Welcome to Pittsburgh Venom's 26/27 Winter Indoor Field Hockey Season!
You will find all the information about our Winter Indoor programming below as well as the steps to get to the next level if you want to push yourself to play at Nationals and the NCAA.
First off we need to know which age group your athlete is in. According to their birthday please use the chart below to determine your age group:
- Under-8 Age Classification: Players born after July 31, 2018, are eligible.
- Under-10 Age Classification: Players born after July 31, 2016, are eligible.
- Under-12 Age Classification: Players born after July 31, 2014, are eligible.
- Under-14 Age Classification: Players born after July 31, 2012, are eligible.
- Under-16 Age Classification: Players born after July 31, 2000, are eligible.
- Under-19 Age Classification: Players born after July 31, 2007, are eligible.
It's important to note that athletes of a younger age classification may play in older age divisions, but an older age division player may not play in the younger age division. This ensures fairness and appropriate competition levels.
0-1 Years of Indoor Experience.
If you're brand new to field hockey, have only played the outdoor version for a year we would recommend joining us for our Developmental Pittsburgh only training.
In our Pittsburgh field hockey training sessions, we guide athletes from the basics of Indoor Field Hockey with simple skill lessons, to playing the game with guided scrimmages and chalk talk explaining the structures of the court positioning and the small variations of the indoor game to the outdoor one we play in school.
Our sessions are held once a week detailing the intro to indoor hockey and developing skills to learn the game as well as creating a space to hone your stick skills without the commitment to travel once a month to the tournaments. Indoor hockey is proven to heighten stick skills and speed up recognition to help the outdoor game.
DATE & TIME
U12 & U14
Friday's 5pm-6:30pm
U16 & U19
Friday's 6:30pm-8pm
November: 6th, 13th & 20th
December: 4th, 11th & 18th
January: 15th, 22nd & 29th
February: 5th, 12th
March: 5th
Equipment Needed
Indoor Field Hockey Stick (Outdoor Okay),
Non-Slip Shoes,
Gloves (Left Hand Required),
Mouth Guard,
Shin Guards,
Venom Pinny,
Water Bottle,
Good Attitude!
COST
$1149
*There will be a $50 late registration fee after the deadline of 10/16/26 & a waitlist after 10/24/26*
**A 20% Sibling Discount will be applied if you have multiple registration in cart.**
1-2 Years of Indoor / Outdoor Experience
Our ADVANCED program is built just like our DEVELOPMENT program to bring beginners into Indoor Field Hockey to compete in one-day tournaments. If you're brand new to or have played indoor field hockey before and would like to train and play in one day tournaments once a month in Monroeville, we would recommend joining us for our ADVANCED program.
In our ADVANCED program, we guide athletes from the basics of Indoor Field Hockey with simple skill lessons, to playing the game with guided scrimmages and chalk talk explaining the structures of the court positioning and the small variations of the indoor game. Once a month we are hosting Pittsburgh indoor tournaments for our athletes to compete in without travelling to another city.
DATE & TIME
SUNDAYS
U12 & U14 - 8am-10am
U16 10am-12pm
U19 12pm-2pm
November: 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd
December: 6th, 13th & 20th
January: 3rd, 17th*, 24th (AAFH) & 31st
February: 7th
Home Tournaments:
November 21st (Pro Sports)
December 19th (Pro Sports)
January 23rd (AAFH)
January 30th (AAFH)
Scrimmage Days:
February 14th: 2-4pm
February 21st: 4-6pm
February 28th: 6-8pm
Make up Practice/Play Day:
March 7th 2-8pm
Venom Banquet:
March 14th 2-8pm
Equipment Needed
Indoor Field Hockey Stick (Outdoor Okay),
Non-Slip Shoes,
Gloves (Left Hand Required),
Mouth Guard,
Shin Guards,
Venom Pinny,
Venom Uniform,
Water Bottle,
Good Attitude!
COST
$1,599/Athlete
*There will be a $50 late registration fee after the deadline of 10/16/20 & a waitlist after 10/24/26*
**A 20% Sibling Discount will be applied if you have multiple registration in cart.**
1-3+ Years of Indoor Experience
VENOM ELITE is now better than ever! Venom Elite is the highest skill level training we offer.
