If you play sports through Wyckoff Recreation, here's some news: this fall was the first time the town's girls field hockey team played real games against other towns.[1] The season was supposed to start Sept. 13 against Westwood, but that game got rained out. The team's first real game was played Sept. 20, against West Milford.[4]
Back in 2024, the town's recreation director, Andy Wingfield, met a parent who wanted to start a field hockey clinic, the board's minutes from that month say.[2] That parent was Kristen Marco, and she's the team's coach now, Wingfield said.[1] For the next two years, the girls just practiced and scrimmaged against each other, with no games against other towns. This year, they finally got to play for real.[1]
Interest was huge. Thirty-seven girls in grades 5 through 8 signed up. Thirty made the roster, and seven more are on a waitlist.[1] The town's own flyer for the program says it plainly: "This Program is for girls (grades 5-8)."[3]
The team practices once a week at Memorial Field, on the turf.[1] If you've never seen field hockey before, players use a curved stick to hit a small, hard ball across a field and into a goal. It's played on grass or turf, not ice, and nobody wears skates.