USA Field Hockey News

USA Field Hockey to Crown Men's National Championship Teams in Chula Vista

►National Championship Rosters

USA National Squad member Ramandeep Sandhu will suit-up for the San Francisco Bay Area team at the National Championships.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – USA Field Hockey's top male athletes will compete for a national title and a spot on the U.S. National Team when USA Field Hockey conducts its inaugural Men's National Championship Tournament, June 21-25 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif.

The tournament features four senior-level teams and four junior squads as selected from USA Field Hockey's Regional Training Centers. Located in regions rich in field hockey tradition, the Centers provided athletes elite-level training and development opportunities at locations near their homes. Following a series of regularly-scheduled training sessions, the Centers select their top players to compete in the National Championship Tournament.

Play begins June 21 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center and continues through June 25 with the championship and classification games. June 23 is a rest day with no games scheduled.

In the first year of the program, the senior tournament features teams from Moorpark (Calif.), San Francisco Bay Area, Mid-Atlantic and New York while the junior event includes teams from Moorpark, the East Coast, Orange County/San Diego and San Francisco Bay Area.

In addition to competing for the national title, the 128 athletes at the tournament may also earn selection to the USA National Team based on their performances at the event.

Current U.S. national team members will represent their Regional Training Centers including Rinku Bhamber (Simi Valley. Calif.),  Pat Cota (Camarillo, Calif.), Pat Harris (Moorpark, Calif.), Ian Scally (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) and Shawn Nakamura (Camarillo, Calif.) for Moorpark; Nate Coolidge (Sandwich, Mass.), Rutgers assistant coach Brian Schledorn (Highland Park, N.J.) and Radford Univ. assistant coach Shawn Hindy for Mid-Atlantic; Arjan Reyatt (Brea, Calif.), Ramandeep Sandhu (Camarillo, Calif.), Daljeet Sagoo (Fullerton, Calif.) and goalkeeper Jason Wellings (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) for San Francisco.

The tournament's rosters also include Olympians Nick Butcher (1996) for Moorpark and Steve Danielson (1996) for San Francisco.

On the junior side, the tournament provides a showcase for future national team athletes while providing a rare elite-level domestic competition opportunity.

"Working with the extremely supportive club representatives to develop these young athletes will be massively beneficial in many regards," said USA men's high performance coach Nick Conway. "Not least, it will strengthen the future of the club game which in turn will further develop the feeder system into the Regional Training Program for future years."