Photo by Elizabeth Ottoway
Philomena Fitzgerald (second from left) and Alex Purugganan (second from right) of AVA Magic, with players.
On a breezy, partly cloudy afternoon, the practice field at Alexandria Country Day School is littered with cones, athletic bags and field hockey sticks. Alex Purugganan unloads equipment from his black car, which is adorned with stickers. Among them is a purple logo that reads: AVA Magic.
Purugganan is the owner and co-founder of AVA Magic, Alexandria’s first year-round field hockey club. Purugganan founded the club alongside his eldest daughter, Philomena Fitzgerald.
Fitzgerald is a local field hockey legend in her own right. She grew up in Alexandria, attending T.C. Williams High School (now Alexandria City High School), where she was recently inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame. Fitzgerald returned to Alexandria after college to work for the Alexandria Economic Development Partnership, where her role is to help small businesses access resources.
The club launched its first clinic in 2022. On the field that day, there were three people: a coach and two players, one of whom was Fitzgerald’s younger sister.
Two years later, the club has grown beyond what the father-daughter team could have imagined. This season, they have 72 players.
“I think a lot of the appeal to many of our returning players is not only that they see themselves improve on the field but they really build a rapport with each other and a trust for the coaches,” Purugganan said. “A lot of them have grown to really love and enjoy the sport.”
Lucy Thiede, 13, has been playing with AVA Magic since the fall of 2021. She has four years of field hockey experience under her belt, having started with a recreational league in Arlington. Her favorite part of AVA Magic is participating in tournaments and getting to know her teammates. Compared with the parent-coached rec league, she says this club is more individualized.
“They ask you what you want to work on,” Lucy said. “It’s a more personalized experience.”
The main reason Purugganan and Fitzgerald decided to start this club was to give kids like Lucy an opportunity that Fitzgerald didn’t have. Fitzgerald was introduced to field hockey through a summer league in middle school, but when she and her parents looked for ways to level up her game, there were no club options nearby. She ended up driving to DC multiple times per week to play on a club team.
Ten years later, Fitzgerald's younger sisters were also looking for places to play the sport. There were still no clubs in Alexandria, so Fitzgerald and her father decided to start their own.
At a moment where women’s sports are in the spotlight, Fitzgerald says much has changed since her time as a high school and college athlete. When she committed to playing Division I field hockey at the College of the Holy Cross, she and the other female athletes had to fight to be given a signing day like the male athletes were.
The goal for both Fitzgerald and Purugganan is to cultivate a community of players where girls can hone their skills in a supportive environment. Afterall, the tight-knit community around field hockey is part of what caused Fitzgerald to fall in love with the sport in the first place.
“We want to create kind of that same environment: being supportive, being fun, and being safe,” Fitzgerald said. “Our values tie in to being more than a field hockey player. Learning how to be a good teammate — that's going to be something that you need to know for life.”
To learn more about AVA Magic and upcoming opportunities, including clinics for beginner and intermediate players during late May and early June, summer clinics and fall tryouts, visit avamagicfhc.com.
