Participation in interscholastic athletics is a privilege and should elicit great pride among all school community members. The mission of the Upper Montgomery Hockey Club is to be the instructional and high-performance organization of choice for ice hockey players and coaches who seek and promote personal skills and team development, while raising the level of awareness and competitive play for high school student athletes in the Up-County region of Montgomery County, Maryland. The philosophy of the Upper Montgomery Hockey Club is that success will come naturally from expert instruction in the fundamentals of the sport and the development of advanced hockey skills, placing a priority on good sportsmanship, having fun, and academic achievement while being competitive.
- To create an opportunity for student athletes in select Up-County high schools for continued participation in the sport of ice hockey and the development of advanced hockey skills and knowledge.
- To produce college and university caliber student athletes through the high-performance club hockey program allowing student athletes to move on to their next level of play while promoting team and club unity.
- To create and develop relationships with student athletes, parents and guardians, and the community, and bring exposure to the Upper Montgomery Hockey Club.
- To serve as a model of life, providing opportunities for student athletes to learn responsibility, fair play, cooperation, compassion, leadership, respect for authority, good citizenship, loyalty, and tolerance as evidenced by each student athlete’s attitude and behaviors.
The purpose of the Upper Montgomery Hockey Club is:
- To organize, administer, and coordinate appropriate opportunities in the sport of ice hockey for selected high school student athletes in the Up-County region of Montgomery County, Maryland.
- To provide student athletes with the opportunity for advanced levels of skill development and competition in the sport of ice hockey.
- To obtain and manage the necessary finances, personnel, and equipment to operate the organization’s ice hockey program.
The team’s name is intended to represent the Up-County region of Montgomery County, Maryland and recognizes that student athletes from several different high schools comprise the playing roster of the team. Currently, there are six high schools that are assigned to the Upper Montgomery high school cooperative program: Clarksburg High School, Damascus High School, Gaithersburg High School, Poolesville High School, Seneca Valley High School, and Watkins Mill High School. From time to time, the cooperative committee of the Maryland Student Hockey League may reassign one or more of the high schools that make up the Upper Montgomery Hockey Club to another cooperative program within the Montgomery Hockey Conference. The Upper Montgomery Hockey Club team nickname is the Lightning.