The NCAA News - News and Features

May 19, 1997

Field hockey championships gain official ball

Penn Monto to provide balls beginning next year

Beginning next year, the NCAA field hockey championships will use the Penn Monto Elite Turf ball as its official ball.

In past years, the NCAA Field Hockey Committee selected a ball for the championships annually, according to chair Cristy A. Freese, coach at Central Michigan University. Typically, teams would buy that ball for the following year's practices and games.

"We are excited about what Penn Monto is doing," Freese said. "This is a big plus for us."

In addition to providing game balls for each of the three division championships, the manufacturer will provide each championship-game participant with a commemorative ball, donate balls for use in Youth Education through Sports (YES) clinics and donate a minimum financial guarantee to the NCAA, based on actual balls sold. Institutions buying balls from Penn Monto for use during the regular season will receive a discount of $5 per dozen.

"This gives some visibility and credibility to the work we have done with the NCAA since the beginning of its tournament," said Carol Anderson, president of Penn Monto. "Our ball has been used ever since it started.

"This three-year commitment gives us a chance to plan some marketing around it."

Penn Monto was established in the mid-1970s by the late Bob Stuart, who had a farm in Montgomery County in Pennsylvania that was called Penn Monto. Anderson said the signing of this contract serves as a tribute to his memory, in addition to adding another name to the list of organizations that have used the ball.

"We have been providing balls to the USFHA (United States Field Hockey Association), the futures program and the national team," she said. This allows us to run the gamut and gives us something else to be proud of."