Glen Ridge Athletic Association

GRAA Field Hockey is open to girls in the 3rd-8th grade. There are three levels to this program...

1) 3rd/4th grade clinic. This is an instructional clinic that teaches the basic skills of field hockey in a fun and noncompetitive environment. Both 3rd and 4th graders will meet on Saturday mornings for a ninety minute skills clinic. There will be some teaching of game positions and inter-squad scrimmaging. The equipment needed for this program is a stick, shin guards, mouth guard and all purpose cleats (girls will be practicing on grass). This program runs from September through October.

2) Junior Varsity Travel. This program is open to 5/6th graders. It is a travel program but all players are given equal opportunity to play and their is no tryout process. This program emphasizes basic skill development through biweekly practices, a season opening tournament and 7 weekly games. Although the girls travel for games no record is kept for wins and losses. The league considers the JV level to be an instructional league only. 

3) Varsity Travel. This program is open to 7/8th graders and once again there is no tryout process. All girls will make a team that will practice biweekly, attend the season opening tournament and have seven regular season games. The difference at this level is that the league is competitive and keeps track of wins an losses. There are playoff games at the end of the season and a championship game where trophies are awarded to the winners. 

Both the JV and Varsity programs begin on August 15th with a clinic from 5:30-8:00 pm at MSU. The MSU Varsity Field Hockey coach and her players will run the skills clinic. We will practice 3 evenings a week from that date until Labor Day. After Labor Day practices will be moved to once a week after school (tuesdays or thursdays) and Saturday mornings. Both programs will participate in an all day tournament Sunday, September 11th in Independence, NJ. Each team will also have 7 regular season games that are scheduled on Sunday afternoons from September 18th through October 30th.

The required equipment for the JV and Varsity programs is a field hockey stick, shin guards, mouth guard and protective eye goggles that meet the current ASTM standards. The team uniform and goalie equipment will be provided by the GRAA. Although the required equipment can be found at sporting supply stores like Sports Authority or Dick's Sporting Goods, it can often be difficult to find quality or selection at these locations. A great resource for all things field hockey is the website www.longstreth.com. They have all the required equipment in many different price ranges and even have packages designed for the beginner field hockey player. 

 REGISTRATION IS CLOSED FOR 2011 FALL SEASON