The Guyana national women’s hockey team is heading into its final phase of preparation for the upcoming Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games scheduled for Mayaguez, Puerto Rico from July 22 – 31, 2010. The team has been preparing for several months and has a substantial challenge ahead of them to earn a decent placement among the teams at the end of the tournament. 
They go into the games in Puerto Rico ranked 8th among as many teams.
The Guyana Hockey Board (GHB) has gone to great lengths to ensure the team receives the best possible chance of success.
Apart from competing at the games, the preparation program for the ladies includes two weekend visits, one to Trinidad from yesterday(Friday) to Sunday and the other to Barbados from June 18 – 20. Both are aimed at earning the players valuable experience on an artificial surface. 
According to GHB president Philip Fernandes, with the combined trips costing an estimated G$4.5 million dollars, it is an expensive undertaking for the GHB and could only be made possible through a generous Olympic Solidarity Team Support Grant that the GHB obtained through the assistance of the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA).
Fernandes who is also head coach of the squad has expressed great satisfaction in the progress of his charges, but laments the difficulties of preparing for such an event with limited facilities. 
While the team was enjoying regular training sessions at the GCC cricket ground, Bourda, earlier in the year, which is virtually the home of hockey in Guyana, the inclement weather has forced them indoors to the national gymnasium for the last few weeks.
“Bourda is a good grass field, but a far cry from an artificial surface”, Fernandes said, adding, “but having lost its use due to the rainy season, we are suffering from not having the space required to conduct our tactical training.” 
Fernandes is grateful to at least have the use of the gymnasium which is more similar to an artificial surface than is grass but expresses frustration at having to prepare the team in an area less than ¼ the size of a hockey field.
The final selection of players was scheduled to be done by Thursday as the final 18 players for Puerto Rico have to be submitted to the GOA by then. 
The team of selected players was scheduled to travel out to Trinidad yesterday morning and will undergo a rigorous schedule of training sessions and matches on the artificial pitch. 
“It is so expensive to take our players all the way to Trinidad to play on an artificial pitch” said Fernandes “but it is critical to their success as the game is very different on turf.”
Fernandes compared the difference between surfaces by comparing it to preparing a cricket team on the National Cultural Center tarmac to go play a tournament at the Providence stadium.
The team recently was able to have a practice session at the Providence Stadium and it is hoped that they can secure the use of that facility once a week upon their return.