California Cup Brings Global Flavor to Area : Moorpark College Event Ensures the Popularity of Field Hockey in Ventura County

Want to travel? Visit exotic countries? Meet people from different cultures around the globe?

Try field hockey.

More than 90 teams representing seven countries continue their second day of California Cup competition today at Moorpark College. The California Cup, now in its 22nd year, is the largest field hockey competition in North America.

The three-day international tournament--which includes an estimated 400 local players--draws nearly 1,500 athletes from as far away as Canada and Taiwan. Athletes from Russia, Armenia and Moldavia are competing for the first time.

Competition concludes Monday with men’s and women’s championship games at 2:30 p.m.

This year’s competition includes 10 different age and skill divisions, with the top men’s and women’s teams each competing for a $2,500 top prize. But unlike other international field hockey tournaments that focus on only elite players, the California Cup emphasizes development of younger athletes.

“Once kids play in this tournament, they’re hooked for life,” said U.S. men’s national team Coach Lenny McCaigue.

Just ask kids such as 8-year-old Brandon Sherman. He started playing field hockey three years ago after watching a demonstration at his elementary school. The Moorpark youngster, now playing in his third California Cup, looks forward most to meeting players from across the globe.

“All of my friends want to play (field hockey) too because there’s people from other countries,” Sherman said. “Last year I met the kids from Taiwan and they gave me $82 in Taiwanese money. I gave them nickels and dimes.”

And kids aren’t the only ones excited about playing in the California Cup. George Waterman, 58, has played in the Cup every year since it first was organized in 1971. Waterman has watched the original competition--with three local teams, a German team and two Canadian teams--blossom into a top-notch international event. “If you took today’s team of 15-year-olds and let them play against the best men’s teams in the 1970s, the 15-year-olds would rip them apart,” he said.

The opportunity to travel and compete in international competitions like the California Cup isn’t the only incentive to pick up a ball and stick. If you play field hockey in Ventura County, there’s a good chance you may also make an Olympic team.

Coaches expect that 60-70% of the 1996 U.S. Olympic squad will come from Ventura County. Thirteen of the 18 players on the 1993 Junior national team also are from Ventura County.

“This is the greatest Olympic opportunity that any young boy living in the area will ever have,” said Tom Harris, who will coach the 1996 U.S. field hockey team and who is widely credited with developing the sport in Ventura County. “Compared to other sports, it is relatively easy to go to the Olympics just because there aren’t the numbers of people playing field hockey.”

Field hockey enjoys tremendous popularity in other parts of the world, but--except in Ventura County--the United States lags far behind. The United States Field Hockey Federation reports that there are only 9,400 registered players--only 1,000 of whom are men.

“Field hockey is the second largest team sport played in the world, yet here in the U.S. no one really knows about it,” said Fred Wittenberg, Moorpark field hockey commissioner.

Wittenberg and other volunteers have been instrumental in developing field hockey in Ventura County. They recruit youngsters by playing host to demonstrations and clinics at local schools every fall. Their grass-roots strategy relies on families, neighbors, and word-of-mouth to cultivate interest.

“If you start at a young age, then the parents become involved too,” Harris said. “Once they see the kids having a good time, they become involved too. It becomes a whole family thing.”

And success often runs in the family. U.S. Senior national team member Ben Maruquin is following in the footsteps of his father and uncle, both former national players.

Maruquin first made the Junior national team when he was 15, and he has been a part of international competition ever since. The 23-year-old Ventura resident has played on U.S. national teams in the Pan American Games, World University Games, and most recently on the Australian club circuit.

It is the opportunity to travel, he says, that gets most kids interested in playing field hockey.

“At 15, you’re pretty impressionable,” Maruquin said. “I’ve been to 30 different countries. When I was with the Junior national team, I got to meet people from different cultures and actually see the places I learned about in geography class.”

There is no professional level of field hockey, and no Michael Jordans or Joe Montanas for young players to use as role models. Instead, they pattern themselves after athletes such as Maruquin and other national team players--many of whom grew up in Ventura County.

“Kids see these guys right here on the fields and think, ‘Wow, they could have been sitting in the same classroom as me a few years ago,’ ” Field Hockey Federation President Don Robinson said.

And most of the national-level players are willing to help the younger players, said 19-year-old Junior national team member Binh Hoang.

“Kids will come up to the (national players) and ask if they’ll help them with their stick-handling,” said Hoang, as he pointed to four former Olympic players on the field. “A lot of these guys will come right off the field and help the kids after a game.”