Modest expectations for women’s team at Jr Pan Am Hockey

The Guyana Hockey Board (GHB) selected 18 men and 16 women for the prestigious championships which also serves as a qualifier for the 2023 International Hockey Federation (FIH) Junior World Cup in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

While GHB president Phillip Fernandes raved about the men’s side, the long-serving hockey executive said the board’s expectations for the women’s side are “modest.”

“It is the first time we’re sending a girls’ team, so our expectations are modest. Both teams will come up against very formidable opposition position, but we anticipate the whole experience to be well worth the while,” Fernandes said.

Phillip is also the head coach of the women’s side and will have Allan Fernandes as his assistant.

The women’s coach said the GHB is excited about sending a female side to Barbados, calling their participation “very important for the development of sustenance of the game.”

“When our junior athletes are robbed the opportunity of playing internationals, by the time they get to the senior level, they are so far behind in terms of experience with the other senior players with which they come up against and that it is a disadvantage to us in a lot of ways,” Fernandes said.

He added, “We (GHB) thought that it should be made a priority for us to try to expose our youth to international competition early so that they could also develop in the manner that they should.”

The Guyanese men will be grouped with Barbados, the USA and Canada in Pool B, while the women’s unit is set to face Barbados, Canada and Chile in Pool B of their competition.

Pool A for the men’s competition will come from Argentina, Chile and Brazil. In the women’s tournament, the USA, Argentina and Uruguay are in Pool A.

While the Guyanese men will feature on the tournament’s opening day against the USA, the women’s side take the field on Day Two (April 11) against Canada.

Also on April 11, Guyana’s men’s team will play their game of the tournament, facing off with Barbados.

A clash with Canada on April 13 will wrap up the men’s team group play, where they will hope for a positive result that will see them being one of the two teams to play in the finals on April 17.

The women will play Barbados on April 12, followed by their final Pool B game on April 14 against Chile.

Men’s coach Robert Fernandes in a previous article published in the Kaieteur News said the level of preparation that went into the men’s team should see them being considerably successful in Barbados.

He highlighted that the team has been in preparation mode for almost two years while pointing to their December tour of Barbados, where they played four games against the ‘Bajans’, drawing three and winning their final game.

The GHB president highlighted the distinct difference between countries within the Pan Am region, adding “the top-tier teams have players numbering in the thousands and they have budgets that number in the US millions, you know, excess of a million dollars at least for an annual budget. And so it’s very, very difficult with the kind of facilities, with the kind of funds and resources pumped into their program and a number of players it’s very difficult to realistically expect to topple those teams.”

“That doesn’t say that we can’t hope for some surprises. But I’ve been a player, I’ve been involved with teams in the past and I know the level these guys are going for the first time and so it’s good that they’re optimistic but it will be very tough,” The GHB president said.