Rob Penfield

A Life of Obstructions Rob Penfield

On November 17, 1973, the world changed and a legend was born. A band of girls from tiny Granby High School won Connecticut's first-ever state field hockey tournament They beat Guilford High School scoring the winning goal in the second sudden death overtime.




This is a journey through a life of highs and lows. A regular season of sticks and obstructions. Games against long-time rivals and emerging powerhouse teams. The joy and pain of a single elimination tournament.




This memorable season is a bridge to a fifty-year journey for the game of field hockey in Connecticut's public high schools: overcoming the barriers of systemic oppositions by state municipalities to federal guidelines for Title IX, the institutionalized practices of gender bias, discrimination and homophobia.









A Life of Obstructions by Rob Penfield tells a story about common people and their accomplishments playing a game, not because they had to, but because they wanted to be a part of something special. Because on November 17, 1973, the world really did change and a legend was born.