Western Massachusetts Field Hockey Summer League sees record participation

SOUTH HADLEY — In the seventh and final week of year seven of the Western Massachusetts Field Hockey Summer League (a 7-on-7 game), action concluded with Longmeadow taking the 2025 title at South Hadley High School’s turf field on Wednesday night.

Unfortunately, there were not seven goals scored in the final, rather, it was a 4-1 Longmeadow victory against Belchertown.

Wednesday was the bookend of another successful summer on the turf as nearly 260 high-school-aged athletes registered to participate from 19 towns, which made up 14 different teams. Games began back on June 25 and continued every week, with each team playing twice per week.

“Every year they get better and better, every year we grow and grow,” Tara Cole, one of the league’s organizers, said. “The kids are having a blast. There’s lots of happiness and lots of good field hockey happening so it continues to be a really great highlight for our summer and I think for the players every Wednesday.”

Cole added that this summer was the biggest since the league’s inception, in terms of player participation, signifying the upward trajectory of the popularity of the league.

“Our hope was to continue to grow field hockey in the [Pioneer] Valley and continue to make it a sport that is accessible for kiddos,” Cole said. “Because the only other options, because it’s not like soccer, are expensive camps or clinics. So the fact that we keep this accessible, financially, allows these kids to get out here and put a stick in their hand every week, which is really cool.

“That was our hope and it just continues to grow and people are with us on it, which is really cool,” Cole said.

For just $75, players are guaranteed to play at least 12, 25-minute games over the course of the summer, which feature officials and a trainer on the premises. Players also receive a reversible pinnie to wear for the games.

Among the area teams that participated were South Hadley, Smith Academy, Hampshire, Frontier, Amherst/Holyoke/Northampton/Palmer and Belchertown.

“Our hope was to continue to grow field hockey in the Valley and continue to make it a sport that is accessible for kiddos.”

Tara Cole

With fall sports set to start in less than two weeks for Hampshire County high schools, the Western Mass Field Hockey Summer League offers players a chance to shake off the rust from the offseason and get valuable, live reps against familiar competition.

Judging purely from Wednesday’s action, players take the games seriously and Cole believes the fact that since there are no coaches allowed on the sidelines in the league, it forces the athletes to grow even more.

“What’s really nice is that they’re self-coached, there’s no adult coaches out here so they really have to work on their communication skills,” Cole said. “I think that bonds them a little bit more too. They’re out here, they’re really working together. We’ve seen that grow year after year, their ability to talk with each other and to work together, so it sets them up nicely for their fall seasons.”

Along with bragging rights, Longmeadow received custom socks that featured the Western Mass. Field Hockey Summer League logo as the championship-winning team of the summer. Wednesday marked the third straight summer a team from Hampden County won the league as East Longmeadow claimed the prior two titles.

“We get a lot of ‘thank yous’, a lot of ‘we had a great time’, which is obviously really nice for us to hear,” Cole said regarding feedback from players on the league. “Obviously they keep coming back so that’s all we need.”