PHOENIX, Ariz. (November 23, 2009) – USA Field Hockey has selected the City of Phoenix as the location for its 2010 and 2011 National Hockey Festival. The event is held over Thanksgiving weekend every year. The Phoenix Regional Sports Commission, in partnership with the Greater Phoenix Convention & Visitors Bureau and City of Phoenix Parks & Recreation, will serve as tournament hosts.
The National Hockey Festival is the world’s largest amateur field hockey event. In 2009, the Festival featured 225 teams from 24 states, the District of Columbia and Canada, as well as a team visiting from Zimbabwe. More than 4000 athletes will compete for titles in Women’s Age Group (Under 16 and Under 19), Women’s Open, Mixed (co-ed) and Boys divisions.
Reach 11 Sports Complex in North Phoenix will play host to the four-day long event that traditionally begins on Thanksgiving Day. More than 700 games will be contested over 18 fields.
“USA Field Hockey is delighted to bring the National Hockey Festival to Phoenix,” said Karen Collins, Director of Event Logistics for USA Field Hockey. “Reach 11 Sports Complex is a fantastic facility, and the location is very accessible to athletes and their families traveling from across the United States. We look forward to working with Jon Schmieder and the Phoenix Regional Sports Commission to continue to build the National Hockey Festival, the largest amateur field hockey tournament in the world.”
Phoenix Regional Sports Commission President Jon Schmieder commended the team effort needed to secure the Festival. “The Greater Phoenix CVB, Phoenix Parks and Recreation and our area hotels worked well as a team over the past year in putting this bid together,” Schmieder said. “This is another great example of how entities across the Valley cooperate to achieve a common goal. Hosting this event is a home run for our community during a typically down time for tourism in the Valley.”
The USA Field Hockey National Hockey Festival is projected to occupy more than 10,000 room nights at area hotels each year. The event will generate an estimated $4.25 million in direct visitor spending annually. Last summer the Sports Commission set a goal of securing events that would drive at least $100 million into metropolitan Phoenix. The target date for achieving the goal is May 2010.
About Phoenix Regional Sports Commission (PRSC)
A 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation, the Phoenix Regional Sports Commission (PRSC) was created in 1988. The mission of the PRSC is to “Enrich Our Community Through Sports” by representing the citizens of the Valley to bring national and international sporting events to the state, assist in the promotion of existing events and teams, and support youth sports programs. To learn more about the Sports Commission, please visit www.phoenixsports.org.
About USA Field Hockey
USA Field Hockey is the national governing body for field hockey in the United States and is a member of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC), the Federation Internationale de Hockey (FIH), and the Pan American Hockey Federation (PAFH). As such, USA Field Hockey is responsible for the training and selection of athletes for international competition, including the Olympic Games and Pan American Games. USA Field Hockey has approximately 19,000 members and supports programs designed to educate and promote the sport of field hockey, from its Futures program, designed for high school and college athletes, to Stick Starz, with curriculum geared to boys and girls aged 8-11. For more information on USA Field Hockey, visit www.usafieldhockey.com.
Contacts:
Jon Schmieder, Phoenix Regional Sports Commission President
Phone: 602-258-6272
E-mail: jon@phoenixsports.org
Karen Collins, USA Field Hockey Director of Event Logistics
Phone: 719-866-4366
E-mail: kcollins@usafieldhockey.com
