Travel teams
New Heights travel teams are structured to allow players to participate in one or multiple major tournaments. Unlike other travel sports such as basketball and lacrosse, there is not a specific “season” for field hockey.
There are four major field hockey events during the year that we participate in. The National Hockey Festival played over Thanksgiving weekend in Florida, the Disney Showcase played in early February, the Regional Club Championships played in the spring and if we qualify, the National Club Championships played in July.
We have tryouts for the teams for these tournaments and you can tryout for one or all of them. This also allows players to participate in other sports if they choose to. Tryouts for the Festival and Disney teams are held in late May and early June. Tryouts for the RCC teams are in March.
The only “season” we have is the Indoor Hockey season, which runs from December to mid-February and includes practices and three tournaments. Tryouts are in September. Please see below for details about the indoor season.
USAFH National Festival
Festival is the oldest national tournament in the country and is played in Florida over the Thanksgiving weekend. We take multiple teams at all age levels to compete against teams from all over the U.S. For high school players, this is a major recruiting event. Tryouts are in late May/early June and are open to all interested players. Eight practices are held on Sunday mornings in the fall beginning mid-September.
Indoor Hockey
(December-March)
Indoor is a 5v5 format, played with a slightly different stick on a wooden floor with wooden boards around the perimeter. The game is very fast paced and is an excellent way to improve your stick skills. We have multiple teams at each age level and a training team for players looking to improve their skills in a less competitive environment. The Indoor season is December-mid-February (later if your team qualifies for the National Indoor Tournament). Tryouts are held in September. Practices are held once per week beginning in late November and three tournaments are held on Saturdays or Sundays in December, January and February. The tournaments are held in PA or South Jersey and vary by age and team.
Disney Showcase
(1st weekend in February)
Practices are on the indoor turf at the Florham Park Sports Dome in December and January. The Disney Showcase is one of two major college recruiting events run by USAFH. It’s held at Disney’s Wide World of Sports complex in Orlando, Florida. We take multiple teams at each age level. Tryouts are at the same time as Festival tryouts (late May/early June).
Spring/Summer Tournaments
We put U12, U14, U16 and U19 teams together to play in one day tournaments or showcases at colleges such as Princeton, Columbia, Drew, Monmouth, Lafayette, Lehigh, Rutgers, University of Pennsylvania, etc. The schedule varies each year. In order to attend the tournaments, you must be a USAFH member and have played either on a Festival, Indoor or Disney team. Information/Registration is available in March and rosters are assembled on a first-come-first served basis. These are great recruiting events for high school players interested in a host school.
Regional Club Championships (RCC)
(April-June)
Hosted by USAFH, this is an invitation only tournament for U12, U14, U16 and U19 club teams in Region 6. As opposed to Festival and Disney, where we take multiple teams in each age group, New Heights is only allowed to enter one team in each age group to compete for a spot in the National Club Championships. Each RCC tournament is played on a weekend in April, May or June (the weekend varies each year and is different for each age group). It is usually held on astro turf at Princeton or Monmouth University. New Heights holds tryouts for RCC teams in late March or early April. The level of competition at the RCC is very high, so only the strongest players will be selected to play. Tournament preparation includes practices and scrimmages.
National Club Championships (NCC)
If our team(s) come in first or second place at the RCCs, the team(s) will qualify for the NCC held at either the Spooky Nook in Manheim, PA or in Virginia Beach in mid-July. The NCC hosts the top teams in the country and the tournament is attended by hundreds of college coaches. This is a very important tournament for recruiting and national rankings.
USAFH Age group calculator
2020 Age Groups (for all tournaments played in 2021 - Indoor, Disney, RCC, NCC, Festival, etc)
(Note: Age as of 12/31/20 determines your age group for all of 2021).
u19 = Players born in 2002, 2003, 2004
u16 = Players born in 2005, 2006
u14 = Players born in 2007, 2008
u12 = Players born in 2009, 2010, 2011
2022 Age Groups (for all tournaments played in 2022 - Indoor, Disney, RCC, NCC, Festival, etc)
(Note: Age as of 12/31/21 determines your age group for all of 2022).
u19 = Players born in 2003, 2004, 2005
u16 = Players born in 2006, 2007
u14 = Players born in 2008, 2009
u12 = Players born in 2010, 2011, 2012
