The Road to Rio is becoming a hockey highway as international teams start travelling all over the globe to play test events and begin the process of qualification and preparation.
No teams will be viewing the next few months with more anticipation than two of the Pan-American Hockey Federation heavy weights – Argentina and USA. And in preparation for the challenge of qualifying, over the next six days Team USA will be hosting four test matches against the Champions Trophy winners, Argentina.
At present Team USA is ranked eighth in the world, while Argentina is ranked third, just 10 points behind Australia. But, while Argentina has been used to sitting in the top echelons of international hockey for some time, for Team USA, the past 12 months has seen a steady upwards movement. The team defied all expectations at the World Cup, when they finished fourth, losing out on a bronze medal to none other than Argentina. They also won the Hockey World League Round One competition, held at Glasgow in May 2014. Subsequently, they moved three places up the world rankings.
Since the 2012 Olympics, the USA team has undergone some serious transformation. A new coaching team, led by former Great Britain assistant coach Craig Parnham and Dutch international Janneke Schopman, has added an intensity and purpose to their training, and the team has a new home.
The home of women’s hockey in the USA is now at Spooky Nook, in Lancaster Pennsylvania - an area recognised as the heartland of the hockey-playing region in the States. Previously the training camp was at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, California, but following new investment and a new vision for the sport, a $50m sports complex has been built, with Team USA as the ‘anchor tenant’.
The venue will host up to 20 international matches a year, but all eyes will be on the opening fixtures as a post-Luciana Aymar Las Leonas arrives to put Team USA to the test.
And the appetite for the game is huge. Tickets sold out for all the matches against Argentina within two weeks of going on sale.
For anyone wishing to watch the action it is being broadcast by Blue Ridge Cable on its network, as well as Fox43 in Pennsylvania, and streamed live on www.teamusa.org and live via satellite to ESPN Deportes in Argentina.
The games are:
Fri, 13 Feb 6.30pm
Sat, 14 Feb 4:00pm
Mon, 16 Feb 6.30pm
Weds, 18 Feb 6.30pm
