Welcome to Pittsburgh Venom's 25/26 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.
Are you wondering what the big differences between Outdoor & Indoor Field Hockey?
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, 2017, are eligible.
- Under-10 Age Classification: Players born after July 31, 2015, are eligible.
- Under-12 Age Classification: Players born after July 31, 2013, are eligible.
- Under-14 Age Classification: Players born after July 31, 2011, are eligible.
- Under-16 Age Classification: Players born after July 31, 2009, 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.
Next select your athletes time committment leveI for this years Venom Indoor Field Hockey season to learn more about each program.
NON-TRAVEL
Pittsburgh training only.
TRAVEL
Pittsburgh training & monthly travel tournament (Sat).
ELITE TRAVEL
Pre-Season Tryouts | Weekly training & scrimmages, monthly travel tournaments (Sun) & regional qualifier tournament for nationals at the end of the season.
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.
NON-TRAVEL
If you're brand new to field hockey, have only played the outdoor version for a year or cannot travel with us once a month to Lancaster, PA, we would reccommend joining us for our Non-Travel 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 proved 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
7th, 14th & 21st
December
5th, 12th & 19th
January
2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd & 30th
February
6th
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
12 PRACTICES, 2025 VENOM PINNIE,
CLUB MEMBERSHIP & USAFH LOCAL MEMBERSHIP
$899 / Field Player
$699 / Goalkeeper
*There will be a $50 late registration fee after the deadline of 10/13/2025*
**For sibling discount (20%) & offline payment options please contact us**
***20% Senior Discount (High School Senior's Contact Us)***
LOCATION
341 Washington Ave, Bridgeville, PA, 15017
TRAVEL
Our Travel program is built just like our Non-Travel to bring beginners into Indoor Field Hockey to competing in competitive one-day if you're brand new to or have played indoor field hockey before and would like to train and play in one day tournamentas once a month to Lancaster, PA, we would reccommend joining us for our Travel program.
In our Travel 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 travel to Spooky Nook Sports in Lancaster, PA.
Travel is the next step in our programming. We will make team placements of all registered athletes and we offer once a week training sessions with your team coaches. Once a month (Sat) you will travel to Spooky Nook Sports in Lancaster, PA for a one day tournament with your team.
DATE & TIME
SUNDAYS
U12 & U14 - 11am-1pm
U16 1pm-3pm
U19 3pm-5pm
November
2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd & 30th
December
14th & 21st
January
11th, 18th, 25th
February
1st & 22nd
TOURNAMENTS
Spooky Nook Sports
75 Champ Blvd, Manheim, PA, 17545
4x25min Games
Round Robin - Best Record Wins
December 6th 2025
January 3rd 2026
February 7th 2026
Equipment Needed
Indoor Field Hockey Stick (Outdoor Okay),
Non-Slip Shoes,
Gloves (Left Hand Required),
Mouth Guard,
Shin Guards,
Venom Pinny,
Venom Uniform (Required for All Travel Players),
Water Bottle,
Good Attitude!
COST
12 PRACTICES, 3 TRAVEL TOURNAMENTS, 2025 VENOM PINNIE,
CLUB MEMBERSHIP & USAFH LOCAL MEMBERSHIP
$1,299/Athlete
$999/Goalkeeper
*There will be a $50 late registration fee after the deadline of 10/13/2025*
**For sibling discount (20%) & offline payment options please contact us**
***20% Senior Discount (High School Senior's Contact Us)***
LOCATION
341 Washington Ave, Bridgeville, PA, 15017
ELITE TRAVEL
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 place in our Travel program.
We have an expectation to qualify for Nationals at a National Indoor Tournament Qualifier which are 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 a Travel 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 All American+ Field House. It is a brand new sport court facility where we can continue ther 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.
We will be hosting Try-Out session's before the season for all athletes who wish to play in our Elite program. Elite teams will practice once a week on a Sunday mornings and have dedicated scrimmage's on Wednesday evenings. Once a month regular season Spooky Nook Tournaments once a month (Sun).
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 dont 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 26th 8am-10am
U14, U16 & U19
October 30th 7pm-9pm
U16 & U19
U14, U16 & U19
Elite Training Sessions
Sunday's 8am-10am
November
2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd & 30th
December
14th & 21st
January
11th, 18th & 25th
February
1st, 15th & 22nd
U16 & U19
Elite Scrimmages
Tuesdays 6pm-8pm
November
4th, 11th, 18th & 25th
December
2nd, 9th & 16th
January
6th, 13th, 20th & 27th
February
3rd, 10th, 17th
TOURNAMENTS
Spooky Nook Sports
75 Champ Blvd, Manheim, PA, 17545
4x25min Games
Round Robin - Best Record Wins
December 7th 2024
January 4th 2025
February 8th 2025
National Indoor Qualifier
TBD Dec 2025-Jan 2026
TBD Location
Nationals
U14
February 13th-16th 2026
Spooky Nook Sports
U16
February 20th-22nd 2026
Spooky Nook Sports
U19
February 27th-March 1st 2026
Richmond Convention Center
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!
U14 ELITE COST
$1299 - U14 Elite Athlete
$ 999 - U14 Elite Goalkeeper
INCLUDES 12 PRACTICES, 3 TOURNAMENTS,
2025 VENOM PINNIE, CLUB MEMBERSHIP & USAFH LOCAL MEMBERSHIP
U14 NATIONALS ADDITIONAL FEE (NO QUALIFIER)
U16 & 19 ELITE COST
$1699 - U16 & U19 Elite Athlete
$1499 - U16 & U19 Elite Goalkeeper
INCLUDES 12 PRACTICES, 14 SCRIMMAGES, 3 TOURNAMENTS, 1 NITQ,
2025 VENOM PINNIE & CLUB MEMBERSHIP & USAFH LOCAL MEMBERSHIP
U16 & U19 NATIONALS ADDITIONAL FEE
*There will be a $50 late registration fee after the deadline of 10/13/2025*
**For sibling discount (20%) & offline payment options please contact us**
***20% Senior Discount (High School Senior's Contact Us)***
LOCATION
