Latest update January 20th, 2025 4:00 AM
DMW Hockey Festival Old Fort Hockey Club on the path to glory
The 14th edition of the Diamond Mineral Water (DMW) Hockey Festival is set to commence next Thursday at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall (CASH) where fans will be looking forward to the usual high level of hockey that will be served up by local, regional and international clubs.
Coach Sullivan (left) and Manager Abrahams (fourth left) pose with the rest of Old Fort team pose after winning a tournament last year.
The international festival is set to see participation from players from the Twin Island Republic of Trinidad and Tobago (T&T), Barbados and Canada. With a stiff field of competitors set to take to the CASH’s international standard plastic tile surface, Old Fort Hockey Club (OFHC), which last won the men’s marquee men’s division in 2011 after losing in the final twice before the triumph, has expressed confidence of coming away with the title, so says club coach Dwight Sullivan and Men’s team Manager John Abrahams.
The ambitious men’s side will be without star player Aderemi Simon who was awarded MVP of the recently concluded GTT National Championships. However, the club’s men’s side will be boosted by the inclusion of five overseas guest players, two from Canada and three from T&T inclusive of the islands’ Pan American Cup winning skipper; Solomon Eccles.
Sullivan, who is both the men’s and women’s coach, explained that his female side may not be elite but they will prove tricky opponents for their more seasoned counterparts. “We are in the rebuilding phase and players the likes of Skipper Minsodia Culpepper who was recently awarded MVP of the Under-21 women’s tournament, Akeaba Singh, Candacey Glenn, Bushani Kalladeen and the athletic Jasmine Assanah, all can prove explosive in decisive moments.”
The OFHC coach has had much success this year especially at the junior level due to the working development programme at St. Joseph Hockey Club that serves as the feeder to the club. This programme which was created and is headed by
Old Fort’s Under-21 girls that won the Ansa McAl sponsored junior tournament.
Abrahams has recently seen the promotion of Warren Williams; currently the most exciting youth player in Guyana, the talented Omar Hopkinson and Nandalall Persaud into Old Fort’s first division side that nearly clinched the National club title earlier this month.
Five girls from St. Joseph have been promoted to OFHC senior women’s side. In this year’s Paragon Hockey Festival in T&T, OFHC under the stewardship of Sullivan won the Boys’ and Girls’ Under-16 division in the Youth Indoor Tournament.
Meanwhile, in the Ansa McAl sponsored junior tournament last month, the club won the girls’ Under-21 ahead of the mighty Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) while the boys found success in the Under-16 division.
At the recently concluded GTT National Championships, OFHC lost three finals; two in the 1st and second division men’s by penalties and the other, 6-4 to GCC Vintage in the veteran’s division. Abrahams has noted that heading into this DMW Championship, the teams have placed special emphasis on penalty flicks.
Apart from the development programme, Coach Sullivan posited that the dedication and determination of each player has played a major role in club’s reemergence one of the top clubs in Guyana and they will be using the DMW Hockey Festival as another stepping stone towards a return to their glory days. (Calvin Chapman)
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