THE 5th Annual Hikers Hockey Club Junior Indoor tournament bullies off this evening at the National Gymnasium with matches in the U-21 division.From 17:30hrs seven teams, both male and female, will compete in the Woodpecker Products-sponsored division. A total of seven matches will be contested with GCC and Old Fort Females opening the action. There is also play in the Under-13 and U-16 divisions and the Secondary Schools category.

Four-time defending Boys champions Western Union Hikers and Girls champions GCC have seen their margin of victory decrease with every passing year. This could well be the year that the trophy is prised from their grasps. The challengers are the ever-improving Old Fort, Saints and GCC in the Boys and Old Fort & Hikers in the Girls category.
GCC have also reigned supreme in the Global Technology Under-16 Girls category over the past four years but they will find it difficult to defend their title this year, against the strong challenge expected from Hikers, Saints and Old Fort.
On the Boys side, last year’s surprise champions Marian Academy will be looking to their inspirational leader Rosario Ramsammy to duplicate last year’s performance if they have any hope of retaining the title. They will come into the tournament as underdogs again, against favourites GCC and Saints who are both loaded with junior national players.
A new champion will be crowned in the Net Communications Under-13 category this year as three-time defending champions Marian Academy have lost the majority of their players to the higher age categories and are unable to field a team.
Hikers and Saints look to be early favourites to win their first Under-13 title. They will however have to fend off the challenge of four GCC teams full of exciting new talent and the only other past champions left in the draw, Old Fort.
The Global Technology Inter-School category promises to be the closest of the six categories, with defending champions Christ Church expected to receive a strong challenge from two-time former champions St Stanislaus College as well as Queen’s College, St John’s College, Marian Academy and debutants St Joseph High School.
The Net Communications Under-13 category will commence at 09:00hrs on Saturday followed by the Global Technology U-16 categories starting at 12:40hrs. The Global Technology Inter-School category begins on Sunday at 10:00hrs followed by the conclusion of the Woodpecker Products U-21 categories from 14:00hrs.
The tournament is part of the Hikers Hockey Club’s junior development programme and helps to raise funds for their annual junior tour to Trinidad in November. The tournament is run predominantly by the junior players themselves, with minimal supervision from senior members of the club.
In addition to the players, the spectators will also have chances to win prizes, with several spectator challenges planned during the tournament.