GCC performed creditably at Banks Hockey Festival

Aug 29, 2008 Sports

-Young players exposed

The GCC Hockey team that participated in the Banks Breweries Hockey Festival in Barbados pose for a photo opportunity.

The GCC men’s hockey team recently returned after participating in the annual Banks Breweries Hockey Festival which was held at the Sir Garfield Sobers Sports Complex in Wildey, Barbados.

The locals with a mixture of youth and experience despite their failure to make it to the semi-finals gave a good account of themselves among the field of 14 teams, winning two, losing two and drawing three matches during the competition.

GCC, who had previously competed at the event in 1987, ’88, ’94 and ’95 with their best effort being a silver medal at the ’95 tournament, opened up against 3-time champion Maple of Barbados and drew 3-3, having to recover from a 1-3 deficit.

Later that evening, they suffered an excruciating loss to the Jamaica Defence Force by a 1-0 margin after dominating the game.

The second day would see GCC lose its second match, this time to eventual finalists Do Bad Crew 2-1 with poor finishing remaining the Achilles heel of their young strikers.

This would be the first match on artificial turf for many of the new Guyanese players but they managed to adjust fairly quickly to the unusual pace and bounce after some tentative early minutes.

A scheduling clash on day two would increase the difficulty for GCC on day three as they were billed to play all four of their remaining matches on that day at the artificial turf at Wildey, needing to win all four to qualify for the semi-finals. GCC opened the day in the hot 10AM Barbados sunshine against the fit and well rehearsed Trinidad Under-21s.

This match would however bring about the first GCC victory by 1-0 which was followed at midday by their second with a 5-0 hammering of Barbados Defence Force.

The next two matches would prove vital but the solid eventual group winners ABC managed to stave off the penetrating runs of a constantly improving GCC.

With this match being the most difficult for the Bourda boys, as ABC fielded a full compliment of current and past Barbados nationals, they managed only a 0-0 stalemate at full time.

The final match versus UWI was somewhat of an anticlimax as the now tired GCC drew the match by 1-1, while exposing a younger selection for extended periods as the team was already out of the running for a semi-final spot.

They had set out on this year’s campaign sporting a young, enthusiastic team with 5 debutants in brothers Stuart and Zach Gonsalves, Peter DeGroot, Shaka Gill and Andrew Xavier.

They received support from Caribbean All-stars Dwayne Scott and Alan Fernandes, team Captain Devin Hooper, goalkeeper Gregory Garraway and Coach/player Philip Fernandes, all of whom represented Guyana at last year’s Caribbean Hockey Championships in Trinidad.

COACH’S COMMENT:
Despite the team’s failure to meet its primary objective of making the semi-finals, Fernandes said he was extremely encouraged by the performance of the young players.

“I knew the older more experienced boys would perform well as they have always done so in the past but I was uncertain of what we would get from the newcomers.

All of our juniors had their good moments on the pitch and each improved as the tournament progressed, but Stuart Gonsalves and Peter DeGroot in particular were in-form along with midfield maestro Orland Semple and veterans Alan Fernandes and Dwayne Scott.

I feel that the results and the luck were a bit unkind to us since there were moments when we performed as well as or better than anyone in the tournament.

The challenge now is to mould the team into one that can maintain its concentration for longer periods of play.”

“Exposure like this, especially on artificial turf, is so vital for the development of our young players.
Our team played 7 games in three days which is more outdoor hockey than it played for the year until this trip.

The weather has been unfavourable for most of the year and with our low-lying grass fields being water-logged, we were forced to practice on a small concrete surface right up to one week before travelling.”