Hockey is continuing to expand in the Americas following some excellent initiatives by the Pan American Hockey Federation (PAHF).
In a new development phase, PAHF have carefully planned different ways to approach countries to help the growth of hockey according to their particular needs.
During the last two years , Alberto “Coco” Budeisky, PAHF President, and Leandro Negre, FIH President, visited Cuba, Ecuador, Paraguay, Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago and Guyana, holding meetings with the Executive Boards of the Federations, the athletes and national entities, as well as PASO to obtain assistance for the construction of hockey fields.
Beginning with the fantastic progress in Bolivia. The Bolivian Hockey Federation was founded on April 1, 2015 and the first Men’s and Women’s National Tournament was run a one month later. In addition, coaches have been trained and Bolivia is working very hard towards the 2018 South American Cochabamba Games.
Meetings with the National Olympic Committee in Nicaragua have been very productive with the President of the Nicaraguan Olympic Committee, Mr. Emmett Lang pleased with the results of the meetings and looking favorably on the inclusion of hockey for the Games in Managua in 2017.
Colombia is still in the process of finalizing internal formalities, but is inching closer to obtaining PAHF membership. Different areas where hockey is played are growing with great enthusiasm and the formal creation of a Federation will enable local competitions.
Meanwhile, in Central America, the 2nd Central American Indoor Cup will be played in Honduras in September. Participants in the men´s and women´s events, include teams from host Honduras, El Salvador, Panama, Guatemala, Costa Rica and the men´s team from Ecuador.
Well attended technical, coaching and umpiring courses have been taking place and PAHF working jointly with the organizers of the prestigious Cal Cup in the USA, were able to offer for the first time, two technical courses of different levels with great success. The second Final PAHF Coaching Seminar will take place during the Pan American Games in Toronto. Coaches from the Pan American Nations will be assessed and obtain the PAHF Badge.
The FIH Training Program has also been of great benefit to the PAHF with three coaches being invited to the Academy Course in Scotland in 2014. They were Chiche Mendoza (ARG), Ernesto Lucero (ARG), Lucho Pacheco (PER) as well as Shiaz Virjee (CAN). David Ruiz from Peru was selected for the Post Graduated Certification in Sports Management in London.
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