BLOOMFIELD HILLS — The rules of the game remain the same. There have been no innovations in uniforms or equipment. Teams still travel to away games using the same buses.
But there is something fresh and new about field hockey — now that the game is officially sanctioned by the Michigan High School Athletic Association. That’s the most notable change this fall for the organization that oversees high school sports across the state.
“I think there’s a level of excitement around the sport this year because we are finally an MHSAA sport,” said Paige Comito, coach and athletic director at the Academy of the Sacred Heart in Bloomfield Hills. “This league has really been pushing for that for many, many years. There’s definitely that exciting piece built around this season, in particular, but for the most part, it doesn’t feel like too much has changed.”
“It’s absolutely exciting being recognized, and having other sports and other coaches recognize us; that’s always a great thing to get more visibility for the sport as well,” Ann Arbor Fr. Gabriel Richard coach Abigail Morton said.
While field hockey is having a moment, the object of the game — played by two teams with 11 girls a side in four 15-minute quarters — is still to put the ball in the opponent’s net.
So what’s different? There are now 36 schools statewide — including nine from the Catholic League — all vying to be the first team to become “official” state champions.
“Yes, we want to hold that Michigan-shaped trophy, 100 percent,” Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood coach Jordan Yagiela said. “I’m a firm believer that youth sports is about the development of young people, but that being said, there is definitely a goal of winning a state championship. If we were to win it in the first year of MHSAA, that would be icing on the cake.”
Despite its newfound status, field hockey is not a new sport. Most Catholic League schools have an extensive history playing the game. The CHSL has sponsored a league tournament for at least 20 years.
“We have been playing field hockey at Sacred Heart for a long time. We were definitely one of the first schools in Michigan to play field hockey,” said Comito, who played on a Gazelles team that won a non-sanctioned state title in 2005.
“I did learn that almost all of the Detroit schools back in the ‘50s all played field hockey. As the schools began to move more out to the suburbs, it was really just a private-school sport, along with the schools in Ann Arbor. So there really is a rich history here; we have several state championships that were won in the ‘80s,” she said. “Now, it’s still an Ann Arbor sport, but we do what we can, and for the size of our school, we’ve really been able to form some great field hockey athletes here over the years.”
Yagiela said her mother and aunt played the sport when they were growing up in Pennsylvania, and she followed in their footsteps when she attended Detroit Country Day school.
“I played in high school and graduated in 2011 and we were fighting, even before I played, to get into the MHSAA,” she said. “I think they are taking it more seriously now.”
“Cranbrook has been playing for a long time — actually longer than I’ve been on this earth,” Yagiela said. “We have a really strong culture here, and we are just trying to go out there and play our best version of field hockey.”
“I’ve played since middle school, I played in college, I’ve been a referee, now I’m a coach for travel as well," Morton said. “We are getting into the nitty-gritty of it, finding our roots, getting back to it. The MHSAA sanctioning the sport now is incredible, but it doesn’t change how hard we have to fight, the skills we have to develop and the fundamentals we have to have.”
Besides Sacred Heart, Cranbrook and Fr. Gabriel Richard, other Catholic League schools sponsoring the sport are Ann Arbor Greenhills, Bloomfield Hills Marian, Farmington Hills Mercy, Grosse Pointe Woods University-Liggett, Warren Regina and Wixom St. Catherine.
Despite being the smallest program statewide, University-Liggett won the Catholic League’s Bishop Division championship in 2024. Fr. Gabriel Richard has won the Cardinal Division title for the past three years, and moved up into the Bishop Division this fall.
With the Catholic League’s ongoing history of sponsoring the sport and its many heritage programs, one would think that league teams are among the favorites to win that first state title. But really, it’s anyone’s guess — at least until the sport gets a couple state tournaments behind it.
“We’ve held our championships; the field hockey coaches’ association has had their championships. We still have the same number of teams that sponsored it that we had before,” Catholic League director Vic Michaels said. “Instead of the coaches’ association, the MHSAA sponsors it now. Not a whole lot will change with the exception of the name on the trophy.”
And it’s not the first time the Catholic League has played a large role in getting another sport added to the MHSAA stable.
“It’s traveling the same route as lacrosse or bowling. In both of those sports we were sponsoring tournaments before the MHSAA, and our schools were participating in these sports already,” Michaels said. “I also remember years back when cheerleading became an MHSAA sport (in 1994). It kind of gave them legitimacy.”
While each of those sports have since found their footing on a statewide level, Michaels is optimistic the same will hold true for field hockey.
“From my standpoint, it’s about regulation,” said Michaels, who is also a member of the MHSAA’s Representative Council, which approved the measure. “I look at girls hockey; I don’t think it’s regulated properly. Field hockey’s been under good leadership. (Retired Ann Arbor Greenhills athletic director) Meg Seng was guiding that for a number of years. The fact that they can be now officially recognized as a district, regional or state champ by the MHSAA is beneficial to the athletes.”
Already, schools that have sponsored the sport in the past are reporting growth in the number of girls who have come out for their teams this fall.
“We always encourage more people (to join),” Yagiela said. “The big takeaway is the relationships that you build with people, being able to learn how to work with others toward a common goal, even if you aren’t necessarily the best of friends with people. We have 11 people on the field at once, and we have other people who are on the bench as well, but being able to come together and work toward something and hopefully achieve that goal is huge. That’s my favorite part about it.”
The Catholic League will again sponsor championships in two divisions, with finals being held Oct. 4 at The Hawk athletic complex in Farmington Hills. There will be one division of play in the MHSAA’s inaugural state tournament, which begins Oct. 8. The state championship takes place Oct. 25 at a site yet to be announced.
