GTT Indoor Hockey Tournament billed for October

Oct 06, 2022 Sports

– Smalta U14 Schools Competition to return in 2023

Kaieteur News – Following the Lucozade Indoor Hockey Tournament, which was the Guyana Hockey Board’s (GHB) ‘return to play’ event, the hockey fraternity has been craving to get back into the fold.

Tiffany Solomon (GBTI GCC Tigers) takes a shot on goal in a penalty corner against Old Fort Igniters.

The intensely contested event that took place at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall (CASH) also featured a historic component, the Under-20 Division, which was hosted in a senior tournament for the first time.

During an interview with President of the GHB, Philip Fernandes, several topics were discussed including the GHB’s calendar of events and the resuscitation of tournaments.

Fernandes was very elated at the response the Lucozade Tournament garnered. “We have had a long pause for Hockey due to the COVID and all the different aspects. So, this Lucozade Indoor Championships was really a return of local hockey after some months of delay.”

“And I think that it was well received. I think we had good participation, lots of teams came out, good quality hockey and we even had quite an exuberant and sizable crowd coming out to see the hockey,” he said.

The GHB Boss stated, “I think it breathed new life into the sport, especially with the young faces that we saw. We had a junior division for the first time. It was the first time we had an under 20 division in a senior tournament and that in itself brought out new faces, new supporters and parents and things like that. I think it was a real big success for hockey. It was something very encouraging.”

The Under-20 Division…

The long-standing President further elaborated on the inclusion of the Junior Division: “Our motivation for the under-20s really was because there was a Pan Am Under-21 tournament being held in Barbados next year. And we thought we needed to see what we had out there in terms of the wider pool of players that were under-20 this year to be able to make on an Under-21 next year. So, although that was our motivation, we found so many spin off benefits from it, young people would have turned to other forms of entertainment and activities and so on during COVID.”

GHB President, Philip Fernandes

He continued by saying, “A lot of them would have been you doing indoor activities, electronic games, these kinds of things instead of coming out and playing a sport. So, this tournament, really invited them out.”

“I think people were ready to come back out and do something and so it sort of heightened the excitement of the tournament and of the players and of the supporters and everything and I thought that it really set us on a good footing now, to build on that.” Because already we seeing a lot of the younger players, asking you know, “when is the next activity? When’s the next tournament?” People are now keen to go and train and to get back into the regular routine of the game,” Fernandes disclosed.

The fraternity will be satisfied soon with the hosting of the GTT Indoor Hockey Tournament which is scheduled to be contested in the latter part of October. “That’s going to be a very important tournament because that is the final warm up before the Diamond Mineral Water Tournament. That determines our Indoor National Champion for the year, so, we look forward to that and hopefully, we can have that and Diamond as our two closes for the year.”

Smalta U14 Hockey Tournament…

Meanwhile, one of the GHB’s prized events, the Smalta Under-14 Schools Hockey Tournament is one the agenda to make a return, according to the GHB President.

“A lot of what we’re benefiting from today comes from that Smalta U14 Junior Schools Competition. It is very important; one of the most important activities we do for the whole year. So, that one was one that was heavily affected by COVID, because of course young people we have to be very careful to make sure that we don’t endanger people’s children.”

“I think we are now in the clear to resume that and we definitely want to start that back next year. It will be a priority for us and we continue on that growth path that we’ve had due to that tournament,” he opined.

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