COMING SOON ON THIS WEBPAGE!!

FUTURESHOCK

The Futures program has produced top-level athletes for women's national teams for years, as well as given players the chance to keep in shape off-season. It has also become the USFHA's largest source of income. But the critics of the Futures program have grown louder and louder. One such critic: its founder.

THE FIRST FIELD HOCKEY PLAYERS

The official history of American field hockey places the start of the sport at around 1905. The Tohono O'odham Nation in southern Arizona might beg to disagree.

WHEN MAGNETS COLLIDE

Only six magnet schools in the United States play field hockey, and each has its own particular set of challenges.

CO-OPTATION

Club or co-op teams are a way to gauge interest in eventual varsity scholastic teams, and are being used more than ever to start programs.

TECHNICAL HOCKEY

In this series, we look at technical innovations in the game.

* The stick has undergone some interesting changes in the early part of the 21st Century;

* How the Eastern-Emmaus field hockey series was facilitated by technology;

* Call Terry Walsh "Captain Video." His reliance on video replays to break down aspects of hockey games, plus his willingness to give any American coach video clips, could be a boon to the way the game is coached and played

THE ART OF HOCKEY

Profiles of athletes who have made the transition from the game of field hockey to the fine arts; and there are more of them out there than you think.

* Erin Shaklee turned in her hockey stick for a camera during college;

* Singer-actress Merritt Janson is finding a kind of success that was unimaginable given her situation a decade before appearing in the indie film "Mail Order Bride;"

* Gianine Teti wowed spectators with her singing at the 2002 Miss America Pageant, but the performances are pretty much lost to history since she did not make the final 12

2005 COLLEGE PREVIEWS

We'll have overall NCAA previews by division, including our "Fearless 5ive."

* Division I: Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water;

* Division II: Newer programs look to buck the establishment;

* Division III: The Road to Washington & Lee has new potholes

We'll also have features on selected teams within each division:

* Division I: Princeton looking to its head coach to rebuild;

* Division II: Rutger Wiese is a rarity in the NCAA coaching ranks;

* Division III: Washington & Lee's program has earned enough respect in Division III circles to have been awarded the hosting of the Final Four

THE LIST

Borrowing from the cable channel VH1, we present you:

* Scholastic field hockey's 25 strangest nicknames;

* The 25 most important universities needed to start new field hockey programs;

* The 10 universities that can start varsity field hockey immediately;

* The 10 best places to go see a scholastic field hockey match;

* Scholastic field hockey's 20 greatst rivalries;

* And, of course, our Weekly Top 10.

DISAPPEARING STRIPES

Field hockey has some constraints against its growth. Amongst them: a shocking lack of field hockey umpires:

* Crisis points: the lack of officials in places like Maine and Northern Virginia have led to bizarre situations.

* Will video officiating help or hurt the sport?

* How one field hockey chapter is addressing the problem.

THE LEGENDS

We profile a number of prominent field hockey figures in a series of stories coming two or three times a year. Among the stories:

* Debby Watson gets her 500th coaching win in er 30th season as St. Louis Villa Duchesne (Mo.).

* Angela Tammaro was the third member of the 500-win club in 2001, and has plied her trade in the quiet confines of Greenwich, Conn.

* Nancy Fowlkes has coached Virginia Beack Frank W. Cox (Va.) to 13 state championships, a Federation record;

* Linda Alimi is retired, but not forgotten at North Caldwell West Essex (N.J.);

* Judy Davlin has given more than 30 years to a forgotten segment in American field hockey: the community college team;

* Becky Miller has seen neighborhood upheaval and an economic roller coaster in her years at Toms River (N.J.) North. She has also seen an awful lot of talent;

* In the 15 years since taking the field hockey reins of a small college named Trenton State, Sharon Pfluger has only extended the reputation of the school now known as The College of New Jersey;

* Sandy Chronic of Flemington Hunterdon Central (N.J.) is not a complainer or a drill sergeant as a coach. Perhaps that's why her players are so good;

* Bea Thomas received the USFHA Coach of the Year award at the age of 86;

* Joan Lewis, Moorestown head coach, hates to lose;

* Jeanne Kline's field hockey existence has been as colorful as it has been excellent;

* The words of former Ursinus and Team USA coach Vonnie Gros are still relevant after all these years;

* Nearly 20 years after scoring 82 goals in a U.S. scholastic season, can anyone catch Tracey Fuchs? We ask her;

* Bobbi Schultz was the only coach Medford Lakes Shawnee (N.J.) ever had until her surprise 2000 retirement;

* Centereach's Nancy Cole might have been the greatest offensive genius ever;

* Penny Calf begat legends in the small town of Walpole, Mass.;

* Arlene Salvati still goes out to the occasional field hockey game, but not with the same interest as when she won 400 games at Cheshire (Conn.).

OUT IN THE GREAT WIDE OPEN

The love for the game of field hockey is such that it is played in some out-of-the way places:

* On Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts, road games involve a ferry trip;

* In northern Maine, teams like Orono and Foxcroft literally play on frozen tundra;

* Formed in 1998, the NorPac Conference requires conference games to be played in West Virginia, Missouri, and California;

* Greta Kenney looks back on being head coach of the varsity field hockey program in the early 70s which was instituted at Kansas State;

* Don't think boys and girls cannot co-exist on a scholastic field hockey team? Meet the Mater Amoris Ocelots;

* Varsity field hockey returns to the heartland, as Indiana institutes a team.

TEAMS THAT AREN'T THERE ANYMORE

We look at Burlington St. Mary's Hall (N.J.), the pre-eminent national field hockey power in the early part of this century. We also examine the short history of field hockey at Ewing Marie Katzenbach School for the Deaf (N.J.), a school which is targeted for closure. We then move to Bristol Delhaas (Pa.), who had exactly one championship season, only to see the school close down. We also talk to the former coach of the University of Maine at Presque Isle, a town where the occasional moose can be spotted.

INTERSTATE COMMERCE

It was not until the mid 1990s when interstate competition becan cropping up in field hockey on the varsity high-school level. We look at the Kaylee Scholarship Association tournament, played in Orlando.

PREPARING FOR WAR

Prep-school field hockey exists in its own ethos in New England, but in the Mid-Atlantic, public and private schools regularly meet. In New Jersey and Kentucky, however, relations between public and prep schools are strained.

WHAT IS TO BE DONE

We take a multifaceted comparison between the inner workings of the game of field hockey and its sister sport, lacrosse, and figure out what lessons can be learned from the latter as its popularity rockets towards the stratosphere.

THE ULTIMATE STATE TOURNAMENT

What makes a good and a great championship? We bring all the best together to determine the winner in the fictional U.S. state of Illeana.

WHAT MAKES A COACH?

Two women have been rewriting the record books for their respective sports. Meet Brooke Kuhl-McClelland and Danyle Heilig.

COTTAGE INDUSTRY

Summer camp is not just about canoeing and basketweaving anymore. Summer field hockey camps are a huge industry where there are rewards for anyone looking for them. Campers reap the rewards of experience and team bonding. Counselors, especially those from foreign countries, reap the rewards of a summer abroad. College coaches not only can supplement their income, but passively recruit athletes. But one series of camps which began in 1999 could overturn the apple cart.

THE WAR FOR THE SOUL OF THE FEMALE ATHLETE

Despite what gets preached about teamwork and unity, few things can unglue a college team quicker than a split along the lines of sexual orientation. Are straights freezing out gays, and vice-versa? We also take a look at a university which, after one coach made it known that she did not want a gay player on her team, has seen all of its women's teams suffer unforeseen consequences.

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