Latest update April 18th, 2024 12:59 AM
Apr 16, 2010 Sports
Over $6million needed to compete at CAC C/ships
National Women’s Hockey Coach Philip Fernandes speaking with Kaieteur Sport following a training session at the GCC ground recently said that he is pleased with the progress shown so far and comparably the standard of the current crop of players are about 10 percent better than the last representative team that competed in Trinidad & Tobago in 2007.
Fernandes, giving his personal assessment of the team that is preparing for the CAC Games in Puerto Rico said that, “I am pleased with the training and the composition of the team and if we’re to make a comparison, this one currently stands at about 10 percent better than the one in 2007 when they lost to Trinidad, Barbados and Jamaica.”
He added that work on team tactics was delayed due to the size of the squad which included many players who would not have been travelling to the Puerto Rico event. Fernandes disclosed that now that selection is complete, they will begin training on tactics and set pieces.
“The last few weeks were spent on bringing individual skills up to the level that we need to compete on the international stage, now the focus moves away from that and the training sessions will begin a new phase that will include the use of those skills as a team,” Guyana’s most senior Coach pointed out.
He mentioned that to be successful at a team sport, players require a great deal of understanding between each other and everyone has to be aware of the team’s intention at the same time.
“Apart from training, there needs now to be a great deal of match practice so the girls can have the opportunity to apply and test these methods of attack and defense. They will also have practice matches in Trinidad and Barbados where the objectives may not necessarily be to win, but rather to achieve specific goals like possession, pressing the opponent into small spaces etc.
Meanwhile, five newcomers have been selected in the team and will be making their debuts, if they survive final selection. The players are: Goalkeeper – Jonelle Webster, defenders – Vashema Bourne and Marzana Fiedtkou, midfielders – Gabriella Xavier and Dominique DeGroot.
Fiedtkou, Xavier and DeGroot were all part of the junior indoor squad who are two-time defending champions of the Magnolias indoor tournament in Trinidad and have now moved up to the senior ranks.
One goalkeeper is still to be eliminated and overseas-based Janella Munroe is still to be evaluated and has the opportunity to replace one of the short-listed local players.
The estimated cost of competing at this tournament is G$6M, G$4M of which is the cost of the airline flights. The team was awarded a ‘team support grant’ from Olympic Solidarity amounting to US$19,200 toward a warm-up weekend visit to Trinidad for exposure on the artificial pitch and participation in the CAC Games.
Without this kind of support according to Fernandes, it would not have been possible to consider participation.
The team plans a fund-raising raffle and a fashion show and dinner in an effort to raise the necessary funds.
There will be 8 teams and Guyana is ranked 8 in the tournament which will be played from July 22-31 at the Yldefonso Solá Morales Stadium in Caguas which is about 2 hours drive to the East.
The teams will be split into two groups of 4 with the top 2 of each group going through to semi-finals.
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