USA Field Hockey News

USA Field Hockey Selects Athletes to Compete at AAU Junior Olympic Games

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Young field hockey athletes from 18 states will represent USA Field Hockey at the 2005 AAU Junior Olympic Games, Aug. 1 -6, in New Orleans, La.

Selected as a result of individual performances at USA Field Hockey's National Futures Championship held in mid-July, the 128 athletes will fill the rosters of the eight field hockey teams competing in the AAU event for athletes under the age of 16. The National Futures Championship is the culminating event of USA Field Hockey's Olympic talent identification and development program that trains and selects athletes for possible national team consideration.

Scheduled for Tulane Univ. in New Orleans, the field hockey competition of the multi-sport event features eight teams competing in round-robin pool play before advancing to crossover games. The tournament concludes with classification games on Aug. 6 featuring the bronze medal game at 2 p.m. followed by the gold medal contest at 3:30 p.m.

A top staff of coaches will lead the teams at the event including Univ. of Michigan head coach Nancy Cox (Ann Arbor, Mich.), USA Futures coach Mike Eisenhour (Lewes, Del.), Deering High School head coach Andrew Gordon (Portland, Maine), Univ. of California-Berkeley assistant coach Megan Sainsbury (Saratoga, Calif.), USA Field Hockey National Team member and Boston Univ. assistant coach Tiffany Snow (Escondio, Calif.) and highly-successful USA Field Hockey program coaches Karen Marley (Colorado Springs, Colo.), Nancy McHale (Southampton, N.J.) and Candace Thurman (Rockville, Md.).

In its 39th year in 2005, the AAU Junior Olympic Games represent the largest multi-sport event conducted annually for youth in the United States. The showcase event of the AAU sports program, the Games feature more than 12,000 athletes participating in 24 sports.