We encourage all who wish to push themselves to try-out for Elite because if you don't get selected you will be placed in our Advanced program.
We have an expectation to qualify for Nationals at a National Indoor Tournament Qualifier which is held regionally before the end of the season. If you are not selected from Try-Outs for our elite program we will place you on an ADVANCED team and refund you the difference.
We have made a massive decision this year to optimize our Elite programming to be the best we can. We have MOVED our ELITE programming to PRO+ SPORTS. It is a brand new sport court facility where we can continue the master teach system for Elite! U14, U16 & U19 each get their own court and train and scrimmage together for the entire session where we can play and train alongside everyone.
Furthermore we attend an additional tournament during the year which is called the National Indoor Tournament Qualifier for U16 & U19. If the team does well enough at the NITQ they will qualify for Nationals at the end of the year to compete for a National Championship. There is an additional cost for the National Indoor Tournament if we Qualify. U14's qualify automatically upon team registration so nationals rosters don't need to be made as soon.
During the season as we see how people are training/playing there can be movement throughout the teams among the age groups to optimize each team depending on teamwork and skill. If you prove to us that you belong in a higher skill level team the coaches will make those decisions as the season continues but once NITQ rosters are set the teams are finalized.
TRYOUT'S
October 17th 2026
U14 2-4pm
U16 4-6pm
U19 6-8pm
October 24th 2026
U14 2-4pm
U16 4-6pm
U19 6-8pm
U14, U16 & U19
Elite Training Sessions
Sundays 2-8pm
U14: Sundays 2-4pm
U16: Sundays 4-6pm
U19: Sundays 6-8pm
November: 1st, 8th, 15th & 22nd
December: 6th, 13th & 20th
January: 3rd, 17th*, 24th (AAFH) & 31st
February: 7th 14th (U16/19 only), 21st (U14/19 only), 28th (U14/16 only)
Elite Scrimmages
Wednesday's 6pm-8pm (all age groups)
November: 4th, 11th, 18th & 25th
December: 2nd, 9th & 16th
January: 6th, 13th, 20th & 27th
February: 3rd, 10th, 17th & 24th
TOURNAMENTS
Home Tournaments:
November 21st (Pro Sports)
December 19th (Pro Sports)
January 23rd (AAFH)
January 30th (AAFH)
Spooky Nook Sports
75 Champ Blvd, Manheim, PA, 17545
4x25min Games
Round Robin - Best Record Wins
December 5th 2026
January 9th 2027*
February 6th 2027*
*pending final NITQ dates
National Indoor Qualifier
TBD Dec 2026-Jan 2027
TBD Location
Nationals
U14
February 12th-15th 2027
Spooky Nook Sports
U16
February 19th-21st 2027
Spooky Nook Sports
U19
February 26th-28th 2027
Richmond Convention Center
Make up Practice/Play Day:
March 7th 2-8pm
Venom Banquet:
March 14th 2027 2-8pm
Equipment Needed
Indoor Field Hockey Stick,
Non-Slip Shoes,
Gloves (Left Hand Required),
Mouth Guard,
Shin Guards,
Venom Pinny,
Venom Uniform (Required for All Elite Players),
Water Bottle,
Good Attitude!
COST
Try-Out Fee: $25
If selected: $1999
INCLUDES 12 PRACTICES, 15 SCRIMMAGES, 4 PITTSBURGH TOURNAMENTS, 3 SPOOKY NOOK TOURNAMENTS & 1 NITQ,
U14 NATIONALS ADDITIONAL FEE (NO QUALIFIER)
U16 & U19 NATIONALS ADDITIONAL FEE (IF QUALIFIED AT NITQ)
*You must register for ELITE Try-Outs by 10/15/26*
**A 20% Sibling Discount will be applied if you have multiple registration in cart.**
Open to All Experience Levels
We have created a dedicated Boys program this year for our U16 & U19 boys who want to compete at NAtionals! We have a time slot & space for the boys to practice for a full season working and developing for the ultimate goal of attending Nationals as a complete Pittsburgh boys team for the first time ever. We will teach any boy to pick up an indoor field hockey stick and grow towards a Nationals appearance.
