Junior Pan American Championships Team Selected

May 12, 2016 Sports

The Guyana Hockey Board (GHB) has made its final selection of the 18 players, who will be representing the Golden Arrowhead at the Pan American Junior Championships, scheduled for Toronto, Canada from May 20th to 28th, 2016.

The team will now be at full strength after senior national players Hilton Chester, Daniel Hooper and Kareem McKenzie, were facilitated by the Ministry of Education Exams Division through an arrangement with the

From Left – Standing: Robert Fernandes (Head Coach), Dwayne Alleyene (Assistant Coach), Ato Greene, Jael Gaskin, Andrew Stewart, Nyron Joseph, Omar Hopkinson, Shaquille Leung, Daniel Hooper, Leon Bacchus, Keon McKenzie, Paramanand Dindial, Mark Sargeant (Captain) & Barrington Browne (Physical Trainer).
Kneeling: Hilton Chester, Meshach Sargeant, Michael Hing, Medroy Scotland, Rosario Ramsammy & Ian Burke (Standby Player). Absent from photo is Aroydy Branford.

University of Toronto’s Athletics Department to write their CAPE and CXC exams that take place during the tournament, in Toronto. Outstanding striker Aroydy Branford has also returned from his stint at Bishops Storford in England to add the cutting edge to a team full of talent. The majority of the team is scheduled to depart on Monday, May 16 while the three players presently writing their CXC and CAPE examinations will join the team on May 19th.
The core of the team has been together since August of 2014, competing in local tournaments as well as two warm-up tours of Trinidad & Tobago. On their first developmental tour in December of 2014, the team won 3 of their 4 matches, while during their second tour in August of 2015 they won 7 of their 9 matches, placing second in the Player Tournament. Eight players were also part of the senior national team which drew 2-2 with Olympic qualifiers Brazil, on their way to a semifinal berth at the Pan American Challenge in Peru last year.
Experienced midfielder Mark Sargeant, will captain the side which also includes defensive stalwart Andrew Stewart and senior national goalkeeper Medroy Scotland. The three newcomers to the team are all multitalented athletes, 14 year old goalkeeper Michael Hing holds a black belt and has represented Guyana in Karate, while both Jael Gaskin and Nyron Joseph are also squash players, with the latter a multiple national and junior Caribbean champion.
The team will open their account against the tournament’s third ranked team, Chile on May 20th, before taking on Mexico the following day, then wrapping up their group play on May 23rd against number two seed Canada.
According to Head coach Robert Fernandes, “This has been my longest preparation period with any team, just about two years. The boys are extremely fit thanks to the work of fitness trainer Barrington Browne and they need to be, to execute our team concept of out working every team we come up against. We can’t control our deficiencies due to the lack of an artificial turf which all our opponents in Toronto have access to train and play on daily, but what we can control is our effort when we get on that field. It will be quite a challenge coming up against the Pan American Region’s best teams but one thing Guyana can be sure of is that we will give everything we have every time we put on our national colours during the week of our 50th independence celebrations. I would like to personally thank the Guyana Olympic Association for their support. Without the Olympic Solidarity Team Preparation Grant we would have never been able to prepare so well for this tournament and it is obvious that our investment in these players has developed the talent that will form the nucleus of our senior national team for at least the next 15 years.”
National Junior Men’s Hockey Team: Mark Sargeant (Cap), Medroy Scotland (GK), Michael Hing (GK), Kareem McKenzie, Keon McKenzie, Daniel Hooper, Shaquille Leung, Meshach Sargeant, Rosario Ramsammy, Aroydy Branford, Andrew Stewart, Leon Bacchus, Jael Gaskin, Omar Hopkinson, Hilton Chester, Ato Greene, Paramanand Dindial, and Nyron Joseph.
Standby Players: Ian Burke, Troy Hodge and Rahim Oliver (GK)