park, MD 21146

Meanwhile, the Spitfire club in Columbia is hiring coaches for its spring outdoor season. Practices are Sunday mornings from 9 am to noon at Western Regional Park in Howard County. The season runs from March 13 through June 5.

Dona DeZube says in an e-mail: “We pay well, our players are motivated and passionate learners, we reimburse for coaching training and travel to tournaments, and our coaches only coach — there is absolutely no paperwork or administrative work involved.”

Coaches will need to join USA Field Hockey, if they don’t already have a coach’s membership.

For more information email: Dona DeZube at spitfirefieldhockey@comcast.net.

The qualifiers are done, the lottery teams chosen so it’s time to list all the MD/DC club teams going to the National Indoor Tournament in March.

USA Field Hockey drastically expanded the number of slots available in the tournament this year by splitting the U16 and U19 groups and putting them in different cities in Virginia on successive weekends. The older girls will be in Richmond the first weekend in March, with the U16s and U14s in Virginia Beach the next weekend.

To qualify for the tournament, U16 and U19 teams had to play in a qualifier tournament, which were held starting in late December until the end of January. The teams who finished in the top 25 percent of each tournament’s field got in. Where they finished is listed below, as that affects their seeding in the NIT. After the qualifiers were complete, USA Field Hockey accepted lottery bids from unsuccessful teams and selected another 20 teams for U16 and almost 60 for U19.

The U14 groups are chosen by lottery early in the indoor season and those bids have been out for awhile, though for completeness, we’ll list them as well.

Once the pools for the NIT are announced, we’ll post who is where. In the meantime, more details about the NIT are available on the USA Field Hockey site.

Here’s who’s going from our area:

Send your favorite indoor hockey player to the SPark Indoor Training Center on Thursday (Dec. 30) to get some exercise.

The center is open all afternoon for drop-in/pick-up hockey. Cost is $10, with U12s and U14s playing from noon to 2 pm and U16s/U19s/home-from-college kids running 2:30 pm to 4:30 pm.

The center, located at 8266 Lokus Road in Odenton just off Route 32, has two new snap-style indoor courts.

MavSports is re-starting its middle school field hockey program this Winter at Champions Field House in Rockville.

In past years, the organization successfully ran middle school programs at the Potomac Community Center, the Rockville Sportsplex, the Maryland Sportplex in Severna Park, and at the Garrison Forest School in Baltimore.

Notable past participants from our middle school programs include Kim Goh, now playing at Harvard, Leah Koznarsky and Virginia Caldeira, both at Towson, Maya Herm at Dartmouth and Brooke Griffin, now playing lacrosse at Maryland.

The program is a “learn-as-you-play” program where coaches stress basic skills coupled with instructional play.

Skills taught include push passing, spinning and footwork, flicks, shooting, stopping, various types of passing and dodges.

Cost is $150 per player and sessons are noon til 2 pm on Sundays starting Jan. 9th. Following dates are: Jan. 16, Jan. 23, Jan. 30, Feb. 6 and Feb. 27.

Register at www.mavsportshockey.com

A group from northwest of Baltimore, Pikesville Sports, is looking for teams for a monthly series of indoor hockey tournaments from January through April.

All tournaments are 6v6 (five plus a goalie) for U14, U16 and U19 teams, and 7v7 for U10 and U12 groups. All teams are guaranteed three games.

The tournaments are:

11th Annual Field Hockey Extravaganza on Jan. 16 and 17 at the Four Seasons Sports Complex in Hampstead. Age divisions are 5/6 grades, 7/8 grades, JV and Varsity. Sunday games will bein the afternoon evening, with Monday’s games starting at 8 am. All divisional play will be within one day. Deadline to register is 1/3/11.

President’s Day Blast, Feb. 20 and 21 at the Four Seasons Sports Complex. Same setup as the January tournament. Registration deadline is 2/7/11.

Bay State Faceoff, March 20 at Garrison Forest School near Owings Mills. Same divisions as previous two tournaments.

Spring Hockey Fiesta, April 27 at Garrison Forest School. Same divisions and setup as the March event.

For additional information contact Pikesville Sports by phone at 410-363-8610 or by e-mail at prpc21208@aol.com. Registration forms and rules are available under Field Hockey at www.usamateursports.com.

Garrison Forest School is hosting its Grizzly indoor tournament on Jan. 22 at the school.

There will be divisions for kids as young as third grade as well as the usual high school groupings.

Play will be within pools, with each team guaranteed at least five games. Total number of games will be determined by the size of each division. Cost is $350. The event will run from 2 pm to 8 pm at the school, which is on MD 140 near Owings Mills, northwest of Baltimore.

Download more information, including the required player waiver, or e-mail Traci Davis for more information.