USA Field Hockey announced last Tuesday that they have partnered with Spooky Nook Sports to make the complex the new home of the U.S. Women’s National Team. The partnership makes the sports complex, located in East Hempfield Township, the home of USA Field Hockey through 2022.
The complex, on which construction is not yet finished, will be completed by early March, while the part of the facility set aside for the national field hockey team will be finished in the summer months. Once completed, the $25 million complex will have two water-based turf fields and six more artificial turf fields. Along with these fields, other facilities for player and team development will be constructed. The complex will begin hosting official USA Field Hockey sanctioned events starting in 2014. The facility will also hold many elite and club national championships.
Steve Locke, executive director of USA Field Hockey, said in a press release to the Lancaster New Era, “Nook Sports is one of the most spectacular athletic facilities in the country. The location is ideal as many of our athletes come from the East Coast, especially the Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia areas. There is no doubt that this is a game-changing moment for our sport. The ‘Home of Hockey’ will provide us with a platform to best prepare our national teams for success in international competition and serve as a beacon and center of excellence for developing athletes of all ages.”
This move will help USA Field Hockey along with its strategic plan of promoting excellence, encouraging participation and exposing more men and women of all ages to the sport.
Prior to the move to Lancaster County, USA Field Hockey called Chula Vista, Ca. its home. That site, which is right outside of San Diego, will remain as a National Team training center, and the men’s team will continue to train and compete there.
In a news release, the U.S. Women’s National Team Head Coach Craig Parnham expressed his excitement for the new facility in Lancaster County. “The new facility promises to be an aspiration venue for the whole hockey community,” he said. “Not only will it be home of our elite programs in which athletes will have access to world-class facilities and support services, it will also allow the next generation of hockey players, coaches and officials to share in the environment and take inspiration from it.”