Public League field hockey in jeopardy

The PIAA's decision to eliminate a girls' soccer championship in the spring beginning with the 2010-11 school year and hold only one in the fall has created a number of issues for the Public League, not the least of which is the future of its field hockey programs.

Some Public League field hockey coaches say that fall soccer will lead to the elimination of field hockey at the seven schools that have programs. There were eight teams last season, but Frankford dropped out this year when it couldn't field a team.

Actually, two major issues are working against the Public League field hockey teams. Fall soccer will compete for not only players but field space, said Regina Johnson, the Public League's chairman for field hockey.

"This is going to be a huge issue for field hockey," she said. "Number one is the field-space situation. Second is how many [girls] will come out for field hockey if they have to make a choice between field hockey and soccer. Field hockey is a relatively new program. We don't have the kids who play outside [club programs] of school. Soccer will definitely be more dominant."

Johnson, along with coaches Susan Marinari of Central and Jackie Metz of Girls High, and former Northeast coach Mitch Klein, agreed that a limited number of girls go out for sports, no matter the school's size.

"Participation by the girls in the city is not as high as in the suburbs," Johnson said.

"It is a twofold problem," said Klein, who stepped down as Northeast's coach at the end of the last school year. "We don't have the space. And the other problem is the number of kids who go out for teams."

Marinari and Metz say space becomes a major issue at their schools. At Central, the Lancers' field hockey team shares space with the football team for practices, then plays its home games on the Girls High field.

"We take 40 yards of the football field," Marinari said. "If you bring another sport into the fall, it will really hurt us."

Although field space is not usually a big issue in the suburbs, it could become one at some of the smaller schools that have limited grounds.

Another issue with the soccer move to the fall is the availability of officials. A number of schools play junior varsity and varsity games simultaneously on separate fields. That means additional officials are needed.

Robert Coleman, the school district's athletic director, did not return phone calls Wednesday, but Johnson said his office is looking into the situation.

The PIAA has been considering the move to a fall-only girls' championship for a number of years (soccer is the only PIAA sport that has championships in two seasons), and a lawsuit in Michigan apparently forced the issue.

"It was a long time in coming," said Melissa Mertz of the PIAA. "Parents brought a lawsuit against the Michigan high school association. They filed suit because girls' basketball was played in the fall and volleyball in the winter."

The parents contended that playing "out of season" hurt their daughters when it came to recruiting.

"That was like a red flag to other states," Mertz said.

Mertz, a former high school field hockey player, said she does not expect the big drop-off in participation that some coaches predict when girls must choose between soccer and field hockey.

"The flip side is that more opportunities may be available for girls," she said. "As for officials, we always need officials, but with 300 teams now playing soccer in the fall, they know how to make it work."

The Suburban One League, which played girls' soccer in the spring, voted earlier this year to play in the fall.

The only way to increase participation in field hockey, Klein said, is to get the interest going at the middle-school level. Only a handful of city middle schools have field hockey programs.

"It's going to be up to the middle schools," he said.