Thanksgiving weekend in Naples — our premier college recruiting showcase and the first tournament of the Lonestar season.
The National Hockey Festival is the premier college recruiting showcase on our calendar — hundreds of club teams from across the country, three days of hockey over Thanksgiving weekend, and college coaches evaluating throughout. For our high school players, it is the most-watched hockey they will play all season.
Our Orange teams at U14, U16, and U19 and our White U16/U19 Combined team. Rosters are confirmed and every travelling family will receive this page's updates by email as each milestone lands.
The all-club Festival bootcamp runs Nov 14–15 in Austin — U14 on the Saturday, U16 & U19 on the Sunday. One day, no overnight. This is where teams that mix three cities become one team before our first tournament of the year.
Every selected player confirms their place by signing up and paying a $150 deposit (non-refundable). At sign-up, your family chooses one of two ways to travel.
Players fly chaperoned by our coaches, share rooms with teammates at the coaches' hotel, and are transported by coaches throughout the weekend. Parents simply drop off and pick up at the airport — DFW or Austin — and our coaches are responsible for the players everywhere in between. Every Lonestar coach is SafeSport certified.
The club books the rooms for coaches and 'Travel with Team' players, and parents are invoiced for their player's share after the tournament.
Families are required to book their child's flights, the same ones as our coaches are taking, details in Flights section below.
Players fly and stay with their parents — make it a Thanksgiving trip. Stay at the coaches' hotel if you like (there's no room block for families, so book directly) or anywhere you prefer. Parents are fully responsible for their player through the weekend — the only job is getting her to each game on time. Report times come with the match schedule.
Fly into Southwest Florida International (RSW, Fort Myers) — about 45 minutes from Naples — arriving anytime on Wednesday, Nov 25. Book by Wednesday, Oct 1 — it's Thanksgiving weekend, the busiest travel window of the year, and fares climb steeply from mid-October.
Austin Coaches Flight - chaperone Adam Falla
DFW Coaches Flight - chaperone Mare Banholzer
Estimated at $350 per player regardless of travel option, billed via LeagueApps — this covers tournament registration, coach travel, and team meals, pooled and split evenly. The club makes zero profit on travel. Travel with Team families are additionally invoiced for their player's room share after the tournament; Travel with Family costs are whatever you book. Travel costs should never keep a player off the field — the club can grant scholarships to assist. A conversation with Adam is the starting point.
Arrival: travel down anytime on Wednesday, Nov 25 — teams need to be in Naples that evening, ready for the first matches on Thanksgiving Day.
Match schedules are released by the tournament roughly two weeks out — we'll email every family and update this page the day they land. Expect two matches most days, with team meetings and warm-ups around them.
Thanksgiving note: the Festival runs Thursday–Saturday over the holiday weekend. Many of our families make it a family trip — Naples at Thanksgiving is no hardship posting.
Official tournament page: USA Field Hockey — National Hockey Festival
