USA Field Hockey declares schedule and structure for 2011 National Club Championship
USA Field Hockey announced the detailed match schedule and pool structure for the 2011 National Club Championship (NCC) on April 4. This Championship will be held at the Sportsquest in Richmond, Virginia from July 21 to 24.
This Championship, introduced by Harrow Sports, will feature both Under-17 and Under-19 hockey clubs. A total of 36 clubs for both divisions have been scheduled to play matches under pools. Each pool comprises of four-club teams starting from Pool A to H
for both U17 and U19.
The teams are required to check-in on July 20. The pool matches will begin from July 21 that will comprise of two thirty-minutes halves whereas the final matches of both divisions will take place on July 24.
Matches have been designed so that each team will play a minimum of six matches. A team will be required to finish in the top-two of their pools to proceed to the next round. Once making it, the teams will play to win further four matches, allowing them
into the Championship round.
The pools were decided over a random basis by the USA Field Hockey, considering the geographic location as well as the past performances of the clubs. The teams of the same location have been allocated in different pools, so as to keep a competition balance
in pools.
First the teams will play against the other teams of their pool and then both the winner and runner-up club teams will advance into the Championship and ranking rounds respectively. The top two teams of each pool will play in the 2-16 ranking round whereas
the bottom two clubs will compete for rankings 17-32.
The seventh match played by the successive clubs will be the Championship final that will decide their final ranking at the National level in both the age-divisions.
In addition to the announcement of the schedule and pool structure, USA Field Hockey along with Harrow Sports has also introduced a newly designed logo for the 2011 NCC for juniors.
The design was decided upon the feedback received from attendees of the 2010 National Hockey Festival. This logo will have a number of variations in accordance to the different states that will host their regional qualifiers in the next years.
The NCC is considered to be an ideal platform for the Nation-wide clubs to come together and compete for the National title and prove themselves in such a highly-competitive tournament.
The Championship will fulfill the USA Field Hockey’s mission to develop international opportunities for the potential players as well as promoting the sport of field hockey within the country. It will be interesting to see how much support and popularity
the Championship can produce towards the sport of field hockey in USA.
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