… looks to compete in GHB 2nd division
PAST and present students of the St Stanislaus College have continued the school’s long and proud hockey tradition, by taking the bold step of creating Guyana’s newest hockey club last month. The Saints Hockey Club was established on February 2, when a five-member executive committee was elected to chart the way forward for the new club, with Joel Hunte being the man in charge.
Hockey was first introduced to the school in 1973 by former national captain Chris Fernandes. Fernandes created an outstanding team of youngsters who went on to play unbeaten on a school tour of Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago later that decade.
Those players eventually formed the GCC Hockey Team and went on to dominate local hockey during the 80s and 90s.
Captain of that unbeaten Saints team was Andy Gouveia, who later teamed up with Troy Peters during the 90s to form the Everest Hikers Hockey Club, which is now known as the Hikers Hockey Club.
That club has since adopted St Stanislaus College and has been running several hockey classes at the school for a number of years, until the past and current students felt they have the numbers and capacity to venture out on their own and form their own independent club.
Apart from Hunte, other members of the executive are Marcia Persaud (vice-president), Rushelle Mathias (treasurer), Yonnick Peters (secretary) and Hilton Chester (assistant secretary/treasurer).
The first order of business for the new club is to register with the Phillip Fernandes-led Guyana Hockey Board (GHB), where they will be endeavouring to compete in that entity’s second division competition which is sponsored by John Fernandes Insurance Company.
They will also be securing uniforms which will be used for the said competition. They also intend to go on an aggressive recruitment drive for former and current students of the school, in order to increase the membership of the club.