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AAU Junior Olympic Games to Feature USA Field Hockey Athletes

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Young field hockey athletes from 18 states and the District of Columbia will represent USA Field Hockey at the 2006 AAU Junior Olympic Games, Aug. 1 -5, in Virginia Beach, Va.

Selected as a result of individual performances at USA Field Hockey's National Futures Championship held in early 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 USA Field Hockey National Training Center in Virginia Beach, 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. 5 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 appointed through USA Field Hockey’s High Performance/Olympic Development program will lead the teams at the event including Univ. of Michigan head coach Nancy Cox (Ann Arbor, Mich./Lime Team), Univ. of Richmond Head Coach Ange Bradley (Richmond, Va./Black Team), Harvard Assistant Coach Jemima Cameron (Cambridge, Mass./Iris Blue Team), Syracuse Assistant Coach Mary McCracken (Syracuse, N.Y./Red Team), Yale Assistant Coach Tamara Durante (West Haven, Conn./Navy Team), Eastern High School (N.J.) head coach Danyle Heilig (Moorestown, N.J./Pink Team) and highly-successful USA Field Hockey program coaches Ingrid Alkhoven (New Brunswick, N.J./Ash Team) and Candace Thurman (Rockville, Md./Yellow Team).

In its 40th year in 2006, 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.

Complete rosters, schedules and results of the field hockey competition are available on the USA Field Hockey website at www.usfieldhockey.com/jr_oly

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