Latest update April 19th, 2024 12:59 AM
Nov 07, 2012 Sports
Head Coach of the Guyana National Women’s Hockey Team speaking with Kaieteur Sport about the preparations of the squad ahead of departure for the World League informed that they have now entered the final stages of preparation for the upcoming tournament. According to Phillip Fernandes, the World League is a new global competition that introduces the new format for teams to qualify for the hockey World Cup beginning with the World Cup to be held in June 2014 in The Hague, Netherlands.
He added that the League comprises of four rounds of competition culminating in the final 8 team event. The inaugural competition started earlier this year and received entrants from over 60 nations which will make it the biggest event in the history of the sport. Trinidad will be staging the Round 1 qualification for this part of the world for both men and women although Guyana will only be competing in the women’s competition.
The team has been in training since April of this year in preparation for this competition, the first world level event in which Guyana will participate. According to Fernandes, the team is now in their final phase of preparation with great emphasis on set pieces and fine-tuning a few areas that need attention. Over the past 6 weeks, they have been engaging in training matches every weekend and have been training twice per day on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays with physical training on Wednesdays.
Fernandes indicated that the most difficult aspect of the preparation has been coaching artificial turf skills in small hard court spaces, like the National Gymnasium, while playing training matches on grass fields where they cannot be applied. Guyana and Samoa are the only two nations in the World League which do not have artificial pitches for hockey. “We are in some ways like the Jamaican bobsled team” Fernandes said, “We are improvising all the time, but will be competing against teams who have the luxury of practicing on the real surface. This means that we need to try to make ourselves 15% better than the opposition tactically to make up for the likely technical shortcomings. The girls are very dedicated and determined, but this is a difficult challenge.”
This year the team will benefit once again from the services of three overseas based players. Captain Chantelle Fernandes, who is currently completing her studies in the United Kingdom, Leigh Sandison who lives in Canada and Marzana Fiedtkou, who relocated this year to the USA on a hockey scholarship to pursue a University education. All three players according to Fernandes were vital components of last year’s team which qualified for the PAHF Cup in 2013 being staged in Mendoza, Argentina. Fernandes highlighted the fact that although they did lose a few strong players, the team is likely to be stronger this year especially as many of the juniors from last year have shown marked improvement. He also expects that Fiedtkou’s exposure to the game in the USA where she would have benefitted from regular exposure to the game on an artificial surface would be a great benefit.
Fernandes was quick to point out however that, in addition to the strength of the foreign-based players, the local players had proven their worth in recent competitions, matching teams that are ranked much higher by the FIH (Federacion Internacional de Hockey).
The team has engaged the services of Mr. Kezqwehah Yisrael of Topend Performance Training to assist with its physical preparation which will also be vital for success. Manager of the team, Rawl Davson, indicated that the team is in better condition than it has been in the recent past. They have been using the Sports Hall, National Gymnasium and Bourda in a diverse training program with fitness tests every 6 weeks to monitor their progress. All of Guyana’s matches will be contested in the middle of the day, between 11:00 hrs and 16:00 hrs and so conditions are likely to be very hot and physically taxing.
The women’s competition will feature top seeded Canada, ranked 23 in the world, Trinidad and Tobago 27, Barbados 41, Uruguay 50, Guyana 58 and Venezuela also ranked 58. Guyana’s opening match will see them face off against CAC Champions and hosts, Trinidad on November 11th followed by a game against top seeded Canada the following day. After a one-day rest, Guyana then faces Uruguay on November 14 and Barbados on 15th. Guyana has not defeated any of these teams since the revival of women’s hockey in the 1990’s. After a rest day on the 16th, Guyana’s final match will be against equally ranked Venezuela on November 17th.
The team continues to train at the National Gymnasium and Bourda until they depart on November 9th for Trinidad.
Where is the BETTER MANAGEMENT/RENEGOTIATION OF THE OIL CONTRACTS you promised Jagdeo?
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