Field Hockey After College

Playing opportunities after college.

USA Field Hockey is working on new options so elite players aren't stuck with
three choices: making the USA Team, playing outside the USA, or
just putting the stick in a closet.

Hockey Festival on Television

CBS News about Hockey Festival

Rock-Hard

The level of play continues to climb.
The flow of the match becomes more fluid.

This season we saw the future.

Next season we will live there,
still chasing that rock-hard ball.

With a Stick and a Ball

Hockey never really ends.

While those segments by
which we measure our stature,
the seasons, wax and wane
leading to one culminating event
and another and this award
or no award or this trophy,
held high, or that one removed
and handed to the latest recipient,

Hockey, like all of life,
flows in a forward direction,
it brings us pleasure and pain,
but mostly it is a framework
upon which we hang our hopes,
and really our own well-being
and joy at being alive and running
with  a stick and a ball.

Buyer Beware

There is no international brand of field hockey sticks that escapes illegal counterfeiting and black market sales.  ALL KNOWN BRANDS, not just Grays, TK, and Dita continue to be placed on the black market.

In an effort to keep loyal Dita players happy, Dita issues the following warning:

AVOID THE FOLLOWING VENDORS :
We are compiling a list of those who are selling counterfeit products. Note that many offer multiple brands.

 hockeysticksale.com  - so blatant they pirate the USA Field Hockey Association logo!

 www.alibaba.com -  the sticks here are bogus.

www.oneupgroupinternational.com  - low quality fakes.

 ahlansports.com -  "authorized dealer" (cough cough)

 hexensports.com - not authorized in USA. Unknown source of all brands

tradewithstyle2011 of Yuba City, CA offers counterfeit Dita items on eBay.

sportswholeseller.com Is not an authorized Dita distributor.
The sticks they sell are not authentic.

hockeyshowroom.com is not authorized to sell our goods. They are not authentic.

DYNAMIC SPORTS is not authorized to sell our goods. They are not authentic.

kayfarooquee attempts to sell unauthorized sticks on eBay.

Total-Hockey.com is not authorized to sell in the USA.

jannatenterprises.com offers products. We have a report from a victim in Australia.

EBAY HINTS:

Ask yourself - why would someone sell a new, unused Dita on ebay?
If it is "NEW"  there is a good chance it isn't authentic.
You may want to remain on your guard about used sticks as well. Think twice before bidding.

ONLY BUY FROM AN AUTHORIZED RETAILER.  This holds true for all brands of field hockey gear

Check out the latest at Dita Field Hockey North America, where true passion and GENIUS abound!

Michelle Kasold in Canada

Michelle Is playing with her new autograph stick in Canada.

If you are going to watch the USA Women, print out a copy of
the black and white image and ask her to autograph the picture.


A large version of the photograph is at:  http://www.fieldhockey.net/examkmika.html

photo credit: Jackie Kintzer, USA Goalie

Launch of the EXA 100

The 2012-13 Dita EXA Is NOW available. Go to ditagenius.com

Launch of the 2012-13 Dita Sticks

I am about to let you in on the sequence of EXA Launchings.
You are among the first to know, but you needn't keep it a secret

Each model will be exclusively available for order at fieldhockey.net

The EXA MK18, the Michelle Kasold autograph model has already been made available.

EXA 100 launched May 18
EXA 300 launched May 25
EXA 400 launched June 1
EXA 500 launches June 8
EXA 600 launches June 15
(the above models will be available for pre-order , by this weekend).

On June 20, our Dita retailers and online partners, will join
fieldhockey.net in the launch of the following:
EXA 200;  Terra V40, 20, and 10; Giga G3, G2.

May the odds be ever in your favor.

New EXA Stick Premier

The Michelle Kasold autograph EXA MK18 is available at ditagenius.com

Sizzle Power

Michelle Kasold, Jesse Gey, Torrie Albini, and

Kat(niss) Sharkey

are playing with their sizzling new 2012-13 Dita sticks!

THEY ARE ON FIRE!

People Should Not Be Allowed to Play

Field Hockey is a game.

Who Should Be Permitted to Play?
Who should be kept from playing?

Love Is Always the Answer

Henry Reyes has been coaching at Los Gatos from the heart, for years.
His daughter has published two books that show the enthusiasm he has passed on to others.

From the Sidelines

http://www.blurb.com/books/1811488

No More Shin Rash

Liner Socks are Kind to your shins, your skin

Wear liner socks between your skin and your shin pads.  Your skin will be happier.

One of our most in-demand products, finally back in stock!  Don't wait until we are sold out again.

Hunger Games and Field Hockey

Jennifer Lawrence, who plays Katniss Everdeen, played field hockey.

Your Old EXA 500 Is Needed In London

A key player on the USA Olympic squad needs a gold EXA 500.
The grip was white.

If you have an old EXA 500, GOLD color, please send an email to:
dita@fieldhockey.net

Hockey Players in High Places

Apparently she is sponsored by a shoe company.

Fake and Unauthorized Field Hockey Sticks

Major Brand name field hockey sticks continue to 
be counterfeited. Buy only from a reliable source.

