A great way to play field hockey this Spring and prepare for the Fall is the Loudoun County League. There are many demands on the Stone Bridge stadium turf in the Spring due to soccer, lacrosse and track. The LCL program will serve as our Spring 'green days' for offseason practice. There will be nine practices and eight games or scrimmages as part of the LCL program. The Stone Bridge FH coaches will be part of the LCL program and use these 17 sessions for skill development and to increase game understanding, The program begins on March 13, but register as soon as you can.

Register at: http://beyondsticks.com/lcl/

Tryouts for our first Stone Bridge Varsity Field Hockey Season will take place on Monday 8/1 through Friday 8/5! The time of each session next week is 6:45 – 8:30pm on the stadium turf. Note that in the first week we will not hold any morning sessions.

Your coaches are looking forward to building a fun and competitive program at Stone Bridge.

To help us prepare to run the tryouts efficiently, please email me at hayden.richard@gmail.com, letting me know the following:

• If you will be participating in tryouts
• If you will be missing any days next week
• If you are interested in playing goalkeeper. We have one goalkeeper with experience who will be trying out, but intend to have two in the squad. Some videos on field hockey goal keeping are at the end of this message to give you more information on this unique position. 

Our varsity squad for 2016 will be selected at the end of the tryout week. There will be a Parent Meeting on Tuesday, August 9th.

Please note the following:

• Make sure that the Athletic Office has all your paperwork including current medical.
• Arrive at the field promptly so that we can check you in by 6:45pm and get started.
• Bring a light-colored and dark-colored shirt.
• Bring water.

Richard Hayden – Head Coach, Varsity Field Hockey

Kelsey Glass – Assistant Coach, Varsity Field Hockey

Here are three videos about field hockey goal keeping:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8EyuNzcfsA - 'I am a GK'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRZjhPZ2lqI - David Harte - aka 'The Irish Wall'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPcu1D-X5aQ - Maddy Hinch GB GK training - shows the athleticism of the position

At the Parent Interest Meeting on May 18, information on the schedule for pre-season preparation and optional practices, tryouts, and required forms by the Athletic Office were discussed.

This information is available at the two links below:

Information document

Forms required

Please contact Coach Richard Hayden (hayden.richard@gmail.com) if you have any questions, or want to know more about Stone Bridge Field Hockey.

To help you prepare for tryouts we have scheduled the following optional practices:

These will be held from 6:45 - 8:30 pm on the Stone Bridge Stadium turf on the following dates. These sessions will focus on skills development and some game play. They are appropriate for all levels of players.

Wednesday    6/15/2016
Thursday        6/16/2016
Tuesday         6/21/2016
Wednesday    6/22/2016
Thursday        6/23/2016
Monday          6/27/2016
Tuesday         7/12/2016
Wednesday    7/13/2016
Thursday        7/14/2016
Tuesday         7/19/2016
Wednesday    7/20/2016
Thursday        7/21/2016

For the optional practices and tryouts a mouth guard and shin guards are highly recommended. We will provide a loaner stick if you need one.  Please bring a reversible pinnie, or a light and dark t-shirts form scrimmaging, and water.

If you have not received the summer conditioning program, workout calendar and other information on getting prepared for tryouts, please contact Coach Richard Hayden at hayden.richard@gmail.com.