US Field Hockey News

Festival Expands Field : Flood of Entries Results in Largest Ever Festival

COLORADO SPRINGS - Following an overwhelming response to the 2003 National Hockey Festival, and based on U.S. Field Hockey’s mission to promote the sport of field hockey throughout the United States, the National Hockey Festival Committee has expanded the 2003 Festival.

To provide for the U16 and U19 additional teams that returned their applications on the first day of registration acceptance, the Festival field will expand by 29 teams to 140 teams in the U19 division and 49 teams in the U16 division. The numbers represent the largest Festival in the history of the tournament. As a result of the expanded tournament, teams will compete in 7-team pools and will play 6 tournament games. In previous years, teams have played 7 games in the tournament.

The original allotment of 120 U19 and 40 U16 teams filled to capacity within minutes of the first delivery of Festival applications, prompting U.S. Field Hockey to explore the logistics of expanding the tournament.

"We are extremely pleased to be able to accomodate all of the teams that returned their applications on the first day," said U.S. Field Hockey Associate Executive Director and Director of Events, Karen Collins. We appreciate the patience of the team contacts and organizers and all of the constructive comments we received while working through the logistics and scheduling of the expanded tournament Unfortunately, we still are not able to take all of the teams that sent in registration, however, we all take this tremendous response to the Festival as a healthy and promising sign of the future of field hockey in the United States. We are looking forward to another fantastic event."

The Festival is scheduled for Nov. 27-30 in Indio, Calif.