Santiago, Chile – As the third edition of the FIH Hockey Women’s Nations Cup is looming – with the opening day scheduled on this upcoming Sunday in Santiago de Chile – here’s what the Head Coaches of the eight participating teams have to say: Canada Head Coach Sheldon Rostron: “We’ve been working for some time now on very specific stuff. We’ve wanted to have a really creative brand of hockey that we’re trying to create. Definitely, over the last few days, we’ve been ramping up towards the start of the event. So, we’re getting excited! We’ve been very creative in making sure that we’ve got a very good training environment so that we can thrive in what we’re doing in training. A lot of energy has gone into making sure that we’re well prepared. So, hoping that we see the yield!” Chile Head Coach Cristóbal Rodríguez: “It’s the ideal scenario to play on your pitch, in your country and with your people. We will go for everything! It’s a really tough tournament. You can win or lose every game. But we’ve been preparing this event for 6 months, so I believe that we can do a really nice tournament. Playing at home is an advantage, for sure. The weather is hot and dry, which is perfect for us. And of course we will have a lot of supporters, and we will receive a lot of energy for each game!” Ireland Head Coach Gareth Grundie: “We’ve had a really good 6 weeks building up to this event, so I’m just really excited to get going. We’ll take it one game at a time and see where we are after the group stage. I think we’ve made really good progress over the last period so I’m looking forward to seeing how we go in a competitive environment.” Japan Head Coach Akira Takahashi: “We’re happy to participate in this tournament. We changed after the Paris Olympics and selected many young players. Of course, our target is to win this tournament. But I hope that players will learn and improve a lot.” Korea Head Coach Yoon Kim: “We’ve practiced a lot for this event. We will do our best in the games. We have a good team work and our players have great hockey skills. We think this is our ‘team colour’.” New Zealand Head Coach Phil Burrows: “Our expectations are always pretty high. But our group is a pretty fresh, young one. So just looking to progress, expose some of the new girls to international hockey. It’s always tough taking that step but we need to make sure to give the girls the opportunity to get better and better. We’ve got some good talent there." Scotland Head Coach Chris Duncan: “We’re so excited to be here in Santiago. It’s the first time Scotland will play the Nations Cup so it’s a majorly exciting opportunity for us. We talk about “firsts” and you get those of opportunities for a first so this is a first for Scotland to be competing in a worldwide event of this scale and this stature. From a competition perspective, we’re really excited to test ourselves against teams who are above us in the world rankings. So, it’s such a brilliant opportunity for us to test our development and how far we’ve come in the last few years.” USA Head Coach David Passmore: “It’s a great time for us to have this tournament. Obviously, the Pro League means a lot and we’re obviously disappointed not to be there this year but after last year, with the Olympic qualifiers, Paris 2024 and all the other stuff we had, it was probably the year not to be in it. So, we’re obviously keen to get back. That said, I’m thinking longer term as well. So, our team is very much a new team, with lots of Olympians and a good number of new, young players, and I’m keen to see them in competition." The winners will get the opportunity to play the next season of the FIH Hockey Pro League. To find all information about the FIH Hockey Nations Cup Chile 2025, please click here. | 
