Fernandes returns as President of GHB

Feb 11, 2012 Sports

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Incumbent President Philip Fernandes was re-elected to the stewardship of the Guyana Hockey Board (GHB) for another term when the entity held its Annual General Meeting on Tuesday evening in the GCC pavilion.
According to a release from the Body, the entire executive was returned with one addition that being Jonelle Webster, who was added due to a special circumstance.
Noticeably absent was long-time honorary secretary of the GHB, Mr. Gregory Sills, who was excused due to illness as he was required to leave the country for treatment.
The Assistant Secretary/Treasurer, Tricia Fiedtkou, chaired the meeting and functioned as the Returning Officer in the absence of the Secretary.
The President’s and Treasurer’s reports were well received by those in attendance.
Since it is unclear whether the Secretary will be able to return to his duties during this year, it was proposed and agreed to elect one additional committee member who would function as the assistant secretary/treasurer, while the current one takes up the responsibilities of the Secretary.
Webster was elected to the new position. The newly elected body therefore is as follows:
President: Philip Fernandes, Vice President: Rawl Davson, Vice President: Ivor Thompson, Hon. Secretary: Gregory Sills, Treasurer: Devin Hooper and Assistant Secretary/Treasurer Tricia Fiedtkou.
The Committee Members are Gail Harding, Brian Asregado and Jonelle Webster. Below is a copy of the President’s report:
We had some high points and low points for the year, but I feel that our game is in a stronger position in the end as compared to the beginning. The disruption of our vibrant local indoor schedule was the greatest disappointment of the year but those days seem to be behind us now with the availability for tournaments of a new surface at the national gymnasium.
On the positive side, our national women’s team won a place in the prestigious Pan Am Cup tournament scheduled to take place in Mendoza, Argentina in April 2013 and the Diamond Mineral Water International Indoor Hockey Festival returned with one of our most successful years ever.

Tournaments
There were only two locally staged senior tournaments held during the year which resulted from our inability to host indoor tournaments on the defective Sports Hall floor.
We were however pleased to have been able to complete both the Farfan & Mendes men’s first division competition and the John Fernandes Insurance Services Ltd second division competition.
The Farfan & Mendes men’s first division competition saw the first appearance of the junior national team who performed creditably and enhanced the tournament which has lost the Police hockey team over the past few years. GCC emerged victorious in this tournament.
The John Fernandes Insurance Services Ltd second division competition included both the junior boys’ national squad and the women’s national squad.
It was a great benefit for the women to have competitive practice prior to their international engagement in July.
This competition has lost the appearance of the Western Dragons of Uitvlugt which we hope will return in 2012. The GCC second division team emerged victorious in this competition.
In 2011 we held what was one of the best Diamond Mineral Water International Indoor Hockey Festivals ever. Teams were eager to compete in Guyana having lost the opportunity in 2010 when the tournament was cancelled. The new, world-class floor installed at the national gymnasium greatly enhanced the tournament and raised the quality of hockey being played.
Apart from the floor, visiting teams were also complimentary of the rest of the facility which was noticeably cooler and brighter than the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
While the facility proved a huge success, there are a few things that can be improved, including the installation of fans, as we rented these for the purpose of the tournament, and the toilet fittings need upgrading in some cases.
Inquiries have already been received from others overseas and we anticipate repeating, and even surpassing, this success in 2012.
The Old Fort men’s team emerged victorious in the men’s open category defeating GCC in the final. The GCC ladies upstaged Malvern to secure the Digicel women’s trophy while Fatima of Trinidad defeated Old Old Fort to take the Carib veterans trophy.

Development
Junior development must remain a top priority for hockey as this is the only way to sustain the game. We have continued our schools program which was started in 2010 and have over 100 children, from five schools.
We have received a proposal before which would double the amount of schools and include at least three tournaments for schools and junior club players but its funding needs to be worked out. This has been a success so far but we are therefore hoping to build on this and develop it into something much larger for 2012.
We need to improve our plan to fund the schools development program so it can include at least one full-time paid coach as volunteers find it difficult to commit to training during working hours.
It is stemming from this schools program and from summer camps of previous years gone by, the GHB also identified a male national under-21 squad for possible participation in the Pan American Under-21 Championships scheduled for Guadalajara, Mexico from 13 – 23 September 2012.
Trinidad has recently made contact with us to invite male and female under-21 teams to visit them for the Easter weekend where they are hoping to run-off a Caribbean international warm-up tournament with Barbados, Jamaica and Venezuela as the other countries. This possibility is being considered.

Coaching
FIH coach, Mr. Shiv Jagday visited Guyana from 25th September to 1st October to conduct an Olympic Solidarity coaching clinic. 18 coaches attended the sessions which covered basic skills for the first half and advanced tactics for the second.
The course was considered to be a huge success and gratitude was extended to the Guyana Olympic Association for making this possible.
In October of 2011, National women’s coach, Philip Fernandes, was invited to participate in a PAHF Final Course in Guadalajara, Mexico, which was the first of its kind. This was introduced as the launch pad of the newly established PAHF Coaching accreditation structure.
There are three levels of certification awarded with the highest being PAHF Coach, followed by PAHF Trainer and the third being a recommendation for further exposure and courses. Mr. Fernandes was awarded the status of PAHF Coach.
We hope to be able to expose more of our coaches in the future to courses so that we can continue to broaden the base available to our players.

Umpiring
Our only FIH umpire, Devin Hooper, was selected to officiate in the Pan American Games held in Guadalajara, Mexico in October 2011. It is very difficult for an umpire to keep in top form without being exposed to high level competition.
It is therefore recommended that whenever our national teams travel that we try as far as possible to include an umpire.
Like with the coaches, we hope to expose more young umpires so that we can increase our pool

Conclusion
There are a number of areas that the GHB wishes to target in 2012. First on the list is the schools hockey program. There have been some preliminary discussions on the hosting of three school tournaments during the year to coincide with school holidays and also to increase the amount of schools where hockey is being played.
This must be treated as a priority as we have lost many players over the years due to migration and other commitments and we need to encourage more players for us to progress. We have too few clubs at the moment and there is dire need for a third ladies team in order for the ladies to have regular competition locally.
It is important for Guyana to keep competing internationally and especially in the junior divisions. This year every effort must be made to have at least one representative team in Mexico and both genders in Trinidad.
This is a very costly undertaking and so it will require a large effort from all of our hockey clubs and personnel.
In closing, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the sponsors that have been keeping our game alive over the years in Farfan & Mendes, John Fernandes Insurance Services Ltd, Diamond Mineral Water, Digicel, Mr. Toppers, Dixie Lee, John Deere, Bounty Farm Ltd, GT&T, Banks DIH and Noble House Seafoods.
Thanks also to my fellow executive members for the strong support during my term as president for the successful year 2011.

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