SOUTH HADLEY — The cheering and screaming could be heard from well down the road. A big speaker placed at the 50-yard line of South Hadley High School’s Memorial Field thumped upbeat music as a bright orange sunset blazed the skyline above. It was the perfect scene for Wednesday night’s Western Massachusetts Summer Field Hockey League championship game between Longmeadow and East Longmeadow.

This summer marked the fifth year of the league’s existence, and according to co-founder Katie Hopp, a local field hockey official, it was by far the most competitive.

“The summer overall, it’s a success,” Hopp said. “We had more games come down to penalty strokes than any other year.”

Fittingly, the championship game between neighboring rivals also came down to strokes, as East Longmeadow captured the summer league crown – its second win of the day over Longmeadow.

After shaking hands with the opposing team, the Spartans gathered into a group to take a championship picture. But this wasn’t an ordinary photo.

Hopp, holding two large confetti cannons, crouched behind the East Longmeadow team as they donned their championship hats – a new addition to this year’s league – and shot the confetti into the air. As it fell in the faces of the players, they let out one more loud scream, symbolizing the thrill of their hard summer’s work paying off.

For Hopp, watching the kids enjoy and embrace the moment never gets old.

“We look at how many kids are smiling and enjoying this, the parents come in and say thank you, the teamwork they have to implement – it’s all amazing,” Hopp said. “And this is all self-coached, there’s no coaching involved. They play through the heat, they play through humidity and rain, and they have a blast.”

When Hopp and fellow co-founder Tara Cole, the former South Hadley varsity field hockey coach, started the league up in 2019, they had about 70 kids join their first year. Now, Hopp and Cole fielded over 230 players in the league this summer – over triple the amount of year one.

Not only is the league getting bigger each year, but the athletes participating continue to grow and develop tremendously. The consistent uptick in numbers coupled with the cheap league fee has Cole optimistic about keeping the area’s field hockey numbers afloat — an issue that has plagued some high school programs throughout Hampshire and Franklin Counties in recent seasons.

“I think what’s really incredible is the fact that the first year we were at like 70 kids, and just a handful of towns coming out,” Cole said. “This summer we had over 200 athletes come out and play, and 14 different towns were represented. We’re trying to keep field hockey alive in the Valley, and we’re doing it in an affordable, fun way in the summer – which is key.”

The large turnout this summer can partially be credited to the fact that Hopp and Cole welcome players from grades 7-12 to join the league. Because several teams in Western Mass. consist of some middle school players, the summer league is a terrific chance for them to get their feet wet at the varsity level before the season kicks off – and lots of the younger players took full advantage of that opportunity.

“A couple of weeks ago, a team had a first-year goalie in there, and they had one of their veteran goalies stand behind the goal to give some coaching and ease some of their nerves,” Cole said. “And now you’ve got this first-time goalie getting some pointers before the preseason even begins. This is a great place where they can get out some of these nerves and meet their teammates before they get into the season.”

Hampshire and Franklin Counties fielded a sizable portion of the 12 teams in the league this year, including Frontier, Greenfield, Smith Academy, South Hadley/Hampshire Regional, Holyoke and Belchertown. On top of the games played every Wednesday throughout seven weeks of the summer, Hopp and Cole also added Sunday clinics with college coaches to give the players an opportunity to connect with these coaches before the high school season begins.

“We offered two Sunday clinics this year, which we had some college coaches come in and work with some of the kids that signed up,” Hopp said. “We found it to be a great success, and it’s also a great way for the kids to connect with coaches individually on a small scale.”

Year five of the Western Massachusetts Summer Field Hockey League can certainly be chalked up as a success, and Hopp walked away with one simple takeaway.

“Growth,” she said. “It’s growth on every level. We have seventh graders up to seniors, and some of these kids, it’s their first time ever touching the field with a ball and a stick. For them to come out and feel the success, it’s huge.”