St. Stephen’s School, Austin, Celebrates New State-of-Art Field Hockey Surface

The St. Stephen’s, Austin, community celebrated the official opening of its new home for field hockey and girls lacrosse at a ribbon-cutting ceremony held Sept. 30, 2022 at St. Stephen’s Episcopal School. As the first hockey-specific surface in Central Texas, Spartans in grades 6-12 benefit from daily training on the hockey turf designed for fast-paced, high-level hockey.

Approximately 70 athletes from across seven grade levels and a handful of Spartan hockey alumni currently compete collegiately att Stanford, Dartmouth, Harvard, Trinity College and Swarthmore College. The addition of the water-based hockey, turf-training facility should aid in putting St. Stephen’s Field Hockey on the national map.

Head of School Chris Gunnin said he is thrilled about the new facility on “The Hill.”

“I am proud and excited that our field hockey and girls lacrosse teams will have the benefit of this state-of-the-art field for practices, training and competitions,” Gunnin said. “I am deeply grateful for the support of our donors and thankful for the members of the board of trustees and St. Stephen’s staff who invested time and energy in this project. With the addition of this field to our program, there is no limit on what our student-athletes can achieve.”

The $2 million project was funded by a small group of donors. It will rival that of collegiate hockey facilities and will hopefully serve as a future playing ground for international and college friendlies.