Latest update September 28th, 2026 10:20 AM
Ja to host Pan-Am hockey club champs
JAMAICA will host the 2011 Pan American Hockey Club Championships from November 26 to December 4, former chairman of the Sports Development Foundation (SDF) David Mais has revealed.
Mais made the statement recently while being chairman of the Local Organising Committee for the Pan American Junior Badminton Championship, which ended here last Sunday.
In discussing the importance of hosting a major sports tournament of one of the often regarded ‘minor’ sports, Mais said: “By the way, we are hosting the Pan-Am hockey championships this year in November. The president (of the Jamaica Hockey Federation) Victor Tomlinson and us have been in discussions, and we just look forward to working with them and other sports organisations in the development of some of these minor sports.”
A check on the Pan-American Hockey Organisation’s (PAHO’s) 2011 calendar of events confirmed this. The Mona AstroTurf, the sole hockey facility in Jamaica, will be the venue but requires some repair work prior to the tournament
As hosts, Jamaica are afforded two spots per division, with Circus Circle and Raiders selected for representation in the men’s category, while St Andrew’s and Tropics will play in the Women’s class.
A total of eight teams per category will compete in the 10-day event, with each country from the Pan American region entitled to one entry per gender.
This year’s hosting of the championship is likely to boost the growth and development of the sport locally, not dissimilar to that of badminton.
The rewards are endless, says Victor Tomlinson, president of the local governing body for hockey.
“The spin-offs that we expect… is that we’ll expose more players to international competition… you’ll expose more of our technical people so you can train those,” Tomlinson told the Sunday Observer yesterday.
“So you’re really building capacity for international competitions down the road. We’ll also promote the game because apart from playing Cuba last year, we haven’t had any serious international competition for a number of years. So we’ll now showcase the sport of hockey to the country,” he added.
Tomlinson said the last major tournament in Jamaica took place a decade ago and that it was important to start hosting more regional events.
“Until you start hosting international events then your facilities don’t get upgraded. So this is a start in that direction because this is really the lowest level of international tournament,” he said of the upcoming championships.
Repair work on the AstroTurf is expected to commence shortly and be completed in time, while the JHF president informed the Sunday Observer that the Pan-Am Club championships will be the last major competition to be played at the venue before it undergoes total renovation.
He said: “We’re going to be repairing the gaps. We have to put in a system to water the turf because international hockey is played on a wet turf, so we need to find 20, 30 gallons of water per day for the 10 days that the competition goes on for.”
According to Tomlinson, who has been president of the association since 2005, the winners of the championships will most likely qualify for the World Club Championship, and he believes Jamaica’s women have a good chance.
“I think we’ll be strong in the women’s category. Comparatively in the region we are stronger in the women’s division. In the men’s division it is more competitive. But it is not that the men are weaker, it’s just that there category is more competitive than the women,” Tomlinson said.
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