LANCASTER COUNTY -- USA Field Hockey announced Monday that the organization and Spooky Nook Sports have "jointly agreed" to amend their partnership, and the Lancaster County sports complex will no longer serve as the U.S. Women's National Team's training base.
Under the terms of the amended agreement, the USA Field Hockey national teams will relocate to a new training base this year, while Spooky Nook Sports will continue to host a "smaller number of USA Field Hockey events," the organization said in a press release.
Spooky Nook Sports had been the U.S. Women's National Team's training facility since 2013, USA Field Hockey said.
“As the needs of the USA Field Hockey national team have grown over the years, USA Field Hockey's needs have changed, and we have jointly decided that the Nook may not be able to accommodate all of those needs moving forward," said Sam Beiler, founder of Spooky Nook Sports, in the press release. "Spooky Nook’s roots are deep in the youth sports market, which means the highest demand for surface space is on evenings and over the weekends. This peak time demand has started to conflict with the needs of the USA Field Hockey national team. New pitches to support field hockey and other turf sports will be installed in 2020.
“Since 2013, Spooky Nook has been proud to be the Home of Hockey and we have enjoyed hosting the USA Field Hockey national teams. While the relocation of the national teams’ training base is in the best interests of both parties, we look forward to continuing to host select USA Field Hockey events. We wish the national teams the best of luck and look forward to celebrating their successes in the future”.
USA Field Hockey CEO Simon Hoskins thanked Beiler and Spooky Nook Sports for their hospitality.
"We are very grateful to the Nook for all of their support over the years," he said in the release. "Back in 2013, we began a revolutionary new partnership with the Nook that provided great support to USA Field Hockey and our National Team. We are very appreciative for all the Nook has done, and we are happy that our relationship will continue in the future through the Nook's hosting of select USA Field Hockey events."
LancasterOnline reported late last year that a petition from unnamed members of both the U.S. women's and men's national teams described issues with the condition of the playing surfaces at Spooky Nook Sports, claiming that the outdoor pitch, which had been used for Team USA's Pro League games, failed to meet the latest FIH standards for competition.
The petition also complained about "rotten," "undercooked," and "low-quality food" served by Spooky Nook Sports to the women's team.
Spooky Nook Sports acknowledged there were issues with the outdoor field, according to LancasterOnline, but it rebutted the claims about the poor food in an open-door tour for local media members after news of the online petition began circulating, according to LancasterOnline.