WESTERN Union branded the Hikers Hockey Club Junior Programme for its Second annual junior indoor tournament this weekend, March 24  – 25, at the National Gymnasium on Mandela Avenue. The tournament is expected to feature the same six categories from last year including the Under-13 and Schools categories which will feature mixed teams of boys and girls, while the other four categories are for Under-16 and Under-21 boys and girls.
The competition is open to all school and club teams, with the U-13 category being a five-a-side tournament, while the Schools and U-16 categories will be four-a-side small goal tournaments. The U-21 category will be played as a standard indoor six-a-side competition utilising the full court.
The School of the Nations won the Schools category last year, but are expected to receive stiff competition from St Stanislaus College, North Ruimveldt Multilateral and Marian Academy, as well as the heavily favoured Queen’s College team, who have benefited from the addition of several six-formers who are graduates of both the Saints and Marian Academy hockey programmes.
The other categories will see hosts Hikers match their skills against the likes of GCC, Old Fort and the newly formed Saints Hockey Club, as all clubs are expected to field teams in each division.
The Hikers’ attack is expected to be led by the U-13 talent Akheame McDonald, with the outstanding players Makeda Harding, Aroydy Branford and Leon Bacchus leading the charge in the U-16 category.
The U-21 challenge will be led by the exceptional talents of Macaela Harding, Rushelle Matthias, Renee James, Jamarj Assanah, Andrew Stewart and Osafo Timmerman.
It is expected that the GCC teams will be led by Daniel Hooper and the Woodroffe siblings Dominique and Samuel in the U-13 division, while their U-16 teams will have in their line-ups 2011 Schools MVP Aliyah Gordon and 2011 U-16 MVP Dacia Woodroffe for the Girls as well as Antonio Seenanon for the Boys.
Alyssa Xavier, Marzana Fiedtkou and last year’s U-21 MVP Ashley DeGroot will spearhead the GCC U-21 challenge, with Mark Sargeant and Meshach Pierre doing the same on the Boys side.
Defending U-13 champions Old Fort are expected to be led by last year’s MVP Akeem Wilson, while Onassis Fraser and David Williams will lead their U-16 and U-21 teams into battle.
Debutants Saints Hockey Club will be looking to Lashonda and Ezekiel Springer to create waves in the U-13 category. Their U-16 teams will be led by the talented quartet of Shemuel King, Marcia Persaud, Hilton Chester and Paramanand Dindial while Leroy Jack, Yonnick Peters and Lorenzo Bethune will lead the U-21 charge.
Action begins on Saturday at 10:00hrs with the U-13 category; to be followed by the James Service Centre-sponsored U-16 categories.
On Sunday the Global Technology-sponsored Schools tournament will begin at 09:00hrs, to be followed by the Woodpecker Products-sponsored U-21 competitions.
This will be the Hikers Junior Programme’s second fundraising event of 2012, as the club plans to send both male and female junior teams to the Magnolias Indoor Tournament in Trinidad in November of this year.
Food and beverages will be on sale and the presentation ceremony is scheduled for 17:00hrs on Sunday.