Jan. 12, 2006

Four-time All-American and U.S. National Team member Lauren Powley is taking a tour across America raising money for the U.S. Field Hockey program and asking fans for any help. Read a letter below from Lauren.

Hi Hockey Fans!

My name is Lauren Powley. I'm a senior at the University of Maryland and member of the US National Field Hockey team. I want to share with you this special opportunity to help make a real difference in the sport we all love, as our US National Team prepares for a spot in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.

With the warm glow of an NCAA National Championship still settling in, I'm now in the second week of another great adventure ... a coast-to-coast bicycle trip, from San Diego, Calif., on December 18, to St. Augustine, Fla., 5-6 weeks later. I'm hoping to raise important funding for USA Field Hockey and for our US National Team program through your sponsorship of this 3,280-mile cross-country bike trek. A penny, a nickel, a dime or a quarter per mile would be greatly appreciated.

For a donation of just 2 cents a mile, you'll receive an official USA Field Hockey BikeAmericaTour T-shirt, along with my personal thanks for helping the USA field hockey program achieve the kind of success we can all be proud of, in the months and years ahead. For just a nickel or more per mile, we'll also will include an official logo jacket, compliments of USA Field Hockey!

To support USA Field Hockey as a sponsor of this exciting bike trek, you can either: (1) Go to www.usfieldhockey.com and click on "Powley's Coast-to-Coast BikeAmericaTour" to learn more about the trip, and follow instructions there for making a donation as a bike trip sponsor; or (2) Write a check payable to USFHA and mail it to US Field Hockey Association, 1 Olympic Plaza, Colorado Springs, CO 80909. (Write "Powley's BikeAmerica Tour" on the check's memo line).

Whether you decide to help with a sponsorship or not, I hope you'll forward this email to all of your field hockey family, friends and teammates, to let them know how much I'd appreciate their help in supporting our national field hockey aspirations in 2006 and beyond.

The USFHA web site (www.usfieldhockey.com) will be chronicling the trip with what I hope will be daily updates from "the road less traveled." You'll be able to keep track of the trip, see what I see, and share in the experience of discovering America through the eyes and ears of a lifelong field hockey fan.

And if you happen to find yourself somewhere between San Diego and St. Augustine between December 17 and January 31, be sure to drop me a line at laurenpowley@pocketmail.com. I'm sure I'll be looking for a hot meal and a warm dry bed each night. I'd love to see you along the way!

Til then, keep in touch, and let's do all that we can to take USA Field Hockey to the next level.

All the best,
Lauren Powley
UM Terps, Class of '06
US National Team Member