The Guyana Hockey Board of Control (GHBC), in an effort to secure a Pan American ranking, is expected to send senior male and female teams to the Caribbean Champion-ships in Trinidad and Tobago in June.
In an exclusive interview with Stabroek Sports yesterday, GHBC president Philip Fernandes disclosed that the GHBC received word of the staging of the Caribbean championships and took a decision to compete.
Fernandes said the dates have not yet been confirmed but that the GHBC was corresponding with its Trinidad and Tobago counterparts.
“In fact, the Pan American Federation is sending a representative here at the end of the month to discuss that with us,” Fernandes said.
The Pan American Fed-eration will fund the trip of its representative, Fernandes disclosed adding that it was supportive of the tournament.
“I understand that the tournament is recognized by the Pan Am Federation even for the Pan Am ranking which is important for us at this point.” Fernandes stated.
Fernandes said the GHBC boss attempted to participate at last year’s Central American and Caribbean Games but were omitted because the team was not ranked.
“And this was because we hadn’t participated in anything sanctioned by the Pan Am in many years, so to get back the ranking, we need to win a few games, not just participate, but win a few games,” he added.
According to the national mid-field player, the squad trains Monday, Wednesday and Sunday evenings at the National Gymnasium. Physical work is done on Fridays.
“So that is their (fitness) regime right now and we hope to step it up, but the lack of facilities does not enable us to do that at the moment.”
Fernandes said the nucleus of the women’s squad came from the national women’s team which participated last November in a Goodwill Series in Venezuela.
“They beat Venezuela and lost to Brazil, but I think they are still behind the level of the Caribbean teams like Trinidad and Barbados who have been competing all those years, so it’s difficult to just come in a year.” He said apart from the female team, the GHBC would also like to send a male team to the Caribbean Cham-pionships as well and to this end there were two trial matches last weekend.
“It was kind of rushed, because when we got the news, we wanted to start preparing right away, but a squad is still to be selected, so we hope to send a national men’s team to this championships as well.”
He said apart from those plans for the senior teams Guyana was one of several countries invited to send hockey teams to participate in the ALBA Games in Venezuela in May.
Cuba, Jamaica and Uruguay have already confirmed their participation.
“We have indicated to the president of the Venezuela Hockey Federation that we’ll try to send a team, since we view this as a warm-up for the Caribbean championships and an opportunity, because they will cover the cost for accommodation, meals, internal transportation and airport departure tax, so all we would have to find is the airfare to Venezuela,” Fernandes said.
The airfare per person is approximately US$520.
“Basically we would like to use the ALBA Games as a warm-up for the Caribbean Championships in Trinidad and get the ranking which is what we really need, and while we can’t take Venezuela lightly, Trinidad is really what we’re hunting for. And we hope that the players themselves will assist in the funding of this opportunity to go to the ALBA Games because it’s difficult, it’s difficult to get funding at the moment with the Cricket World Cup on us and so many corporate entities are spending money on it.”
Fernandes said the GHBC also plans to have its junior national team participate in the next Junior Pan American Championships in late 2008 or early 2009. He said a host country is still to be identified but Venezuela has submitted a bid.
“In the 1990s when we went to the Junior Pan Am tournament in Trinidad we were the highest ranked English-speaking Caribbean team and we not only reached the semi-final, but we defeated Chile and lost to USA for the 5th to 6th position. So we have had reasonable success at the junior level. We also won a gold medal at the Junior Caribbean Champion- ships which was staged in Venezuela in the early 90s also, so it’s necessary for us to keep the junior hockey going. So we thought this is a good start and we started training right through to this upcoming tournament.”
He said it is expected that the junior men’s team will be exposed to a few Goodwill or mini-tournaments leading up to the Junior Pan Am tournament, and the first such exposure could come as early as next month when Trinidad will host its Annual Easter Tournament.
“They have invited us to send a team. It’s not an international tournament, it’s a tournament where junior teams who want to participate can, and we think that because Trinidad is the cheapest place to get a turf, we’re trying to see if we can get there.”
Asked about funding, Fernandes said “the junior boys’ team has been raising funds since last year.
Fernandes said his biggest problem was facilities for preparing the three teams.
“Venues continue to be a major hindrance for us; we were at the Gym this morning (Wednesday) because of a lack of a venue. GCC and Everest are both closed because of the World Cup and the police ground is only available on Mondays and Saturdays and on Sundays before 10.30 am.
“Those are the three major grounds we play hockey on. There is also Uitvlugt, but it’s a bit inconvenient for persons who work until 4.30 pm and have to reach there before its dark. “But we have a few other grounds in the pipe-line that we’re looking into.”
