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Serving the scholastic field hockey and lacrosse community since 1998Archive for January 18, 2020
Jan. 18, 2020 — A threat to a growing field hockey area
It was 2008 when the commonwealth of Kentucky made its first real breakthrough on the national field hockey scene, when Louisville Sacred Heart (Ky.) posted a 29-0 record to be the No. 1 team in the U.S.
By 2014, the Kentucky High School Athletic Association (KHSAA) took over governing the sport and its state championship tournament.
However, there’s going to be a vote in a few weeks which could end KHSAA sponsorship of field hockey. The justification that has been going around is that the current number of varsity field hockey teams is far short of the 50 needed to have a state tournament, according to state by-laws.
What’s happened? Frankly, lacrosse happened. A healthy rivalry has developed between teams in the Louisville area and a new group of lacrosse-playing schools in Lexington. Indeed, a Lexington-area player led the nation in scoring last spring.
But in the last five years, there has not been a parallel pattern of development in field hockey.
Given the offseason playing opportunities within the state for field hockey, I’m flummoxed that there has not been one school in greater Lexington to take up the challenge.
Now, while people have started an on-line petition to keep KHSAA as a sanctioned sport, the real work of adding teams — if not in Lexington, then around the entire commonwealth — is going to have to happen sometime soon.
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