By Kim J. Harmon

 

Indio, California – It can be an intimidating experience to travel 1,800 miles to play against some of the top field hockey talent in the country. But – at the very same time – it can also be a very rewarding experience.

It was a little bit of the former, a little bit of the latter for five girls from Newtown High School who made the trip last month to participate in the National United States Field Hockey Association (USFHA) California Festival.

Some 3,500 athletes from across the United States, Canada, Europe and the Caribbean competed for men’s and women’s championships in all sorts of divisions – from under-16 to over-35 (master’s). The tournament was first introduced in 1922 as the National Sectional Championships, but it adopted its current multi-divisional format in 1981 in an effort to incorporate high school players as well as club teams.

“For older kids, you see what college level field hockey is all about,” said Jessica Gaddis, who made the trip with Amanda Hadgraft, Cat Williams, Christie Caruso and Jackie Darigo. “And for the younger kids, you see what you could be facing soon.”

The five Newtown players were members of the Connecticut Crush II team, coached by Mary Duran of Wamogo High School. The Crush II went 1-4-1 in six games, scoring five goals and allowing 19 while playing against teams from Pennsylvania, California, Virginia, Michigan and Colorado.

“It was a wonderful experience and a lot of it was playing against teams that were better than us and learning things from them,” said Darigo. “And it was really good competition.”

Oh, yeah, the competition was really good.

Lanco Premier of Pennsylvania went undefeated in the U19 division at 6-0-0 while scoring 23 goals and allowing just one and SD Short Corner Too of California went 4-1-1 while scoring 16 goals and allowing just two. The rest of the teams in the division had modest success, with Sutter’s Brigade Too of Pennsylvania (2-3-1), Virginia Express Too of Virginia (1-2-3), Michigan United of Michigan (1-2-3), Colorado Quandries of Colorado (1-4-1) and Connecticut Crush II (1-4-1) rounding out the standings.

The Crush II opened the Festival with a 2-1 win over Sutter’s Brigade Too and a 0-0 tie against Michigan United. But then the Crush II suffered losses to Virginia Express Too (4-2), Lanco Premier (4-0), Colorado Quandries (3-0), and Short Corner Too (7-1).

“A lot of the stick work was very impressive and the competition was great,” said Caruso. “I liked meeting different people from around the country and talking with different kids. It makes you think about whether or not you want to play college field hockey.”

Amanda Hadgraft made the trip last year with teammates Kristin McGrath and Amanda Shevlin. And maybe it was no coincidence that this past fall, as she captained the Newtown High School field hockey team, Hadgraft led the way with seven goals and a pair of assists and was named first team All-SWC and first team All-State.

“The experience was great,” she said. “You get to play with a different team, play with girls who are more experienced, and you get to learn something from them. Because we played different positions (at the Festival), we learned more about our own positions and more about the whole field.”

The girls also learned quite a bit by simply watching. From the European teams to the masters-level teams competing on the expansive complex, they discovered a lot of different approaches to the game of field hockey.

“It was fun watching the European teams play,” said Williams. “How they play is so different from the way we play.”

The trip wasn’t all field hockey (games, recruitment night, senior night, etc.). The girls did manage to squeeze in a visit to Disneyworld in Anaheim, but – of course – riding the Pirates of the Carribean wasn’t what made this particular trip so memorable.