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GHB head uncertain of the future for hockey
Kaieteur News – The Guyana Hockey Board (GHB) and the National Hockey team both men and women have been able to achieve a considerable amount of success in the recently concluded Pan Am Hockey championship. Our Junior Boys finished fifth amongst some of the best hockey teams in the region, our women fought hard throughout the competition but perhaps they didn’t achieve as much success. With the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games slowly approaching players are still faced with unavailability of venues in which to train; to get themselves ready to compete.
President of the GHB and Head Coach of National Hockey team Phillip Fernandes.
Guyana is a nation with a small capacity of players. Hockey is a numbers game, if we are able to have larger numbers playing the sport; you are likely to find greater pockets of talent and greater individual talent at the national level. From what we saw at the Pan Am championship, it is easy to conclude that, our men and women have done fairly well for themselves and country.
What our nation has been able to achieve, against teams that have a much larger capacity, in terms of players participating at competitive level and teams that have daily access to artificial pitches; of which all international championships are being played to date is indeed remarkable. Despite of our past success on the regional and international platform, we are still a long way from maintaining that success competing at the international level. Solely, this is caused by the absence of artificial surfaces, crammed spaces in which to do so and the unavailability of facilities to train. These are things that continue to hinder the growth of the sport in Guyana.
Agreeably, our successes are a clear demonstration of the passion and fortitude of our players and the commitments of our coaches have for the sport but with lack of adequate facilities and specially approved surfaces we are placed at a major disadvantage in order to compete at our fullest potential.
Phillip Fernandes
Speaking with the President GHB Phillip Fernandes on the issue, he stated, “I think that Guyana has been overachieving in the International Circuit. If you talk with people in international hockey, they all say the same thing. What Guyana has been able to achieve, the type of performance we were able to produce. Against what we should be able to do at this stage, in terms of results, against nations all of whom have artificial pitches. One may say, There’s no way we (Guyana) should be winning matches internationally.” He added, “Our success has been largely due to the kind of time and effort both coaches and players invest in the game. We train harder than the rest. And that is what has kept us alive.”
According to him, “It has reached that time, where they should have more tangible conversations with both Minister and Director of Sports regarding the issues affecting development of hockey in the country.” He explained, “I can’t help but feel that it is coming to a stage where we will not be able to sustain our success. If, we don’t have artificial pitches for our players to develop their game and lift it to the highest level, it will make it harder for us to keep up with these international teams.”
- Central American and Caribbean (CAC), Games, Guyana Hockey Board (GHB), National Hockey, Pan Am Hockey championship
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