Field hockey in northern VA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi!

I’ve read through the field hockey posts but am looking for updated advice. Field hockey is such a niche sport and we literally don’t know anyone else who plays who I can ask advice from. I have a rising fifth grader who has played with beyond sticks for several years. She loves the game and wants to play more/at the next level. I’d love recs and feedback for northern VA area specifically. I feel like a lot of people
are playing in MD, and we cannot fit that into our life currently. We are in the Oakton area. Looking at the following:

Nova Xtreme
Hammers
Mustangs
Metro (one of their practice locations is almost 1hr from us tho…)

Did mustangs take off? We did a year of FH clinics with perfect performance when DD was in 2nd grade and while the clinic was great, I felt frustrated by lack of response and disorganization… but the location was great for us. Any people with u12 girls who can give feedback about them?

TIA

Have you asked Heidi which club she recommends for your daughter? I have an older player but I am familiar with all the clubs you mentioned and know people at all of them.

Nova Extreme has a positive environment but they have not been successful lately.

Hammers is seeming to turn things around. There was a time I would not have recommended them, but I know a few families there now and they are happy. Recruiting support, if that is the goal, is lacking. But you have time and that could change.

Mustangs has a poor reputation due to lack of communication and poor organization. No recruiting support.

Metro has a history of moving locations, so don’t count on where they are now being where they stay in the future. There is also a lot of negative talk about the owner. Their u19 group is strong, but the younger age groups are not at the level. This is the most demanding club. Do not go here unless you are willing to schedule everything else around it.

At u14 RCC Extreme and Hammers won 1 game. Metro won zero, Mustangs didn’t participate.

Thanks! Helpful. Yes, I emailed her and she recommended either McLean/Falls Church house league to keep travel to minimum or Nova Xtreme and Ava Magic.

Can you please explain what you mean about Hammers turning things around? What was the negative?

TIA

My daughter has been playing club for like 8 years and Hammers has never had a great reputation. People go there because they don’t know where else to go and it’s convenient. It seems like the next step for anyone local.

Several years ago, one of the head coaches did something very shady at NIT to help her team (which was the A team) at the expense of the B team. They have slowly phased her out and honestly she is not a nice person. They hired some unqualified coaches who had no idea what they were doing and it cost them players, however they are gone now. They were not providing recruiting support (this was still an issue as of last year), despite claiming to provide recruiting support.

It seems like they are trying to correct course, but I think they are still several year away from fully turning things around. Your daughter is young enough that it might not be an issue.

Go to the tryouts for all the teams you are interested in, ask lots of questions, try to watch some games if you can. It’s too late for now, but in the fall you can see most of the teams play in the hoco league. No club is perfect so you kind of have to pick the one that bothers you least.

When we were with Hammers (several years ago now) the same thing happened at NIT (though they denied it).

[Anonymous]

My daughter plays with Mustangs and it's been a great experience so far! The coaches have been great, and the location is also great for us. We haven't had any issues, so it seems any issues with the organization has been addressed internally.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter plays with Mustangs and it's been a great experience so far! The coaches have been great, and the location is also great for us. We haven't had any issues, so it seems any issues with the organization has been addressed internally.

This must be a joke. My daughter "played" with Mustangs last year and it was a total disaster. They couldn't field a team so there were NO games even though we had to pay for uniforms. This was after she tried out and made a "team". Think we did get reimbursed for the uniform, but it was a total cluster given my daughter decided not to do rec that year and pivot to travel and then to have no games. Practice was so sparsely attended. Sometimes only my daughter and a few younger kids. All around so disappointing and would be surprised if they were really able to turn it around in one year. I would definitely NOT recommend. We ended up abandoning the sport altogether because the experience was so frustrating and disappointing.

[Anonymous]

Also if you go the Mustangs website and view the "Teams" those they have listed played in 2023-2024. I know this because we have mutual friends who left there two years ago still on the site. They don't have any updated pics to add because they haven't been able to field a team.