If you are a boy but not U16 or U19 we encourage you to join our developmental program which will be more geared towards their age group and skill level (please contact us to have the boys scholarship discount applied after you register). If you feel like he can play at the U16 or U19 division please contact us and we will judge each applicant individually to see if they are a right fit.
All scrimmages, practices, home tournaments, and the banquet will take place at ProSports+ unless noted as AAFH (All American Field House, Monroeville, PA). Boys who sign up will be expected to attend the National Indoor Tournament (NITs) held in Richmond, VA.
Pro Sports+
855 Macbeth Dr
Monroeville, PA 15146
Boys Practices
Wednesdays: 6-8pm
November: 4th,11th, 18th, 25th
December: 2nd, 9th, 16th
January: 6th, 13th, 20th, 27th
February: 3rd, 10th, 17th, 24th
Sundays 6-8pm
November: 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd
December: 6th, 13th, 20th
January: 3rd, 17th*, 24th (AAFH), 31st
February: 7th, 14th & 21st
Make up Practice/Play Day:
March 7th 2-8pm
Home Tournaments:
November 21st (Pro Sports)
December 19th (Pro Sports)
January 23rd (AAFH)
January 30th (AAFH)
National Indoor Tournament (NITs):
Greater Richmond Convention Center
403 N 3rd St, Richmond, VA 23219
February 26-28, 2027
Venom Banquet:
March 14th 2-8pm
COST
$849 *BOYS SCHOLARSHIP DISCOUNT
*There will be a $50 late registration fee after the deadline of 10/16/2026 & a waitlist after 10/24*
**A 20% Sibling Discount will be applied if you have multiple registration in cart.**
Whats the difference between indoor & outdoor field hockey?
If you're brand new to field hockey and know absolutely nothing about the sport we reccommend watching this WikiHow video explaining the VERY BASIC concepts of Outdoor Field Hockey - VIDEO LINK
If we can simplify the idea of Indoor Field Hockey to Outdoor Field Hockey. Its the same difference as Futsol is to Soccer.
We play with the same basic rule of field hockey but with some key changes.
The major differences between games are:
- 6-A-SIDE On a smaller hockey court. A regular hockey match is played by two teams of 11. Indoor is 5 field players and a goalkeeper.
- NO TURF
We play on sport court inside. A regular hockey pitch is 55 meters by 91.4 meters. In Indoor it's only 22 meters by 44 meters.
- NO HITTING Even sweeps! Any action to push the ball where to stick starts more than roughly 12 inches away is considered a hitting action.
- NO LIFTING You cannot lift the ball off the court except for a safe shot at goal. Even if the ball bobbles up it can be a penalty.
- BOARDS We can bounce the ball off 18 inch boards that run the length of each sideline. Players may step out of the boards but if the ball travels outside, play resumes with the team who didn't play the ball out, at the spot where the ball left the playing area.
- 3 POINTS OF CONTACT You may not have more than 3 points of contact with the floor (Typically 2 feet & a stick).
- DRILLING You may not intentionally push the ball into a defenders stick if they're in a set position with their stick along the floor.
- PENALTY CORNERS In outdoor you may only have 5 players defending. In indoor there is no limit. However players defending do not line up in the middle of the goal. They have to stand on the outside of the goal from the inserter and only the Goalkeeper may stand inside the goal.
If you would like to know more about the rules in detail here are the official FIH Rulebook's PDF for both outdoor and indoor field hockey.
Cancellation & Weather Policy
Cancelled Practices
For inclement weather & other events beyond our control we reserve the right to cancel a practice at any time. We will do our best to offer a make-up session if the facility has availability and we have the coaches to staff such practices but it is not guarenteed.
National Weather Service Lightning & Outdoor Sports Activity Guidelines
We adhere to the UFSAH & National Weather Service policy and all guidelines for inclement weather and outdoor sporting activity.
Once notified of lightning within 10miles from our Weather App WeatherBug will prompt a 30min delay from the last strike.
Any sighting of lightning or hearing thunder also prompts a stoppage to practices outside and unless weather (WeatherBug) monitoring apps say that there is no lightning within 10miles of the current location.
Application Reference:
