By Saylor, Milone
Last weekend, from Friday, September 20 through Sunday, September 22, Longstreth, in partnership with MAX Field Hockey, hosted the 2024 MAX Field Hockey/Longstreth National High School Invitational at the Proving Grounds in Conshohocken, PA. Over seventy games were played over the course of the weekend, featuring local Pennsylvania teams and schools from across the country.
I was fortunate to have played in the invitational for three years of high school. When I was a sophomore at the Academy of Notre Dame in 2021, I was unfamiliar with MAX Field Hockey and the National Invitational. However, when I arrived at the Proving Grounds on September 24 for my 7:30pm game against Kingsway Regional High School, I realized how impressive and important this event was for high school field hockey in the United States. Unlike club field hockey, with many national showcases and tournaments throughout the year, high school field hockey is played on a local or state-wide scale for the most part. This High School National Invitational differs from that traditional high school schedule by providing very high-level teams from every region in the United States with the chance to play games against other talented U.S. teams from different areas of the nation. Therefore, in my experience, playing teams like Sacred Heart Greenwich, Garrison Forest School, Assumption, and St. John’s, from Connecticut, Maryland, Kentucky, and Texas, respectively, proved to be extremely competitive, big-time matchups. The environment at the Proving Grounds during the invitational weekend is unparalleled, as well. Since its inception, the event has grown each year to now feature games on Friday afternoon, all day Saturday, and Sunday morning across eight fields. The invitational is a place where field hockey is truly celebrated, and supporters come together to watch the game at its best for high schoolers.
In my time at Notre Dame, we were 5-1 at the MAX Field Hockey/Longstreth National High School Invitational, and I believe that each of those wins gave our team confidence and affirmation of our abilities. Every season, the invitational was something that we looked forward to because we knew it would give us the chance to play other top teams in the country and, ultimately, because of our success, allowed Notre Dame to become recognized on the national scale. The MAX Field Hockey/Longstreth National High School Invitational was a way to see how we could compare ourselves to other notable teams from various regions in the United States, which proved to be incredibly valuable and affirmative for our own league success later in the season.
This year, in my position with Longstreth, I was not playing at the event, like I had done for the past three years. Instead, I was tasked with helping at the Longstreth Field Hockey tent and creating social media content. It was a unique experience being at the invitational but not on the field, yet I am so grateful to have been a part of it all! I enjoyed getting to watch highly ranked teams this year face off against other competitive teams and embrace sharing content and information about the tournament. It was exciting to see girls I have previously played with or against from various places in the United States competing in the event. I am happy to be interning with Longstreth this year because it means being at events like the MAX Field Hockey/Longstreth National High School Invitational, which I have partaken in as a player, and now understand from the perspective of running and working at the tournament, as well. There is a lot that goes into it to make it an amazing experience and well-run invitational for the 73 participating teams, which is acknowledged by all in attendance.
The event flyer from the invitational reads, “Prove it on the field.” There is no better way to put words to the entire mission behind the MAX Field Hockey/Longstreth National High School Invitational. While playing, it was a way that my team from the Academy of Notre Dame de Namur proved ourselves as not only an elite Pennsylvania team, but an elite team nationally. This past weekend, I got to interact with a variety of different teams, some nationally ranked, others not even ranked in their state, all coming to Conshohocken, PA to do the same thing: prove themselves against other competitors from across the United States. Each team came to the event with goals and a mental and physical preparation to be at their best. Walking around on Friday and Saturday, I witnessed this at every single game. The intensity and determination were evident. This made for fantastic spectating and excitement for anyone at the Proving Grounds on September 20 through 22! Fortunately, the MAX Field Hockey/Longstreth National High School Invitational is here to stay, meaning high school teams will continue to have a chance to perform and prove it to the best.