AVOID THE FOLLOWING VENDORS:
We are compiling a list of those who are selling counterfeit Dita products.


sportswholeseller.com Is not an authorized Dita distributor. The sticks they sell are not authentic.

hockeyshowroom.com is not authorized to sell our goods. They are not authentic.

DYNAMIC SPORTS is not authorized to sell our goods. They are not authentic.

kayfarooquee attempts to sell unauthorized sticks on eBay.

Total-Hockey.com is not authorized to sell in the USA.

jannatenterprises.com offers products. We have a report from a victim in Australia.
* EBAY HINTS
Ask yourself - why would someone sell a new, unused Dita on ebay? If it is "NEW" there is a good chance it isn't authentic. You may want to remain on your guard about used sticks as well. Think twice before bidding.

Smart Players Know Dita Improves Their Game.

Yes, There is a USA Men's Field Hockey Team

NPR story about the USA Men's Field Hockey team not playing in the Olympic Qualifier in India.

Elite Level Wood Indoor StickNow In Stock!

The Problem With Mouth Guards

The giant problem with mouth guards is that they are too bulky. How many times have you seen players chewing on their mouth guards?  

Conventional mouth guards are made from soft material and transfer forces to teeth with risk of dental injury.

There are three main types of conventional mouth guards, all based on the soft material EVA:

1. Stock guards -- These are pre shaped, bulky and uncomfortable, They are hard to breath, drink and talk with. They have poor fitting and users complain about significant drooling.
   
2. "Boil and Bite" -- To some extent personal fitting is possible, but they are still bulky and uncomfortable; hard to breath, drink and talk with. Drooling is a problem with these as well.
3. Dentist made -- The advantage is the custom fitting. They are less bulky, but still not comfortable and hard to drink and talk with. The major disadvantage beside discomfort is that they are far too expensive.

The first two options are too bulky and the third too expensive. None of them are really comfortable.
Here is a better idea. 

Check out the latest at Dita Field Hockey North America, where true passion and GENIUS abound!

2013 Dita Indoor Sticks Now Available

2012 Indoor sticks are old news.

CLICK HERE TO GET YOUR 2013 DITA INDOOR

The new 2013 Dita Indoor sticks have arrived!

Field Hockey Video Cache

A whole channel of Dita videos on Youtube

While the spoken language is Dutch,
the visual language is pure
Genius Level hockey.

Subscribe to the stream.

Take the Field Hockey Survey

Electronic Edition of FH LIFE Magazine

See FH LIFE Winter 2012 Issue

There is an article about the high school goggle controversy.

Personally it should be about how a non-field hockey high school organization is corrupting the sport.

The best answer is not to cave in and wear goggles, but to
START PLAYING CLUB FIELD HOCKEY.

p.s. get a FREE COPY of the magazine when you place an order at Dita

Field Hockey: Made In The USA

Ask any other major team sport if their gear is being made in the USA .
Perhaps at one time it was.  Now everything is out sourced, even that all-American sport: baseball.
Show me a baseball made in the USA and it is an antique.

The big names in sports do not manufacture anything in the USA. Those companies that are really huge names and associated with the USA; can you guess where they make their shoes?
Look at those corporations that sponsor our beloved colleges and university teams.  Do you suppose they at least make the socks they require their contracted athletes wear someplace in North or South America? Good luck.

At least Major League baseball and the NFL have their socks made in North Carolina.
But, college players are required to wear socks and apparel made outside the USA.


One thing can be said about American Jobs and the sport of field hockey.  Because field hockey has never been large enough to develop production of stick, ball, or goalie gear inside the USA,  no previously existing American jobs have ever been out sourced.

Currently, only one field hockey company is known to produce some USA made gear. Dita has its socks knitted in North Carolina, by the same knitting mill that makes  MLB and NFL, and NBA socks.
Dita also has its quality bags handcrafted in Boulder, Colorado.

Is it time to produce other field hockey gear domestically? Is it possible we could make world class composites and field hockey balls that are marked: MADE IN THE USA ?








 Check out the latest at Dita Field Hockey North America, where true passion and GENIUS abound!

Men Who Play Hockey

It is not easy playing hockey for a male, in the USA.
Growing up, for me, the option was ice hockey or nothing.
I only discovered field hockey while at Oberlin College.

I shouldn't have paid any attention when they called it "girl's hockey".

I should have kept on playing.  But, there were only girls playing and they
said I wasn't allowed to actually play.

A significant chunk of time passed before I picked up a field hockey stick
again. By then I was a father and my daughter needed a sport. There was no so-called
"girl's hockey", so I started it.  While I taught my own daughter to play, I was being taught
by an amazing Australian player, Del Hokanson.  We taught both boys and girls to play,
not "girl's hockey", but field hockey.

Teach guys to play and they will teach their children, too.

Let anyone who wants to play, play.
It  is an amazing sport I wish I had discovered it as a child.

Blog Post: USA Field Hockey Weekly Report-Week of January 16, 2011 | Community | USA Field Hockey

Blog Post: USA Field Hockey Weekly Report-Week of January 16, 2011 | Community | USA Field Hockey

Blog Post: 2012 National Indoor Rules Briefing | Community | USA Field Hockey

Blog Post: 2012 National Indoor Rules Briefing | Community | USA Field Hockey