Every year, Roland Park hosts a field hockey tournament best known for great competition, but it is much more than just an athletic event.

The Sally E. Nyborg Field Hockey Invitational, which will be held tomorrow beginning at 9 a.m., raises money for lupus research.

Sally Nyborg played field hockey for Roland Park, but in May of her junior year, 1998, she died of complications from lupus, a chronic autoimmune disease which affects the joints and organs.

According to the Alliance for Lupus Research Web site, about 1.4 million people in the United States have lupus. Nine out of 10 are women.

Sally loved field hockey. She played in the Futures Program and was on the Reds’ varsity team, so the fall after she died, the Reds held their inaugural Nyborg Tournament. Sally’s parents, Rich and Jan Nyborg, were there and they have been there every year since.

"I think Sally would be tremendously honored that they would think enough of her and her love of the game to hold this tournament every year in her honor," said Rich Nyborg.

This is the 11th time the tournament has been scheduled although it was canceled after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 and it was rained out by Hurricane Isabel in 2003.

Although the tournament expands to six teams this year, it began with four. Severna Park, Bethesda-Chevy Chase and St. Stephen’s/St. Agnes were in the first one and have returned every year since. Fallston and Hereford join them in the field tomorrow.

"One thing I think is so special is four schools have been with it from the beginning and it’s so great to have really fantastic programs that come to this tournament every year," said Rich Nyborg. "I guess it shows the respect they have for someone who really loved field hockey. They come in here not only for the high tournament level but to keep the memory of a young lady alive."

Even when the tournament was canceled in 2001 and 2003, some of the teams donated their entry fees anyway.

Last year, Roland Park couldn't host the tournament, because artifical turf fields were being installed, so Severna Park stepped in and the tournament was played there. That tournament raised $500. Through the years, the event has raised $7,000, which has been donated to the Lupus Center at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Sally would like that. She raised money for good causes too. In October 1997, she ran the Marine Corps Marathon and raised $1,800 for the Luekemia Society.

Rich Nyborg said donations can be made to the Lupus Center at Johns Hopkins, through the Johns Hopkins Division of Rheumatology, c/o Development Office, Mason F. Lord Bldg., Center Tower Suite 4100, Baltimore, MD 21224.

-- Katherine Dunn